9 Reasons to Make a Software Purchase in December

Are you looking for a new software solution to meet your team’s needs, but you’ve had it on the back burner all year? If you’ve been contemplating a software purchase, and you have budget that’s almost past its sell by date, then now is a great time to act.

Before the eggnog starts flowing, we’ve got 9 reasons why December is a great time to invest in a software solution, especially one in Revenue Performance Management.

• Let’s make a deal! For vendors whose fiscal year coincides with the calendar year, end of year means reps are under pressure to meet annual quotas, giving you significant leverage for discounting. Unfortunately, this evaporates in January.
• Use it or lose it. (Budget, that is.) You may be sitting on uncommitted budget, facing a ‘use it or lose it’ scenario; which if left unspent, can lead to lower budgets in future quarters. This type of situation usually leads to wasteful spending, but using Q4 funds to purchase valuable infrastructure proven to generate a nice return kills two birds with one stone.
• Cash is king. Chances are, your company has the cash right now, even if a software purchase isn’t currently budgeted. American Companies are sitting on record levels of cash.
• Gimme a (tax) break. Software or services purchased this year are deductible from your 2011 tax bill. Would your accountants ever guess their marketers would know this?
• It’s the economy! The economic outlook for 2012 is more positive than 2011, so start ramping now to meet the increased demand.
• Crush your 2012 goals. Have 4 great quarters in 2012, not just 3. If you’re evaluating Revenue Performance Management solutions, getting a deal signed, sealed and delivered this month means you can hit the ground running immediately in Q1 and start generating incremental revenue that much earlier in the year.
• Grab their attention at Sales Kickoff. Have something to announce at Sales Kick Off that your sales people can get excited about! Do their eyes glaze over when you start talking about branding campaigns and program portfolios? Adding a solution like Marketo Sales Insight, that has the ability to make your sales reps more productive and help them retire quota, will make you a hero, even if your presentation is the only thing standing between them and the bar.
• Believe the hype! Lead Management is a proven technology delivering real value to companies like yours. Gartner ranks “hype” trends and Lead Management is currently on the “Plain of productivity” (the highest ranking), well past the “Peak” of Hype, and the “Trough of Disillusionment.”
• Your bandwidth opens up. You booked 5 days of PTO for the holidays, but do you really need that much time with your in-laws?

Regardless of what type of software purchase you have in mind, the bottom line is that December is a great month to purchase. If you are indeed thinking about marketing automation, then we invite you to take a look at a quick demo on how to turn marketing into revenue.

Is your company making any software purchases or upgrades this month? Share your comments below.