Kristin Zhivago, called "One of America's most famous marketing strategy consultants" by Anne Holland of MarketingSherpa, announced today the conversion of her webletter, the Revenue Journal, to a blog. Her first official blog post, entitled "The Sad State of Selling Software: Stuck in A Swamp of Skepticism," explains why it is so difficult for software vendors to sell into larger companies right now and what they can do to increase their closing rate.
Jamestown, RI (PRWEB) March 29, 2005 -- Kristin Zhivago has announced today that the conversion of her webletter, the Revenue Journal, to a blog. Her first blog post, entitled "The Sad State of Selling Software: Stuck in A Swamp of Skepticism," explains why it is so difficult for software vendors to sell into larger companies right now and what they can do to increase their closing rate. It is located at http://www.RevenueJournal.com.
"It was Benjamin Franklin who said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results," says Zhivago, a recognized expert in high-tech marketing and a revenue coach for company owners. "Todays software buyer has been so badly burned by CRM, ERP, and other enterprise-wide, 'revolutionary' systems that they are very, very skeptical. And yet, software vendors are selling as if nothing has changed. They're behaving as if they're still selling to customers who breathlessly await the next new technology. Those days ended somewhere around 1987, after the first round of PC buyers found out that IBM's famous 'blue suit' service was not included with every PC shipped. Customer skepticism has been growing ever since. It's higher now than I've ever seen it."
The Revenue Journal blog is written for business owners--CEOs and entrepreneurs--who want to increase their sales. It will cover the latest marketing and selling techniques and strategies, as Zhivago has done for years, with Zhivago's trademark emphasis on what customers are really thinking and how they actually buy.
In her capacity as a revenue coach for company owners, Zhivago constantly interviews customers. She uses the resulting insights to help her clients remove the barriers to the sale. "There are more barriers facing software vendors now than at any other time," Zhivago comments. "You can 'do everything right,' and still fail, if you don't recognize and overcome the biggest barrier of all: buyer skepticism."
"It is possible to lead buyers out of the Skepticism Swamp," Zhivago claims. "I provide three proven methods in this article. But I imagine we will be revisiting the subject in future posts on the Revenue Journal. The ill will created by years of broken promises is going to be difficult for the entire software industry to overcome."
Zhivago founded her own marketing consulting company in 1979 (http://www.Zhivago.com) in Silicon Valley, and relocated to a waterfront location in Rhode Island in 1996. She has been writing columns and newsletters about marketing since 1984, when she was asked to write a monthly column in Adweeks Marketing Computers magazine. She wrote that column until 2004. In 1991, Zhivago launched her own paid subscription newsletter, Marketing Technology, and published it until 2004.
Zhivagos articles and interviews have also appeared in Business 2.0, BtoB, Sales Advertising Marketing (SAM), Softletter, SoftwareSuccess, CRM magazine, SoftwareCEO.com, CMO magazine, and MarketingSherpas newsletters and guides, and other trade publications and websites.
Zhivago is also the author of Rivers of Revenue, a book that shows company owners how to keep sales flowing into their businesses (http://www.RiversofRevenueBook.com). The book has received a 5-star average rating on Amazon from reviewers and readers alike. It is available on the books website and at Amazon.com.
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