SEATTLE – February 28, 2012 – The TAS Group (www.thetasgroup.com), the leader in sales performance automation, today announced the availability of Dealmaker® 7.3 software, the latest version of the company’s solution for sales effectiveness in the cloud. Dealmaker cloud software delivers predictable sales growth for companies worldwide through real-time opportunity and account management, proven sales methodology, intelligent deal coaching, accurate sales forecasts, smart playbooks, and predictive sales analytics. Dealmaker integrates with leading CRM systems from salesforce.com, Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP.

Dealmaker customers will expand their automated sales intelligence and have better access to smart selling tools by taking advantage of the enhancements and new features in the software release, including the following:

Dealmaker for iPad® and Tablets

• Dealmaker supports mobile selling with touch-screen capabilities for use on Apple iPad and other tablets.
• The online video learning in Dealmaker Virtual Learning System is now iPad-friendly and no longer requires Flash®.
• All interactive selling tools, including Political Map, Strategy Map, and Collaboration Map now support tap, swipe, pinch, and other iPad gestures.

Improved Automated Intelligence for Greater Sales Performance

• Dealmaker Quicklinks makes sure sales professionals have the right knowledge and coaching at the right time by linking to marketing and sales materials and just-in-time learning from within the sales process.
• Dealmaker’s patent-pending Coach Me has been extended to offer automated real-time deal coaching from a broader knowledge base, and is now customer configurable.

Streamlined Account Management User Experience

• Account Plans in Dealmaker can include a mix of accounts and business units.
• Dealmaker provides access to all Accounts in a user’s CRM system from a single Account Plan.
• Extended configuration capabilities provide versatility to match customer account plan templates.
• The user interface has been redesigned to enhance the user experience.

Increased Capability for Global Organizations

• In addition to the existing multi-currency ability, Dealmaker now provides multi-lingual support for global Dealmaker Smart Opportunity Manager deployments.

“When traveling all over the globe, mobility means the world to me which is why the release of Dealmaker 7.3 is so exciting,” said Robert Janssen, Manager Professional Services and MDS Sales, Ricoh International. “I never leave home without my iPad. Being fully able to update my TAS plans on the iPad, especially during long hours at airport, will make life easier for me, as well at the hundreds of sales people within our international network, which will lead in an even better adoption of the methodology.”

“Sales professionals are becoming increasingly mobile and cloud-based, and their mission-critical tools need to be accessible from mobile platforms,” said Donal Daly, chief executive officer, The TAS Group. “This new release of Dealmaker is a smart sales performance application that will help them to generate more revenue and be more productive and more effective whether they are working from their iPad or laptop, anywhere in the world.”

Dealmaker version 7.3 is available now from The TAS Group.  For more information about Dealmaker, please visit www.thetasgroup.com.

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

About The TAS Group

The TAS Group helps sales professionals sell smarter and manage better using Dealmaker intelligent software and proven sales methodology. Dealmaker sales performance automation software drives revenue growth for businesses worldwide, including market leaders such as Xerox, International Turnkey Systems and Alcatel Lucent.

Dealmaker delivers real-time opportunity and account management, intelligent deal coaching, accurate sales forecasts, smart playbooks, self-paced learning, and predictive analytics, resulting in measurable sales growth.  According to the Aberdeen Group, customers of The TAS Group realize 21 percent greater attainment of sales quotas.

Dealmaker is easily integrated with business systems including Salesforce CRM, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Oracle CRM On Demand, Siebel CRM and SAP CRM. The TAS Group is based in Seattle with offices in Atlanta, Dublin, Ireland, and Reading, UK.

For additional information visit http://www.thetasgroup.com and read the Dealmaker365 blog at http://www.dealmaker365.com.

###

For further information, please contact:

Suzanne Rabauer:  srabauer@thetasgroup.com

678.336.0420

Combined SaaS solution provides integration of Dealmaker sales performance automation software with Microsoft Dynamics CRM to drive increased sales performance

Dublin, Ireland – 28th February, 2012 – Storm Technology and The TAS Group have partnered to launch Ireland’s first fully integrated Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Dealmaker® sales effectiveness solution. The offering enables businesses to systemically drive better performance, productivity and predictability from their sales organisations.

