ORLANDO, FL -- (MARKET WIRE) -- May 15, 2007 -- Sage Software announced today, during its
annual Business Partner conference, Insights 2007, several new business
support programs for its Business Partner channel, including coaching
programs for sales and marketing; BenefitProtect, which provides employee
healthcare benefit support; and Timeshare Recruiting, which provides a
shared recruitment resource that lowers the cost of staff recruitment. The
new programs are part of the Sage Partner Advantage Program, which has
received numerous accolades in the past, and most recently won a 5-Star
Partner Program rating by VARBusiness magazine. The new program additions,
along with a host of other program enhancements, provide additional breadth
and depth to Sage Software's partner programs, enabling business partners
to better manage, grow and market their products and services.
"New programs this year, particularly our coaching programs, BenefitProtect
and Timeshare Recruiting, tackle many of the pain points our business
partners face in building and managing their businesses," said Taylor
Macdonald, Sage Software executive vice president of channel and sales
operations. "We understand that the challenges faced by our business
partners change dramatically year over year, and the Sage Partner Advantage
Program will continue to grow and evolve to meet those needs."
Support for Business Growth
Sage Software business growth programs continually evolve to meet the
changing needs of business partners. From the highly successful Fast Track
for Growth to Saving Money with Sage, business partners rely on Sage
Software to help fuel sales, save money and grow the bottom line. Along
with enhancements to existing programs, Sage Software has added two new
coaching programs for sales and marketing:
Helping Sales People Succeed - Sage Software's new sales coaching program,
Helping Sales People Succeed, is built upon the fundamentals of the Sage
Sales Academy and the work of Mahan Khalsa to deliver concise, effective
and powerful online education and tools. The self-paced program gives
business partners the training, systems, coaching and leadership training
needed to create and close more sales opportunities.
Duct Tape Marketing - Sage Software has teamed with John Jantsch, small
business marketing coach and award-winning author of "Duct Tape Marketing:
The World's Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide," to offer Sage
business partners three programs based on the expertise of Jantsch. "Duct
Tape Marketing" is a series of seminars and workshops where Sage business
partners get direct instruction from Jantsch on creating a marketing
strategy and company positioning to help differentiate one's business from
the competition. "Referral Flood" gives Sage business partners the tools to
set up and reap the benefits from a profitable referral network. For more
grassroots marketing, "Search Engine Local Directory Listings" provides one
of the lowest cost methods of raising local business search results. All
three programs are offered at reduced rates and are tailored for Sage
business partners.
Support for Business Management
Sage Software is introducing a series of initiatives that help business
partners to improve their day-to-day business management. Among them are
BenefitProtect and TimeShare Recruiting, two new programs designed to help
business partners better manage the issues surrounding employee hiring and
retention.
BenefitProtect - The Sage BenefitProtect Program enables Sage business
partners to offload the time-consuming tasks of identifying, selecting and
administering employee benefit packages. BenefitProtect works with
well-known insurance companies, such as Aetna, Humana and Assurant, to
provide a variety of coverage options plus administers the entire benefit
program. BenefitProtect representatives develop company-wide programs for
Sage business partners or work directly with each of their employees to
design affordable, personalized health, dental and life insurance coverage.
Business partners reap the benefits of A-rated insurance coverage at no
cost to the company, plus a competitive edge when recruiting employees.
Timeshare Recruiting - An innovative approach to controlling the cost of
identifying and hiring quality employees, Timeshare Recruiting leverages
Sage Software and its extensive business partner network to guarantee flat
rate recruiting services. Recruitment and hiring costs of a traditional
recruiting firm can cost business partners up to 40% of a new hire's
first-year salary. Sage Software has negotiated a flat rate of $6,500 with
two renowned recruiting firms providing nation-wide coverage. Coupled with
Sage Software's award-winning training programs, Timeshare Recruiting
enables Sage business partners to maximize their personnel investments.
Radically Simplified Marketing Support - Following the mantra of making
marketing easier for business partners, Sage Software continues to hone
programs to simplify the entire marketing mix. Among many enhancements,
Co-op now features One-touch Co-op Processing, a program that enables
business partners to use co-op funds to purchase marketing services direct
from Sage Preferred Vendors without processing ANY additional paperwork.
Sage Software also has increased its Preferred Vendor network three fold,
giving business partners greater variety and selection of marketing
services.
Saving Money with Sage - Newly added to the Saving Money with Sage program
are services from FedEx®, infoUSA®, Orbitz®, OfficeMax® and
Sprint®. Saving Money with Sage leverages Sage Software's volume buying
power to enable partners to purchase an expansive array of business
products and services at bulk prices. The new additions to the program
provide further options for Sage business partners to save on shipping,
travel, communications and supplies.
About Sage Software
Sage Software supports the needs, challenges and dreams of more than 2.8
million small and mid-sized business customers in North America through
easy-to-use, scalable and customizable software and services. Our products
support accounting, operations, customer relationship management, human
resources, time tracking, merchant services and the specialized needs of
the construction, distribution, healthcare, manufacturing, nonprofit and
real estate industries. Sage Software is a subsidiary of The Sage Group
plc, a leading international supplier of accounting and business management
software solutions and related products and services for small and
mid-sized businesses. Formed in 1981, Sage was floated on the London Stock
Exchange in 1989 and the Group now has 5.4 million customers and employs
over 13,000 people worldwide. For more information, please visit the Web
site at www.sagesoftware.com/moreinfo or call (866) 308-2378.
© 2007 Sage Software. All rights reserved. The Sage Software logo and the
Sage Software product and service names mentioned herein are registered
trademarks or trademarks of Sage Software or its affiliated entities.
Contact Information: Media Contact:
John Schoutsen
Vice President, Corporate Communications
Sage Software
(905) 267-2873
john.schoutsen@sage.com
Stephen Moore
Senior Manager Public Relations
Sage Software
(949) 790 2040
stephen.moore@sage.com