As to the lack of rep involvement with the forum and got this reply from a regional manager:
"I have considered your questions and believe I/we have not done a good enough job of teaching the sales reps the direct and measurable impact to them. They choose not to access the Manager Forum because they are not perceiving the direct benefit to them and while I continue to speak highly of the tool during conference calls, one-on-one consultations, and new rep training, I have not provided the “what’s in it for me?" factor. I would suggest we consider this and develop a few examples of how they can use material found on the site to directly impact their capability to place more sales or minimize their support time to allow more time to focus on New Business.
I would suggest the following:
1. Identify a few key threads in the forum where the information is so dramatic (a workaround identified by our users, etc) that the information would most certainly solve a customer’s pain and secure additional sales.
2. Identify a few key threads where a customer’s support issue was solved without them having to contact Tech support or more importantly their field rep.
3. Identify referral stories posted by our users
I certainly don't expect our sales reps to see the forum as working shops would, however I do need to share some compelling reasons with them so that in turn, they transmit strong awareness of forum benefits to all of the shop mgmt software customers they come in contact with.
As shop customers, what are your reasons to visit the forum with some frequency?
If you've been lurking (reading not posting) for 1-5 years, it's time to fess up! Please post why you continue to loyally watch this forum!
There have been a number of initiatives undertaken to raise awareness of this forum, it's time to build some new type of asset that transmits the true value of the forum to a wider audience. I believe that this is built upon the real experiences we continue to share on the forum. People need stories to relate to, rather than facts & figures or the usual list of forum topics.
What compelling stories have you seen? Please send me your thoughts about why you frequent the forum, what it does for you, why more shops need to look at it. If you found a particular thread (discussion) is proof positive, please send the link or paste the text in an email or provate message I would most appreciate it.
I don't have a budget for this but would work to make sure that the best entries get some M1 swag of some type.
Let's get the word out! Thanks