The new solution brings together the benefits of the Dealmaker sales performance automation software and proven sales metholodogy from The TAS Group, with Microsoft’s Dynamics CRM software. The solutions have been shown to help organisations accelerate the sales conversion process by 50 percent, improve team and individual quota attainment by 21 and 54 percent respectively and lower the cost of sales by 10 percent [1].

“This is a very exciting time for us and for our clients.  As passionate believers in the power of a structured approach to sales engagement and customer management we have worked hard to find technologies that would help our clients transform these concepts into bottom line benefits.  The integration of Dynamics CRM and Dealmaker now makes that possible,” explains Karl Flannery, MD of Storm Technology.

Built on the proven benefits of Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Dealmaker software from The TAS Group, this powerful solution drives real top and bottom line improvements for businesses, enabling them to:

• Sell smarter – by bringing an intelligent buyer-driven structure to the sales process
• Manage better – by providing predictive sales analytics, advanced reporting and an effective pipeline management system
• Be more productive – by centralizing information, easily accessed within a familiar Microsoft interface, from which sales and customer-facing staff can manage every aspect of the customer relationship
• Build better relationships – by providing a single view of every communication and interaction with the customer across every area of the business
• Reduce costs – by providing a unified view into all the customer communications and information integrated with Microsoft Outlook

“Offering Dealmaker software with Microsoft Dynamics CRM fills a real need for companies seeking to improve their sales effectiveness,” said Donal Daly, CEO of The TAS Group. “It has been repeatedly proven that integrating Dealmaker into a company’s CRM delivers increased revenue performance.  Our partnership with Storm Technology enables us to deliver very real, positive benefits to customers in a single, integrated solution.”

“Since the launch of Dynamics CRM, organisations across the world have been benefiting from its strength and enjoying return on investments of up to 243 percent, and payback periods as short as 4.1 months.  We are confident that this innovative partnership between Storm Technology and The TAS Group will drive even deeper benefits to the bottom line of Irish clients,” said Karl O’Leary, Partner Sales Lead and Microsoft Dynamics Lead, Microsoft.

Ends

About Storm Technology

Established in 1994 Storm Technology is a business technology consultancy that specialises in building solutions to help clients gain better value faster from the investments they have made in Microsoft technologies.  Storm is a Services Ready and Microsoft Gold Certified partner. They work with a diverse range of companies, both Irish and International, large and small and across many sectors and have offices in Dublin and Galway.

About Dealmaker

Dealmaker® intelligent software helps you sell smarter and analyze better. Real-time automated deal coaching, sales process methodology and smart reasoning deliver predictable, repeatable sales results.

About The TAS Group

The TAS Group® delivers unique business value from the tight integration of two disciplines: intelligent software applications and deep sales methodologies. According to the Aberdeen Group, customers of The TAS Group realize 21% greater quota attainment. Dealmaker® intelligent software is the engine that drives revenue growth for more than 850,000 sales professionals in more than 65 countries, from small private companies to market leaders like Xerox, International Turnkey Systems and Alcatel Lucent.

For additional information visit http://www.theTASgroup.com and read the Dealmaker blog at http://www.dealmaker365.com.

For more information contact:

Ronan O’Halloran
Storm Technology
CRM Practice Lead
rohalloran@storm.ie
www.storm.ie

Will Wiegler
Chief Marketing Officer
The TAS Group
wwiegler@theTASgroup.com

http://www.theTASgroup.com

SEATTLE – January 17, 2012 The TAS Group (www.thetasgroup.com), the leader in sales performance automation, today announced the appointment of Will Wiegler as Chief Marketing Officer. In this role, Wiegler is responsible for global marketing for The TAS Group and its intelligent Dealmaker sales performance automation software.

“Will has a proven record in building and driving growth in global, complex businesses. He understands what it takes to provide cloud-based solutions that deliver sales effectiveness for B2B companies,” said Donal Daly, Chief Executive Officer at The TAS Group. “I’m thrilled he is joining our leadership team at The TAS Group.”

