Heard and Overheard

"Direct marketers with a mix of marketing, sales, and support experience are in demand. One direct marketer recently landed a high-paying job at a large retailer because she knows the technology, how to write scripts for call center agents, and has marketing and cross-sell and upsell experience. Direct marketers with this mix of knowledge can command any salary they want." --Karen Tripi, president of recruiting firm Karen Tripi Associates "The ACD you bought is not the nirvana they told you it was. Telecoms actually think they sell CRM. They don't. They don't have anything that sits on the desktop. They can sell you something that answers the phone, but not a true CRM application that the agent can use to service customers." --Tim Davis, president and CTO, VisionWare "Trying to convince people you don't compete with Siebel and the big boys is ridiculous." --Rod Johnson, vice president, research, AMR Research, on mid-market CRM vendors "There are three things mid-market customers want: a highly flexible architecture, a robust suite of applications, and ease of implementation." --Jesper Andersen, executive vice president of products, Pivotal Corp. "CRM buyers need to be aware of possible unexpected hidden costs like integration. Did you pay for a car, but the engine is missing?" --Jeffrey Read, vice president and general manager, PeopleSoft MidMarket