SilverEdge Senior System Engineer, Tim Rochette, Earns Project Management Professional Certification
SilverEdge Systems Software is pleased to announce that Tim Rochette, Senior System Engineer, has received his Project Management Professional (PMP®) certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI).
Schaumburg, IL (PRWEB) March 9, 2010 — SilverEdge Systems Software is pleased to announce that Tim Rochette, Senior System Engineer, has received his Project Management Professional (PMP®) certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI). The PMI is the world’s leading organization for the project management profession.

The PMP® credential recognizes demonstrated knowledge and skill in leading and directing project teams and in delivering project results within the constraints of schedule, budget and resources. In order to receive the certification, Tim participated in an intense course and then passed an exam confirming his thorough understanding of the materials and concepts presented. Members of PMI adhere to a professional code of ethics and are required to take professional development classes to maintain certification.

“We appreciate Tim’s dedication and commitment to obtaining his PMP certification,” said Maria Vedral, SilverEdge’s President. “We believe our clients will benefit from Tim’s increased understanding of client team work, up–to-date global practices and repeatable processes with improved project results.”

Tim has been with SilverEdge for two years. He has worked with numerous project-driven businesses such as architecture and engineering firms, construction companies and marketing communication agencies delivering Deltek solutions. Prior to SilverEdge, Tim was with Deltek, Inc. for almost seven years in a variety of roles including System Consultant, Subject Matter Expert/Support Operations and Systems Engineer.

About SilverEdge Systems Software, Inc.
SilverEdge, founded in 1988, provides business consulting services and software solutions to professional services organizations. As a Deltek Premier Partner, SilverEdge provides clients with a multi-disciplined, experienced team of professionals combined with leading enterprise management software designed to help project-focused organizations streamline and manage critical business functions and achieve business performance results. Please visit us at www.silveredge.com.

With 2009 behind us, now is the time to take stock of your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to ensure processes and decision-making tools are serving their intended purposes.  The suggestions below require reflection on company strengths and weaknesses, review of decision making processes, and good old fashion data scrubbing.  As always, SilverEdge is here to help by sharing best practices we have learned from working with hundreds of service oriented clients and our years of consulting/real world experiences.

1 - The Information You Need to Succeed

In 2009, firms cut costs.  With no costs left to cut, industry thought leaders agree 2010 is the year organizations will work to build top line revenue.  Deltek CRM reports can help.  Hit Rate reporting is a fantastic way for firms to analyze where they have been successful in the past by showing what percentage of revenue they were awarded vs. how much revenue they chased.  The power of the system allows your firm to slice and dice the data in many different ways - whether you would like to analyze information by client type, by business developer, by lead source, or any other field that exists in the Vision database.  This information can assist your organization in identifying its historic strengths for 2010.

2 - The Cost of the Chase

How much does it cost business developers and proposal production staff to submit for new work at your organization?  If you do not have historic data to answer this question, you are doing yourself a disservice.  Many firms choose to lump the labor and expense of the opportunity chase into the cost of doing business, but with a simple change in process, these costs could be taken into consideration when going after that “long shot proposal”.  A promotional project can be created in order to capture charges at the time of timesheet collection/expense reporting entry to give all a true sense of marketing costs.  Monetizing the chase is a powerful way to assist you during the Go/No Go Process to ensure your efforts are going after the right jobs for your firm.  

3 - Keep Track of Your Effort 

Many of you have spent hours putting together emails or physical mail pieces wishing your clients the very best during the holiday season.  As part of this process, did you use the Marketing Campaigns feature to track who received what?  Marketing Campaigns are a great way of capturing the efforts you put into client outreach initiatives that are not specific to a single project.  Not only will this feature allow you to track which contacts are attending what events, a Marketing Campaign identifies what efforts are leading to Opportunities/Proposals, and ultimately leading to revenue producing projects.  If you did use the Marketing Campaigns in ‘09, review your Campaign List Reports to see what efforts were successful and should be repeated/emphasized in ‘10 and which ones should be avoided. 