Before joining The TAS Group, Wiegler was Vice President of Marketing at BigMachines, one of the fastest-growing cloud software companies, where he led the company’s strategic marketing programs, branding, and lead generation activities resulting in rapid, profitable growth and expansion of its customer base across a diverse mix of vertical markets. Prior to joining BigMachines, Will directed marketing, technical publications, and software development teams at companies including Digital Equipment Corp, Spire Corporation and CUSeeMe Networks; directed usability research at User Interface Engineering; and developed go-to-market strategies and branding for technology start-ups including Konarka Technologies and AnVil Informatics. Will earned an MS degree from Syracuse University and State University of New York and a BS degree from Hobart College.

“I am delighted to join The TAS Group and to work closely with this talented team to drive the Company into the next phase of growth,” said Wiegler. “With the surge in cloud computing and the growing focus on maximizing sales performance, The TAS Group has an exceptional opportunity to deliver the benefits of its software-driven sales performance automation to businesses worldwide.”

About The TAS Group

The TAS Group® delivers unique business value through the integration of two disciplines: intelligent software applications and deep sales methodologies. According to the Aberdeen Group, customers of The TAS Group realize 21 percent greater quota attainment.

The Company’s Dealmaker® intelligent software is the engine that drives revenue growth for more than 850,000 sales professionals in more than 65 countries, from small private companies to market leaders including Xerox, International Turnkey Systems and Alcatel Lucent. With features including real-time automated deal coaching, sales process methodology, and smart reasoning, Dealmaker delivers predictable, repeatable sales results.  Dealmaker is easily integrated with business systems including Salesforce CRM, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Oracle CRM On Demand, Siebel CRM and SAP CRM. The TAS Group is based in Seattle with offices in Atlanta, Dublin and Reading UK.

For additional information visit http://www.thetasgroup.com and read the Dealmaker365 blog at http://www.dealmaker365.com.

###

For further information, please contact:
Suzanne Rabauer:  srabauer@thetasgroup.com
678.336.0420

Touchstone’s B2B Sales Accelerator solution delivers Dealmaker intelligent software with integrated sales methodologies, all within Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Sales and business development teams can now take full advantage of a range of powerful, dynamic and flexible business intelligence including sales reporting, dashboard and data visualisation that can improve forecasts and insights into sales pipelines. TAS sales methodology, tightly integrated into Dealmaker software, has helped more than 650,000 sales professionals globally find and close deals using a rapid and agile sales process.

“I am delighted with the Partnership between Touchstone CRM and The TAS Group,” said John Paul, Business Solutions Manager at Touchstone CRM. “One of our key focus areas is helping B2B companies extend their capabilities around being more effective in Strategic Selling. This is greatly extended by the power of this partnership and the Dealmaker solution.”

Touchstone’s Sales Accelerator solution based on Dealmaker software from The TAS Group provides intelligent benefits for sales professionals, leaders and operations including:

• Increased confidence for sales leaders through greater forecast accuracy and coaching
• Deep integration to provide end-to-end analytics based on accurate, objective data in real time
• Configurable scoring system, resulting in reduction in cost of sales
• Automated forecast updates
• Account management maps to uncover business problems and solutions
• Effective use of social media to leverage community knowledge and identify problem areas, enabling proactive coaching

“Touchstone CRM are thought-leaders and innovators in adopting successful and fully integrated solutions across the UK. At Microsoft, we are confident that the partnership between Touchstone CRM and The TAS Group will enhance a great product and bring a unique solution offering to the UK market. We look forward to a long, successful relationship,” said Jeremy Haisman, UK Dynamics Partner Lead at Microsoft.

“Companies with challenging sales cycles and high value transactions can achieve greater success with their opportunity management, thanks to the integration of Dealmaker and Microsoft Dynamics, delivered by Touchstone,” said Donal Daly, CEO of The TAS Group.
“The partnership ensures that UK businesses can easily take advantage of the most advanced sales performance automation to sell smarter and analyse better.”

Touchstone CRM is part of Touchstone Group. Incorporated in 1982, the Group has more than 650 active customers and employs over 130 staff with market-leading experience in delivering successful projects. International recognitions include the Microsoft President’s Club 2011 and a Microsoft Partner Excellence Award in 2011.

