SAM Singled Out for Enabling Sales and Marketing Effectiveness in Customer Management
Press Release
June 15, 2005

The SAVO Group (SAVO), global provider of hosted marketing and sales effectiveness platform Sales Asset Manager™ (SAM), announced today that Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC®)’s Customer Interaction Solutions® magazine (www.cismag.com) has named SAVO’s SAM as a recipient of the 2005 CRM Excellence Award.

SAM was recognized for empowering sales and marketing teams to deliver impressive returns in the areas of customer acquisition, retention and growth, as exemplified by its implementation at Fortune 22 pharmaceutical distributor AmerisourceBergen Corporation (NYSE:ABC). Award winners were chosen based on the ability of their products or services to help extend and expand the customer relationship to become all encompassing, covering the entire enterprise and lifetime of the customer.

“We needed a tool to add structure, customer focus and consistency to our recently-merged sales force and strategic account team,” said Marlyn Cascarina, AmerisourceBergen’s vice president of sales operations. “We wanted to institutionalize our Solution Selling sales methodology, automate production of quarterly Business Reviews and enable quick search and customization of assets such as newsletters and presentations. SAM helped us address all of these challenges, and we are thrilled with the results.”

AmerisourceBergen selected SAM in 2003, seeking consistency and control around the processes, messaging and materials used in selling and growing relationships. The company achieved quick payback on its investment. Independent research firm Nucleus Research reports that AmerisourceBergen achieved payback on SAM within nine months of launching the solution. The study estimates that AmerisourceBergen will derive a number of benefits from SAM over the next three years, including an increase in sales force efficiency and sales support team productivity, as well as improved brand value due to greater consistency and accuracy.

“It is an honor to be chosen by Customer Interaction Solutions for this award,” said John Aiello, co-founder and managing director of The SAVO Group. “This recognition is a testament to SAM’s proven ability to help marketers and salespeople impact the quality of customer contact—to go beyond the call tracking that is the essence of traditional CRM software. We’re proud of the results that SAM has helped bring to Fortune 500 organizations like AmerisourceBergen and of the partnership we share.”

“Customer Interaction Solutions® magazine implemented the CRM Excellence Award six years ago as a way of commending the companies that have proven to be true CRM partners to their customers and clients,” said Nadji Tehrani, founder and chairman of TMC, publishers of Customer Interaction Solutions®. “SAVO demonstrated to the editors of Customer Interaction Solutions® that its product has substantially improved clients’ processes for retaining their most precious asset...their customers.”

The CRM Excellence Award winners for 2005 will be published in the June and July issues of Customer Interaction Solutions® magazine.

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 ManagerTM (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.

About TMC™
Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC) publishes two print magazines: Customer Interaction Solutions, and Internet Telephony; five digital publications, SIP Magazine, Speech-World, WiFi Telephony Magazine, VoIP Developer, WiMAX Magazine; and the online publications TMCnet.com, Planet PDA Magazine, WiFi Revolution, Alternative Power and BiometriTech. TMC is also the first publisher to test new products in its own on-site laboratories, TMC Labs. TMC produces INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO, The VoIP Developer Conference, Speech-World Conference, IP Contact Center Summit and The Global Call Center Outsourcing Summit. TMCnet.com publishes more than 25 topical online newsletters. For more information about TMC, visit its Web site at http://www.tmcnet.com.