4 - Mailing Maintenance

Speaking of your holiday mailing - The majority of the emails/physical cards have been delivered, but what are you doing to the cards that are been marked as “return to sender”?  The industry average for returned mail is about 10%. Services oriented firms with a top tier CRM system experience far lower percentages on returns.  Now is the best time of the year for contact clean-up because if your list was near perfect before the mailing went out, you now have the opportunity for perfection by making edits to the “return to sender” contacts.  Also consider moving from the expensive physical mail pieces to an electronically delivered message.  SilverEdge received excellent feedback from our clients this holiday season when our mailing dollars went to local charities as opposed to the printing press and the post office.  

5 - Tidying Up for the New Year

Many clients we work with tend to create UDFs (user-defined fields) for the “need of the moment” throughout the year, many times to the point of clutter.  Are those once necessary fields still providing value?  If not, now may be the time to remove those unused fields and make the interface easier to use.  You don’t have to delete them.  Consider hiding them and see if anyone notices that they are gone.

6 - Changing Your Look

When was the last time your company’s deliverables had a make-over?  Now may be the time to change that corporate look or perhaps add another set of templates with a different look.  The focuses of your clients have changed, and this is the opportunity for you to change with them.  Will that municipal client think a colorful proposal is wasteful and will equate to higher prices?  Are you breaking into a new market and might benefit from a rebranding?  Did you inherit a brand that you are just not happy with?  Is it “just time” to make the change?  If you are using the Custom Proposal module, this it could be a relatively painless task to implement the new look without risk of losing the information that is already in the system.  If your project, resume, and text library/boiler plate information is not already in the system, this may be the year to implement the Custom Proposals module in order to increase the efficiency and data accuracy of your proposal production efforts.  

7 - New Feature Roundup

Have you moved to Vision 6.0/6.1 yet?  There are several new features in the system that make data maintenance a snap.  I have found the Smart Grid functionality to be phenomenal.  It is the equivalent to an interactive Excel spreadsheet, but allows you to view, edit, and add the live data.  The sorting/grouping and filtering allows users to drill down to just the information they need.  This functionality exists in all the info centers and is very easy to use.

8 - What’s Next?  What’s New? 

What about a social media update?  A good first step is to take a look at your company’s website.  Like it or not, your potential clients are visiting your web page and making split second assumptions about your company.  With the ease of Google, Bing, or Yahoo, potential clients are doing their homework online.  If you were an outsider, how would you rate your website?  In the coming months, we will be hosting a complimentary web seminar to solve the mysteries of effective web pages, Facebook/LinkedIn profiles, Twitter, and “proper web etiquette”.  We look forward to passing our knowledge and experiences on to you.  

We at SilverEdge hope you build upon your 2009 successes to make 2010 an outstanding year.  Are your current marketing and business development processes ideal?  If not, what are you doing to change?  SilverEdge is here to help you implement the tools and processes to not only compete in this economic market, but to thrive.

I have also been working with Maria on how we are going to incorporate it into the business.  I have been reading all types of blogs and websites, and Delphia has done a great job filling in then holes.  Everything from a SilverEdge FaceBook page, Twitter, LinkedIn, even YouTube where we can record some quick training tips and tricks for our clients.  Social Media is still new and fresh and although we are not on the bleeding edge, we are definitely ahead of the curve in our space.  It is going to be a great way to distinguish ourselves and eventually, pass it on to our clients.

First, the application.  To be politically correct, 6.0 and 6.1 has been a little difficult.  Some clients are having problems with printing - especially with some of the invoicing.  Some of our larger clients have run into issues and I can’t reccomend upgrading from 5.1 until after there is a major service pack release.

Once the 6.1 environment is a little more stable, I think clients are really going to like the little things that make the application that much more convenient.  The sorting/grouping in the info centers is something you appreciate the more you use it.  The reporting is very slick.  The look and feel is updated.  I like it, and I am sure thatyou will too once you give it a try.

TOUCHDOWN NEW ENGLAND - Game tied at 7.

Yes, I couldn’t be happier that football season started again.

