Ad Sales Genius

Pros

Ad Sales Genius is by far the very best cloud-based CRM and all-in-one publishing solution in the media business. I could go on and on about each area I will list below, but Ad Sales Genius truly has everything covered. I especially like that ASG is built to drive sales and with the integrations with VOIP providers for click-to-dial features that ultimately increase productivity in daily call volume... to sending insertion orders via Docusign for a quick digital signature, it really helps your team and your clients.

- Reporting... I don't think I've ever work with a better system that has thought of it all. You don't need custom reports with Ad Sales Genius... there are reports for everything and anything you can think of.

- Production... managing artwork proofs and sending via ASG for approvals at the click of a button. Then having the approved ad assigned and visually accessible to that particular insertion is great!

- Flat planning! The ability to go in and build a visual of your publication, dropping in all the editorial content and ads where they should be. Designers can have this as a guideline giving them more time to be creative.

- Workflows... "When this happens, the system needs to do this..." We're just getting into this as it's a new feature but in our early testing, we love it. This will really help assist our media reps to better assist their clients.

There are just far too many pros to list. Invoicing / Commissions / Templates... it just does it all.

Cons

The real con is that I didn't know about Ad Sales Genius when they first came to market!

Pros

The ability for the entire organization to begin communicating under one primary CRM software. Sales/Marketing, Operations and Finance departments are all utilizing the same source for information for the first time in our companies histroy. Our internal communication as a company has benefited in a dramatic way!

Cons

1) Limitations on being able to place reports on dashboards. For sales reps, some of the most useful information is found under "Advertisers & Leads" .. for instance, last insertion date for contracts that are expiring.
2) Limitation on the ability to utilize Marketing Automation, Lead Segmentation and planned communication that is based on the timeline that is relevant to the individual contact. We are still utilizing Infusionsoft for our Marketing Campaigns.
3) On-boarding experience could be improved. I feel that we are still only utilizing 50% of what this software is designed to do. Part of that is because our team may not realize what is possible and they have found routines or even developed daily patterns around thier understanding of the software. I know that we have made decisions on needed processes within the business, based on a limited understanding of the software and how other companies are maximizing the potential. - I would recommend "assessments that are initiated by ASG every 90 days" that allows you to communicate to clients how the software could better optimize thier work. Also, those touchpoints could help generate the feedback you may need, if your looking at ways to expand the softwares capabilities.

Pros

I like the ability to use ASG across all of our departments, from sales organization, sales, forecasting, production, accounting and even editorial from time to time. We have different kinds of products, some are inventory and time based, others are monthly, others are quarterly and all fit into this one CRM.

Cons

If ASG had an email sequencing tool than we would be able to save even more money on our sequencing software.

Pros

There is very little I liked about this software.

Cons

When we signed up for this software, we were sold on features that, unknown to us, were not fully functional, nor anywhere close to being fully functional. Specifically, we were told this software had a trade show sales function that allowed vendors to select booths from an interactive map which was exactly what we needed. We prepaid for a year of service anticipating that this software offered this among many other features. When we tried to use this function, we found out it not ready to use and would instead be "coming soon." We were also told by the sales rep that she never actually said that it did have this feature and unfortunately we were stuck for a full year. We were not off to a great start. Our sales rep also failed to mention that MOST everything else we purchased this software for would require us to purchase several other apps in order to work. Strike 2 - at least be honest about what will be needed to make this software work! I purchased this to REPLACE other apps, not be forced to add new and more expensive ones. Otherwise, set up of literally everything involved with this software is terribly complicated and this software is not at all intuitive to use. I get that there is a learning curve to anything, but when a "solution" makes processes two and three times more difficult and complicated, it's not a solution at all.

Pros

The usability of this software is leaps and bounds above other systems i've used. It's helped our company organise all communication and information into one organised format.

Cons

The third party extension for the email integration is rather patchy.