The following list represents innovative companies that produce products and services that we use and recommend.
- EventBrite. Eventbrite brings people together around a live experience. Whether it’s a webinar, photography class or a sold-out concert, an inspiring conference or an air-guitar competition—they believe in the magic of events and the power of connecting people. Their service makes it incredibly easy to create, find or attend an event. They help you manage the hard stuff—such as registrations and selling tickets—and we set you up with the tools to help your event spread virally through social networks. It’s event management, search, and promotion all coming together for the first time.
- Netvibes. Netvibes pioneered the first personalized dashboard publishing platform for the Web. For consumers, Netvibes.com is the most awarded startpage where millions of people around the world personalize and publish all aspects of their daily digital lives. For agencies and publishers, Netvibes’ universal widget technology (UWA), widget distribution services and Premium Dashboards help rapidly deliver brand observation rooms and user-personalized marketing campaigns. For companies, Netvibes Enterprise delivers secure, scalable personalized workspaces, portals and industry dashboards.
- Hootsuite. Hootsuite is a social media dashboard that helps organizations use the social web to launch marketing campaigns, grow audience, and distribute target messages across multiple channels.
- Call Center Services. Focused primarily on sales and lead generation, Call Center Services provides both inbound and outbound products to help generate and convert leads. Although originally focused on telephone services, the company now offers a wide array to services to help businesses take advantage of social media. Like the other services noted in this section, Call Center Services has adapted to the new buyer.
- Connectize. This company focuses on real-time Sales 2.0 collaboration. The applications that the company created will help you build a social network relative to your sales operation. Connectize’s role is to take the mystery out Sales 2.0, Web 2.0, and Enterprise 2.0.
- Forrester Research. Forrester Research is a technology and market research company. Among all the services it provides to help you understand the latest trends in buying behavior, the one most relevant to The New Handshake is Social Technographics, which enables companies to profile the way customers are using the social media.
- Green-Leads. A pay-for-performance company, Green-Leads generates leads whereby clients only pay for those contacts that materialize. Connecting the dots between inbound marketing, outbound marketing, and performance, Green-Leads harnesses the full potential of lead generation. One difference with Green-Leads is that clients pay only for quality leads that it uncovers through a combination of inbound and outbound marketing services.
- Hubspot. Launched in 2006, Hubspot’s purpose was to give small to medium-sized businesses the tools they need to compete in the new digital economy. Hubspot provides inbound marketing software designed to help small businesses generate and convert leads from the Internet. The company’s big emphasis is on ROI. The goal is not just to put oneself out there, but to do it in a way that produces results. Among the software options available are inbound marketing tools to help customers find you online and to convert those visits into sales. In addition to software, Hubspot provides a wide array of consultative services and advice.
- InsideView. This company combines the intelligence gained from social media and traditional marketing services with the business of sales productivity. Beginning in 2005, InsideView has taken advantage of the social media to create unique sales applications to identify the new customer as well as generate leads. InsideView provides software applications to help companies make the most use of their CRMs and mobile devices. It helps aggregate and analyze relevant data to enable companies to uncover new sales opportunities.
- Phone Works. This professional company designs and implements innovative sales strategies by building inside sales teams and making better use of existing inside sales teams. The company uses the skills and knowledge pioneered by OracleDirect when that company created an inside sales strategy. Focusing on People, Process and Technology, Phone Works helps companies develop a strategy that will accelerate sales and increase revenues.
- Sales 2.0. Nigel Edelshain coined the term Sales 2.0 and launched the company of the same name in 2007. This company helps organizations push the envelope to create a Sales 2.0 strategy using the 186 APPENDIX social media. It provides everything from consulting and lead generation to training. The focus is on sales and increasing the selling potential of companies. Companies can choose to outsource components of the selling process or to use the services of Sales 2.0 to build a new selling strategy.
- The Bridge Group Inc. This company will help clients develop a productive inside sales team, with the goal to create an inside sales function that will drive greater return on investment. With a hands-on approach, The Bridge Group provides many services, including sales benchmarking, sales training, and a sales playbook.
- Xeesm. This company provides an array of software solutions to help companies create a better business experience using the social media. Xeesm has software to help customers find you, to help you grow your network, and to help you build stronger relationships with the new buyers. Other software solutions connect vendors to buyers through a network to disseminate content in real time to buyers.