What else you ask?  Work has been great.  SilverEdge has a lot of great clients and I have had the opportunity to chat with quite a few.  I have been circling back with a number of clients we haven’t heard from lately to make sure everything is still working as it should.

I have also been putting on a number of free web trainings with our clients with topics from CRM to Project Planning.  These are always great becuase I very comfortable with the topics and always like to hear myself talk.  If interested in registering, feel free to go to www.silveredge.com to register.  Check back early and often as we are always offering more. 

Speaking of www.Silveredge.com, we are having our site re-done and I am very psyched to be a part of the team.  We are working with the good people over at Delphia Consulting and I am learning more about this type of marketing every meeting.  We want more social media  incorporated into our site, and this I see this as being a big part of my job in the coming weeks, so I am sure you will be hearing more on this topic soon.

Other stuff?  Dad got another Camaro.  His garage is awesome and I get the wrenching itch everytime I go over his house.  We spent hours the other day looking at serial numbers on an engine block to try and find out where the rebuild came from.  Pictures coming soon.

I got a Harley Davidson Sportster immediately after I got married.  Small and a little under powered, but loud and a lot of fun.  It also makes a good reason for Heather and I to go out for ice cream.

Gus is getting less crazy.  At age 2 he is only twice as crazy as other dogs as opposed to being 4 times as crazy like he used to be…

More to come as I get back into the swing of things!

I look forward to the best few days and I am sure I will have much to report (and write down here so I remember it later).

To sum up the speakers….

Diane Chamness stressed:

Strengths are no longer differentiators (because everyone has strengths).  Competitive advantages are what clients are looking for.  Made me think of one of my favorite people in the world – me.  The Tim Rochette competitive advantage war chest includes about 10 years of experience in the professional services world, having the experience of visiting a couple of hundred engineering, architectural, and other services based firms over the years, the ability to think of my feet and apply the application I know so well to many of the situations I am in, wanting those around me to succeed, and being very loyal to those who give me a chance. 

You can’t sell anyone anything unless you know what they want to buy.

We all know the importance of discovery and conversation before we make try to make the sale, but are we asking the right questions.  A recent USA Today article stressed that with the economic climate dictating people’s buying attitudes, value needs to be stressed as much as possible.  Why not add that to the conversation before we start the demo instead of just assuming everyone values profit, utilization, and a low DSO?  So simple that I am a little embarrassed I have not been asking this question all along.

Rachel Gold and Liz Kuntz spoke to social networking tips, tricks, and best practices.  I.E. – this blog, Facebook, LinkedIn, and a touch of twitter.  Unfortunately, no one can really derive a good proactive business case on how to use these tools that are quantifiable, but instead spend the time with “paying it forward” type of a mindset.  Rachel and Liz had a unique point of how potential clients could use it as a tool for prequalifying products and services before you engage in purchasing.  You only have to qualify yourself once, and then you need to perform.  Some of the other key questions/points raised by the presenters….

Why use social networking?  No, not to find out that someone is “Going to Dinner” or other ordinary life updates.  The major reasons to use social networking is to achieve customer intimacy, credibility through authenticity, accessibility anytime, anywhere over the web, and to drive traffic to a website.  This presence is important because brand visibility

Business development tool

Intelligence on prospects

Accelerates sales cycle

Lead generation

Easy way to keep in touch

Tom Farley. 

Tom is not only the author of the recent biography “The Chris Farley Show”, but also the managing director of Farley BDG, a brand development consulting group.  Tom’s ADD was in high gear as he made some great points throughout the hour.

Tom spoke to:

Teams have a lack of commitment, avoiding accountability, and in-attention to results.  It is always how am I going to be perceived on this team?  An ensemble allows all voices to be heard.  Start with 10 basic ideas before you pick one to go forward with.

Think broadly beyond your brand.  What is your strategy? 

What is the Tim Rochette Brand?  Problem solving?  Be passionate.  There are no people who do it better.  Take ownership of the brand.  I will be the evangelist and find connection and disconnect everywhere.   Get the story out there. 

