Brainshark Clears the Sales and Marketing Channel Waters

Getting sales and marketing to communicate thoroughly and openly can be like trying to get oil and water to mix. Brainshark aims to change that with the release of its new Marketing and Sales Effectiveness Suite. The on-demand communications solutions provider created this product to help with marketing productivity, sales productivity, alignment of sales organizations and channel partners, and readiness of representatives in the field. Brainshark hopes that through cleaning out the communication channel between sales and marketing will help companies increase revenue and secure sales more quickly. Joe Gustafon, president and CEO of Brainshark, says, "Sales needs more effective tools that truly shorten cycles, and marketing needs better insight into what is not only being used, but what prospects are paying attention to." Coming after the release of the Brainshark Communications Platform in November 2006, the Marketing and Sales Effectiveness Suite goes beyond facilitating communication to help follow and measure campaign effectiveness as well. "I think there's this sort of divide between the marketing function and the sales function and also in the tools and the way they join up," says Teresa Jones, analyst at the Butler Group. Jones explains that this often creates a long sales cycle as well as internal frustration. Brainshark advances the message that communication is key in snuffing out these complaints and overcoming this obstacle. The suite is made up of four integrated solutions for sales productivity, marketing productivity, readiness, and alignment. These, coupled with Brainshark Presentations, Content Approval, Brainshark Unhooked, mobile support, translations services, and integration with salesforce.com all work to improve sales productivity. Podcasting, Brainshark Gateway for Microsoft LiveMeeting Content Approval, Campaign Services, and email list enhancement capabilities further enable marketers' productivity. Brainshark Rapid Learning as well as data integration and transcription and translation services support sales rep readiness. Alignment between the sales organization and channel partners is also powered by content services like video, presentation makeover, and voice services. Brainshark hopes that by integrating all of these components into a complete suite, sales and marketing will have everything they need to both complete their own functions effectively and work together. Although Brainshark may not provide a panacea for all of sales and marketing's woes, Alan Hubbard, senior vice president of sales and marketing at the Aberdeen Group, says that it may help. Hubbard was quoted in the press release as saying, "Offerings such as Brainshark's MSE Suite that provide a complete solution to address these challenges can have a real and lasting impact on sales and a company's overall revenue goals." Related articles: Brainshark's Improved Communication Forecasting a Flap From Crayons to Calculators

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