"Most of the successful people I've known are the ones who do more listening than talking."

Bernard M. Baruch

Our mission is to be the CSO's primary source of insights on challenges facing sales organizations and more importantly what to do to successfully address those issues.

We staunchly believe that our experience only helps us interpret what we hear. Information on trends, shifts, and current challenges must come from the people in the trenches.

For this reason, every year for 12 years we have conducted a comprehensive survey of CSOs in the field. We ask them about their priorities, challenges, and successes. We review their sales improvement projects and progress against goals.

The resulting reports are rich with information. We derive performance metrics that you can use to assess your sales efforts and best practices you can follow in your quest for improvement. Beginning in 2008 CSO Insights is offering three levels of subscription services for research clients: CSO Basic, CSO Pro, and CSO Premium. The accompanying table provides a brief overview of these levels. Following the table is a brief description of each service. Please call us to discuss the package that would be most appropriate for you. For more details, contact Barry Trailer at 415-924-3500, email barry.trailer@csoinsights.com or Jim Dickie at 303-530-6930, email jim.dickie@csoinsights.com.

 

Services	CSO Premium	CSO Pro	CSO Basic
Annual Sales Performance Optimization (SPO) Report	●	●	●
Most Relevant SPO Industry Supplement	●	●	●
Annual  Inside/Telesales Report	●	●	●
Annual Sales Best Practices Report	●	●	●
Annual Marketing Optimization Report	●	●	●
2008 White Papers	●	●	●
All Archived White Papers	●	●	●
2008 Articles & Blogs	●	●	●
All Archived Articles & Blogs	●	●	●
All Monthly CSO Interviews	●	●	●
2008 Case Studies & First Views	●	●	●
All Case Studies & First Views	●	●	●
Quarterly Subscriber-only Online Webinars	●	●
Four Hours of CSO Insights Analyst Access	●	●
Complimentary Pass to 2009 CSO Insights Forum	●	●
Six Additional Hours of CSO Insights Analyst Access	●
2nd Complimentary Pass to 2009 CSO Insights Forum	●
Proactive Calls on Best Practices	●
Sales Effectiveness Solution Provider Reviews	●
CSO Benchmarking/Networking Connections	●
On-Site Sales Performance Optimization Workshop	●

·        Sales Performance Optimization Report: This is our flagship report released in February. More than 1500 companies responded to this year's survey, providing data for 100+ metrics in this 213-page report.

·        Most Relevant SPO Industry Supplement: Depending on whether we have sufficient data on your particular vertical (e.g., software, professional services, financial services, etc.) or based on your company's size (e.g., <50 reps, >$1B annual revenue) we will provide you with a summary of top issues/trends and an SPO study summary data set of the sales challenges you peer group faces (for your internal use only.)

·        Annual Inside/Telesales Report: Similar to the SPO survey but focusing on inside and telesales this report will be completely revised in 2008.  Based on findings from our surveys the past three years, the 2008 survey will be redesigned and this year's report even more comprehensive than prior years.

·       Annual Marketing Optimization Report: Lead generation continues to be a top priority for CSOs as is the recognized need for increased alignment between sales and marketing. This survey and subsequent report will cover a broader spectrum than prior years. It will provide a deeper dive into various aspects of lead generation and analysis of both the quantity and quality of leads being generated today.

·         White Papers, Articles, Blogs, First Views and Case Studies: CSO Insights writes a number of thought leadership pieces each year.  Many of these are underwritten by sponsors and are available from them. However, we have received numerous requests for a service that provides a single point of contact to deliver all of our writings each year. These will be provided in a portal for you to read, download, copy or print as you prefer.

·        Subscriber-only Webinars and CSO Interview Podcasts: One month after the release of the SPO we will run a webinar for subscribers to discuss the year's key findings. Then quarterly webinars will be conducted to provide updates on new trends and timely subjects. Podcasts will include monthly interviews with CSOs on specific successes they have achieved.

·       CSO Forum Registration: CSO Insights will host a one-day networking meeting in Q1 2009 in the San Francisco Bay Area. Attendees will hear our latest research findings as well presentations to serve as topics for facilitated roundtable discussions. CSOs, Sales Ops and other key personnel will have an opportunity to share and learn in a peer-to-peer setting.

·        Ad hoc Analyst Access: You may have a meeting coming up for which you need a specific chart or two. You may have questions about turnover rates, forecast accuracy or sounding board to test out an idea you want to implement. CSO Insights will have seasoned analyst personnel available to answer your questions and explore your ideas.

·         Proactive Best Practice Calls: We will call you when we become aware of best practices and/or new solutions/technologies that address a particular issue with which you are wrestling. These calls would be to alert you to new solutions that we have become aware of and for which we might subsequently be producing specialized papers or reports.

·        Sales Effectiveness Solution Provider Reviews: So you're looking at CRM or another sales effectiveness tool? You can call CSO Insights for specific feedback from current users (assuming we have a sufficient data set) on impact on sales effectiveness, user adoption rates, satisfaction levels and more.

·        Networking Connections: While many C-Level executives gather regularly with peers there are few venues or opportunities for CSOs to do so. As a result, most buying decisions are bases on: 1) a CSO's personal experience with a solution provider; 2) the experience with a solution of someone the CSO knows; or 3) reading about the experience someone has had with a provider. We are happy to make personal introductions to CSOs at other firms that have dealt with a challenge similar to the one you are about to take on and have them share what they've learned from their own experience.

·        On-Site Performance Optimization Workshop: In our SRP Matrix we stress the importance of elevated relationships with your clients. We practice what we preach with on-site workshops. CSO Insights' managing partners will come to your company to meet and work with your sales leadership and team members for a full day. Workshop agenda is tailored to address specific issues/projects you are interested in focusing upon.

 

The annual subscription packages outlined above combine a number of our most requested offerings into the convenience of a single agreement--and at a cost savings. In addition to those described above, CSO Insights offers a variety of services such as conducting custom research, authoring white papers and case studies; providing strategy reviews, speaking at seminars or webinars, speaking to sales teams, etc.

 

For more information on these options, please contact Jim Dickie at (303) 530-6930, email jim.dickie@csoinsights.com or Barry Trailer (415) 924-3500, barry.trailer@csoinsights.com.