Salesnet Strategy Aims To Boost ROI

Online CRM vendor Salesnet this week is rolling out a strategy designed to speed return on investment, as well as revealing an infusion of private equity that will help it market that new strategy. The company's Guided Performance Selling strategy expands its application-service-provider model of CRM delivery by establishing three core components of software, configuration, and integration as standalone services.

Breaking out configuration as a separate component is expected to let customers tailor their Salesnet CRM software to meet needs related to individual vertical markets. Salesnet also plans to introduce later this year vertical editions of its CRM app with preconfigured templates built for specific verticals. The integration-as-a-service component offers 200 prebuilt connections designed to reduce integration costs, speed integration processes, and minimize maintenance. The company also introduced 100 Web-services APIs for transferring data between Salesnet and other applications.

Salesnet also said it has raised $10 million in private equity from Phoenix Investment Partners, Prism Venture Partners, and WestAM. That brings total capital raised to $30 million. The company plans to use the funding to expand its sales and marketing efforts in an effort to increase awareness of Salesnet products and create business opportunities in new markets.

In a statement, CEO Mike Doyle said online software vendors no longer are looked upon as operating in the shadow of more-established makers of on-premise enterprise apps. "Online business applications aren't the wave of the future," he said. "They are here today, have demonstrated lasting power, and are a necessity for financially responsible enterprises."