Church of the Customer Blog
« Salesforce.com's bet pays off | Main | Wendy's square peg in a round idea »
May 19, 2005
Salesforce.com's bet pays off
As a company that launched its business on a risky-but-bold strategy -- give the web-based service away initially for an entire year -- Salesforce.com continues to reap the benefits of that big bet.
The company announced today that revenue nearly doubled to $64.2 million from the same period last year and was up 18 percent on a sequential basis. It also added 40,000 paying subscribers, ending the quarter with 267,000.
Salesforce.com's strategy is a good lesson for companies that put too many barriers in the way of try-before-you-buy. If your trial strategy requires more than 2-3 pieces of personal information, or a credit card ("unless you tell us otherwise, your credit card will be charged after 30 days of usage") or no trial at all, start over.
Today, Salesforce.com gives its service away just for 30 days yet it remains an unconventional company with an unconventional approach, thanks to founder and CEO Marc Benioff.
Other blogs that reference Salesforce.com's bet pays off:
» Trials Done Right from SalesForceWatch.com
Church of the Customer praises Salesforce.com for their try-before-you-buy strategy. Maybe someone over at WebTrends will take a quick read..... [Read More]
Salesforce.com also has been wining (but not dining) their prospects. I have received two emails in the last month inviting me to have cocktails with them, customers, and other prospects in other metro areas. Nice touch, except Salt Lake City is a bit of a jaunt from Tulsa, OK. The invite to St. Louis was a little bit more reasonable.
SugarCRM is going to compete effectively. It's cheaper and better than Salesforce and you can manage your own data and make modifications *if* you want or need to.
Salesboom.com is a clear winner. The only ondemand solution to tie other business critical applications to CRM, SFA and ERP.
Also they offer the most reasonable pricing i can find; at least 60% less than Salesforce.com