About Dealmaker
Dealmaker® intelligent software helps you sell smarter and analyse better. Real-time automated deal coaching, sales process methodology, and smart reasoning deliver predictable, repeatable sales results. Dealmaker can be integrated with Salesforce CRM, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Oracle CRM On Demand, Siebel CRM and SAP CRM, or with any third party software application through the Dealmaker application programming interface (API).

About The TAS Group
The TAS Group® delivers unique business value from the tight integration of two disciplines: intelligent software applications and deep sales methodologies. According to the Aberdeen Group, customers of The TAS Group realize 21% greater quota attainment. Dealmaker® intelligent software is the engine that drives revenue growth for more than 850,000 sales professionals in more than 65 countries, from small private companies to market leaders like Xerox, International Turnkey Systems and Alcatel Lucent.

For additional information visit http://www.theTASgroup.com and read the Dealmaker blog at http://www.dealmaker365.com.

SEATTLE – November 1, 2011 –The TAS Group—the world leader in intelligent sales performance automation, today announced the Dealmaker Index – the world’s first global measure of sales effectiveness for companies and individual sales professionals.

Based on an analysis of 92 sales performance factors, mapped against proven successful approaches, the Dealmaker Index measures the effectiveness of sales organizations and sales individuals across areas such as deal close rates, sales cycle management, value creation and sales opportunity development. It analyzes their activities, behaviors and attitudes and their strategic alignment with their companies and the resulting sales velocity they can achieve. It then produces a detailed custom sales performance success roadmap for both individuals and companies.

The Dealmaker Index is available to companies free of charge at http://www.dealmakerindex.com.

“At InsideView we’ve long held that view that you should apply automated intelligence to accelerate sales;” said Heidi Tucker, Vice President of Business Development and Alliances.  “The Dealmaker Index is a stellar example of this, and is an excellent way for sales professionals to understand how they can improve.”

Absolute Performance Scores and Peer Comparison: Every participant in the Dealmaker Index study receives a Dealmaker Index score for their company, and a Personal Dealmaker Index as well as a ranking relative to their peers.

Actionable Data: At www.DealmakerIndex.com, participants receive;

• The Executive Summary Report identifies 5 key action areas for immediate improvement, as well as an overview of the company’s Dealmaker Index.
• The Company Detailed Analysis and Recommendations Report, provides guidance to the company on Strategic Alignment, Sales Process Analysis, Sales Velocity, Sales Coaching, Social Media, Customer Retention, Competitive Differentiation, Sales Methodology, CRM and Revenue Performance Management. This comprehensive report, tailored for the individual company typical exceeds 3000 words of in-depth advice.
• The Personal Dealmaker Index Report looks at the performance of the individual sales professional, analyzing his or her capability, how he or she approaches a sales engagement, his or her personal sales perspectives and the efficacy of his or her use of sales systems and infrastructure.

“It has always been difficult for sales organizations, sales leadership, sales professionals and company executives to understand whether their sales performance is really good or not,” said Donal Daly, CEO of The TAS Group. “They can only measure actual sales results, sales per head, revenue per customer or other such lagging indicators—and then if it’s not working— it’s too late.  With the Dealmaker Index, we are trying to help them get ahead of that.”

The Dealmaker Index has correlated activities, behaviors and attitudes to actual sales performance. It makes it possible to measure leading — not lagging — indicators, assess future performance and identify what weaknesses to fix before the damage happens.

“ES Research Group sees The TAS Group as the leader in the growing discipline we refer to as technology-enabled selling. As a sales process automation tool, Dealmaker is unmatched,” said Dave Stein, CEO of ES Research.  “The new Dealmaker Index enables every salesperson and company to determine where they stand in relation to other companies.  As a diagnostic tool it’s fast, it’s easy, and it will highlight critical strengths and weaknesses, giving users an objective perspective on their capabilities.”

“The Dealmaker Index represents yet another piece of breakthrough thinking from the TAS Group,” said Bob Apollo, CEO of Inflexion-Point Strategy Partners.  “It addresses a real and urgent need within the sales community: how can I learn from  the best practices of others and identify where my most effective opportunities for performance improvement lie at both an individual and an organizational level?”