Branding is about telling a story.  Storytelling comes from a vision that can be developed into brand.  Stay away from length of service or intelligence.  Go above and beyond.  Find the story that is relevant.   How does the story differentiate you?  Tell the story.  How it changed you, what does it do to you?  Personalize it.  Make it passionate.  What do people think of Cambridge, MA?  Smart, MIT, etc.

Projects need teams and need planning in order to be executed.

Idea generation time requires an ensemble with voices to be heard.  It leads to innovation.

What is empowering you, what motivates you, what makes you run?

How do you make something boring exciting.  People need a brand that is tangible.  The people are tangible.  Not always doing what you are doing, but where you are doing it, who you are doing it for 

Excuse the jumping around above.  It really gives you a sense of Tom’s presentation.

Scott Klug spoke to the stimulus dollars and how to get them.  He spoke to Obama’s big three priorities of the economy, health care and energy.  Scott says that the stimulus package is not the bonanza that people originally thought it was going to be as the money has to go through Washington.  He also spoke to the Highway Bill that is yet to be finalized which means the stimulus is only half the amount of dollars that should be spent at this time.  If it was stimulus AND Highway Bill, more dollars would be spent putting us in a much better position for recovery.

Some of my major take-aways from this session include re-emphasizing value/return on investment with when working with clients, insights into social media(Wayne Schulz, Joe Rotella, Ed Kless and John Jantsch), learning how firms are handling the economy (Alf Nucifora from Nucifora Consulting Group) and learning a few presentation techniques that I will be adding to my everyday life (Joey Asher from Speechworks).  Most importantly, I was able to get an identity as a partner as opposed to directly working for a software vender.  There are some subtle differences I was able to discuss with some of my peers.

I was also able to put a face to a voice and email to Jim, a great guy and my sales partner who takes care of the business side while I concentrate on the technical aspects. 

Just add in some southern cooking,smooth travel, and a Sox game where Jacoby steals home plate against the Yankees and I must say this was a fantastic trip.

After the discovery conversation is had and the homework is done, it is show time – literally.  Either an onsite or a web meeting is scheduled to show a potential client how the application could handle perform or deliver what it is they value.  It is best to present to principals or owners of a firm because they tend to value insight into their firm, integration of multiple systems, and information delivery, as opposed to an Accounts Payable Clerk valuing an easy Accounts Payable system.  Do not get me wrong, the AP clerk shouldn’t be left out in the cold, but a big picture audience is ideal.

While making the presentation, I want to make sure that my proposed solution would be a good fit.  I want happy clients that will provide good references.  It is a small world out there, the decision maker or influencer in today’s meeting may be employed at another firm tomorrow.  I never want to leave a bad taste in anyone’s mouth.  More than once I have been able to cut a discovery call short knowing right away we were not going to be a good fit, and it would be better if we did not take up any more of a client’s time.  People appreciate that kind of blunt honesty in a sales situation.  First presentations are usually high level, with follow up meetings focusing on specific areas of the application where there are additional questions or concerns.  My job is not done until the potential client is comfortable that the application would be able to meet their needs and provide significantly more value than cost.

From here, the sales associate will put together a pricing sheet to the client.  A good one is always broken down by the various pieces of the application in order for the firm to make business decisions on value vs. cost.  Any software package is a major investment that has costs in hardware, consulting, training, ongoing maintenance, and internal costs of labor also need to be considered. 

What do I really enjoy about the job?  I love having the opportunity to move from company to company and meet so many new people and learning how they run their businesses.  I get to work in a team environment, be it with my Sales Associate who talks the business side as well as my potential client champion who gives me the information I need to succeed.  I love not having to talk money, but instead concentrating on showing value and allowing the client to decide.  Last but not least, I believe in my product.  The application is a great solution for any company that sells hours as opposed to widgets.  It is not the end all be all for a business, and there are some other applications or in house developed applications that work better for some firms (if you have the dollars to buy them), but it is definitely a product I would invest in if I was starting by own business tomorrow.

To finish the thought, A Senior System Engineer is some one who has been System Engineering for a while…

Let’s see how this one turns out…