Just wanted to drop you a quick note about my experience with Salez Toolz so-far. As you know, I just purchased the software application
last week.  Over the Labor Day Holiday, I sat down with it and started building some Systems/Packages. I created a few based on Security Systems, Access Control and CCTV.  These included basic systems up to some relative higher end packages.
 
    This past Tuesday/Wednesday, I had a couple sales calls to make... naturally I thought I'd get the Salez Toolz a shot.The first meeting was a CCTV call with a client who seemed less than receptive to spending any money at all.  With the use of Salez Toolz, the client was able to recognize the value / benefits of the various systems in a graphical sense, instead of just looking at a proposal 'bottom line' on a sheet of paper.  This "crossed armed" client actually loosened up and became more interested in the Salez Toolz demonstration and in the possibilities of accepting a better designed system while not just making the purchase decision on that 'bottom line' price.  A print-out of "His" choices was presented to him for a internal meeting later that day with other staff members. 

    I've since received a call from this client and they are looking to proceed... Great!!!

    Even better; my second sales call was to a commercial client looking for only a "basic security  Hmmm... time to try out Salez Toolz again.  After 20 minutes, the client clearly understood the value & benefits of the proposed packages and was able to make an educated selection - knowing instantly what the proposed budget would be. While not missing a beat, I then selected CCTV system and began the up sale. The client was 'so' involved with the process, that he actually began using Salez Toolz himself to pick what he liked, all while watching this real-time project cost. I have to say it was quite amusing to watch the client build his own system, and if he got to crazy and started to squirm in his seat because of the costs, we just backed it down a bit. system...". 

    This couple hundred dollar job for a "basic security system" has just turned into a $7,000.00 security/access/cctv job.  I was actually able to quickly put something together using 'Quotewerks' and the info obtained by using Salez Toolz... and present it to the client ready for acceptance.

    *** Deal Accepted ***  ... thanks Salez Toolz!!!

Letter from a customer

(Thank you, Gerry King of Matrix Installations)

June 2009

Our lifestyle showroom always generates a lot of excitement-- maybe too much.  Prospects would leave with a long list of items that they wanted us to include in a proposal. We'd always ask for a budget number but rarely got one. After spending hours preparing and fine tuning a proposal exactly as requested, we'd present it to the prospect. That meeting would go fine as we were reviewing the details of the system that we had designed for them and you could see that excitement building again until we showed them the cost. Sometimes the look of total shock was accompanied by an actual budget number but most of the time we just knew that we far exceeded it.  Fortunately, many prospects would give us the opportunity to start the process over again with some budget numbers and priorities but we'd never hear from some of them again.
 

There had to be a better way-- a way that we could get a budget number and come closer to expectations the first time without wasting a lot of time and losing valuable prospects. A friend introduced us to SalezToolz. What an amazing product! It's simple to setup. The picture and brief description of each system that pops up and its graphic price positioning make it easy for the prospect to evaluate the differences between the different configurations. In a fairly short amount of time, the prospect can design a system that's within his budget and walkout with a printed estimate. And, we now have everything that we need to make preparation of a detailed proposal a breeze with absolutely no surprises or “look of shock” when we present it to the prospect. Any shock occurs at the first meeting before we've spent time doing a proposal. This approach was working well and allowing for faster closes, fewer lost prospects and less time spent on administrative tasks.
 

Unfortunately, as the economy tanked and most of our jobs became small and simple, we stopped using SalezToolz and slid back into our old operating style. So, when we unexpectedly got the opportunity to design systems for two new custom homes we just went right to the proposal stage with no budget number to work with. After spending several days designing, what we thought to be, the perfect system for these prospects we were ready to meet with them. Both were totally shocked by the cost and we never heard from them again. On another job we're on our fourth proposal revamp and still not confident that it will ever turn into a job. What a waste of time!

Needless to say, we're going back to SalezToolz. We're now updating all of our SalezToolz system packages, upgrading to the new release, and won't start the design and proposal process with another prospect without working through the SalezToolz process with them first.

Thanks for designing such an amazingly simple and effective product.

Gerry King

President

Matrix Installations, LLC

Letter from a customer

Susan,

I’m Shane Istre with Good Connections, LLC in Morgan City, LA. Mike and I are writing to tell you how well your product, Salez Toolz, performs for our company.

The most important thing your budgeting tool has done for our company is to fundamentally change our business process. Before we had this tool, we conducted projects in one of two ways: we would install based on nothing but a referral and a handshake and then present a sizeable bill that shocked even our most savvy consumers, or we would visit a jobsite on referral and do hours of design work to submit a bid, and then wait for a phone call that never came. We often had no idea whether the customer had sticker shock or was just too busy.  Now, we bring in our impressive budget tool, which gives the customer an idea of what we charge up front as well as the ability to tailor a budget for what they want to spend, and everyone is in agreement before we close the first visit. Our customers are happier and we have a superior way to track sales.

Salez Toolz has also affected our business process by forcing us to design packages. As a result, we no longer custom design every flat panel install or surround sound system. Instead, we offer well thought-out, pre-packaged systems that we have perfected over time. Moreover, because we install these systems repeatedly, our technicians are proficient and our installs have fewer issues.

Not only has your software prevented sticker shock for our customers, but it has also helped us to up-sell products on each project. Once the customer views the budgeting tool, they get excited about how easy it is to add and take away systems, and they inevitably buy more than they originally intended. Ultimately, they walk away with their dream system—which is what they really wanted—and we walk away having made another great sale to another satisfied customer.

Thank you,

Shane Istre
Operations Manager     

Good Connections