Daly added, “We believe there is real value to be delivered to sales professionals around the world by enabling them to measure their sales effectiveness – in absolute terms for themselves and also relative to their peers – when benchmarked against the rest of the world. That’s why we are making this available at no cost. Dealmaker Index enables sales organizations and individual sales professionals to identify their strengths and weaknesses and develop an appropriate improvement plan.”

How the Dealmaker Index Works

The Dealmaker Index for an individual company is the measure of that company’s sales effectiveness, which translates to revenue generated for a fixed or variable cost. Whether a company is in growth mode, or in cost reduction mode, this fact always remains constant. The Dealmaker Index derives this measure using the Sales Velocity Equation™ which, for a particular company, business unit or sales individual, incorporates the number of deals or qualified sales opportunities that are being worked; the value of each sales opportunity; the percentage of those deals that are closed; and the length of the sales cycle. To get more details on the Dealmaker Index or to participate in the ongoing study and obtain results for themselves at no cost, interested parties should visit http://www.dealmakerindex.com where you can get your own Dealmaker Index for free.

About Dealmaker

Dealmaker intelligent software helps you sell smarter and manage better. Real-time automated deal coaching, sales process, deep methodology, and smart reasoning, deliver predictable improved sales results.  It can be delivered as a separate application or can be integrated with salesforce.com, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Oracle CRM On Demand, Oracle’s Siebel CRM and SAP CRM, or with any third party software application through the Dealmaker API.

About The TAS Group

We help our customers to sell smarter and manage better.  According to the Aberdeen Group, customers of The TAS Group realize 21% greater quota attainment—we think that this is pretty good! Our unique value is the result of combining two disciplines; (1) intelligent software applications, and (2) deep sales methodologies. Innovation is at the core of our efforts and the Dealmaker® intelligent software application is the engine driving revenue growth for our customers. In concert with our customers, and augmented by the vision of our leadership, our Customer Success Charter ensures that we deliver superior and sustained customer value. We have helped more than 850,000 sales professionals in more than 65 countries; from small private companies to market leaders like Xerox, Kodak and Alcatel Lucent.

Delivering sustained customer value is our passion. Our approach is different—and not for everyone. We believe traditional approaches to sales training are fundamentally flawed and, on their own; do not deliver sustained customer value.

If you have a B2B sale – where the sales person really makes a significant difference – then we can help. If you want to positively impact your business and measure your progress and return on your investment, then we can help.  If you don’t inspect and measure what you do, we are not sure how you know if you’re doing the right things—so we are very focused on both improvement and measurement. So far, according to the independent research (21% greater quota attainment), our approach is working— and we would like the opportunity to make that happen for your company.

One last point to consider—We are the only company in our market with our own methodology and technology R&D center.  Our R&D center is in Dublin, Ireland where we invest millions of dollars annually in continuous customer-focused innovation (and a few radical ideas). The company’s HQ is in Seattle, and we have a large presence in Atlanta, as well as satellite offices around North America. Internationally, our major offices are in Reading, England and Dublin, Ireland, though we have a presence in most major economies around the world

###

For further information, please contact:

Suzanne Rabauer:  srabauer@thetasgroup.com

SEATTLE– According to research by the Aberdeen Group, customers of The TAS Group, the world leader in intelligent sales performance automation, attain team quota 20 percent higher and 54 percent more sales representatives achieve quota than all other customers using competitive solutions.

The Aberdeen Group Analyst Insight report, Reaching Sales Quota More Consistently: Best Practices Adopted by The TAS Group customers is based on data from a survey this past summer of 835 end-user organizations to learn about their use of sales training to achieve better corporate results. Aberdeen Group published the findings of the benchmark study, Sales Training: Deploying Knowledge, Process and Technology to Consistently Hit Quota last month by Peter Ostrow, research director, Sales Effectiveness.

“Our approach has always been a bit different, with technology, intelligence and measurement at the core of our sales effectiveness solutions,” said Donal Daly, chief executive officer for The TAS Group. “We have taken a different path and we are delighted that this path is delivering results for our customers where the results show that reps are more than half again as likely to make quota.”

