Press Release
January 18, 2005
SAVO Sponsors Series Designed to Improve Marketing Impact on Sales Effectiveness
The SAVO Group (SAVO), global provider of hosted marketing and sales effectiveness platform Sales Asset Manager™ (SAM), today announced its partnership with the American Marketing Association (AMA), one of the largest professional associations for marketers.
The AMA tapped SAVO to be a Customer Message Management (CMM) Marketing Partner for its CMM Forum. A series of educational programs led by a group of marketing and sales effectiveness industry leaders, the CMM Forum is designed to help companies improve the impact marketing can have on sales effectiveness. The Forum, which will take place throughout 2005, will include thought leadership events across the country, webcasts, radio broadcasts and more, providing marketing executives with strategies to partner with sales in revenue-generating activities.
“Along with the AMA, we share the conviction that marketing can and must add value to the customer conversation,” said John Aiello, SAVO co-founder and managing director. “In working with our clients, we've experienced first-hand the returns that can be generated when marketing unites with sales teams to embrace a charge far more integral than just branding. With the CMM Forum, we look forward to sharing best practices with organizations ready to take the same step.”
The CMM Forum will include on- and off-line initiatives providing practical ways for marketers to strengthen value propositions; elevate from product to solution orientation; deliver more useful and accessible sales-ready support tools; and establish consistent messaging through multiple touch-points. SAVO will serve as presenter at this year's first thought leadership event, “How to Make Marketing More Relevant to the Sales Cycle,” in Chicago on March 9, 2005. A complete schedule of events and registration information can be found at http://www.marketingpower.com/cmm.
“The marketer's most powerful branding tool is the field sales force, as truly lasting impressions are made on the front line,” said Dennis Dunlap, the AMA's chief executive. “Our partners have put this credo into practice with tremendous results, and AMA members are eager to learn from their experience. After just a few days of open registration, the first CMM webcast, on January 25th, already has attracted more than 1000 attendees.”
CMM, as a discipline, focuses on the utility of marketing messages within the sales cycle. SAVO's SAM is a platform for the access, customization, delivery and management of those messages within sales assets—presentations, proposals, documents, brochures, e-mail and more—in support of an organization's sales methodology. SAM is delivering powerful results for leading financial services and healthcare organizations. A Fortune 500 pharmaceutical distributor using SAM realized a 140 percent ROI and $1.5 million in benefits over the course of a nine month period, including an increase in sales force efficiency and marketing/sales support team productivity, as well as improved brand value due to greater consistency and accuracy. These results were documented in an independent study by Nucleus Research, a global provider of independent ROI-focused research and advisory services.
About The SAVO Group
The SAVO Group (SAVO) helps marketing and sales/relationship management teams work as one to drive business growth, leveraging technology as a key integrator. SAVO's turnkey hosted marketing and sales effectiveness platform, Sales Asset Manager™ (SAM), automates the access, dynamic generation, delivery and management of customized presentations, proposals, brochures, email and more. SAM has been proven to quickly and directly impact sales success by using resources more efficiently, effectively and collaboratively. The company is privately held and located in Chicago .