In addition to current sales performance, Aberdeen Group found The TAS Group customers adopted a number of best practices that map to successful sales team performance, including:

• Deployment of Guided Selling methodology
• Maximized deal velocity via sales stage analytics
• Regular forecast reviews associated with best practices in sales knowledge management
• Use of Predictive analytics associated with superior year-over-year performance improvements

Aberdeen Group’s Peter Ostrow concluded, “Add to this the value of empowering sales reps, their managers and company executives with role-specific views of the past, present and future – and better quota achievement should become well within the reach of an increasing percentage of companies as they deploy a more integrated approach to coupling sales effectiveness programs with predictive sales forecasting.”

About The TAS Group (http://www.thetasgroup.com)

We help our customers to sell smarter and manage better. According to the Aberdeen Group, customers of The TAS Group realize 21% greater quota attainment—we think that this is pretty good! Our unique value is the result of combining two disciplines; (1) intelligent software applications, and (2) deep sales methodologies. Innovation is at the core of our efforts and the Dealmaker® intelligent software application is the engine driving revenue growth for our customers.

In concert with our customers, and augmented by the vision of our leadership, our Customer Success Charter ensures that we deliver superior and sustained customer value. We have helped more than 850,000 sales professionals in more than 65 countries; from small private companies to market leaders like Xerox, Kodak and Alcatel Lucent.

Delivering sustained customer value is our passion. Our approach is different—and not for everyone. We believe traditional approaches to sales training are fundamentally flawed and, on their own, do not deliver sustained customer value.

If you have a B2B sale – where the sales person really makes a significant difference – then we can help. If you want to positively impact your business and measure your progress and return on your investment, then we can help. If you don’t inspect and measure what you do, we are not sure how you know if you’re doing the right things—so we are very focused on both improvement and measurement. So far, according to the independent research (21% greater quota attainment), our approach is working— and we would like the opportunity to make that happen for your company.

One last point to consider—we are the only company in our market with our own methodology and technology R&D center. Our R&D center is in Dublin, Ireland where we invest millions of dollars annually in continuous customer-focused innovation (and a few radical ideas). The company’s HQ is in Seattle, and we have a large presence in Atlanta, as well as satellite offices around North America. Internationally, our major offices are in Reading, England and Dublin, Ireland, though we have a presence in most major economies around the world.

###

All companies and products listed herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

For further information, please contact:

Suzanne Rabauer:  srabauer@thetasgroup.com

SEATTLE – Aug. 25, 2011 – The TAS Group (www.thetasgroup.com), the world leader in intelligent sales performance automation, today announced the launch of its Value Engagement Series (VES) (http://www.thetasgroup.com/sellingskills.html), an automated sales skills program for sales professionals.

The VES is the latest offering from The TAS Group – whose unique value to sales organizations is the result of combining two disciplines; intelligent software applications and deep sales methodology expertise. Sales professionals who are proficient in the VES programs have more effective customer interactions and generate more sales. Guided by the automated smart reasoning and collaboration tools in Dealmaker®, sellers gain access to influencers more quickly, improve their understanding of the customer’s business problem, and build credibility with the customer.

“Engage, Discover, Access and Influence are the four tenets of effective sales execution. But understanding the context of the engagement is essential to maximize mutual value. The smart reasoning and intelligence in Dealmaker is what our customers tell us is the core ingredient to their success using VES,” said Donal Daly, CEO of The TAS Group. “The results that Aberdeen (http://www.thetasgroup.com/aberdeen.html) measured independently – 21 percent greater quota attainment – are very gratifying, and give us the confidence to continue to invest in innovation to lead the sales effectiveness market. VES uses the embedded intelligence, born out of that innovation, to help sales people to help their customer to buy from them.”

VES is an intelligent and automated skills blueprint to help sellers engage with customers to discover what they really want, access and influence the buyers who really matter, and to present their preferred solution, aligned with the customer’s unique value. VES knowledge is embedded in Dealmaker and integrated with the company’s CRM so that sellers can benefit from the intelligent contextual application of the knowledge as they work their sales opportunities. VES skills are delivered using a blended learning approach – through a combination of eLearning, web sessions and workshops, and in conjunction with Dealmaker, to provide for sustained application and continued learning.

The VES results from The TAS Group’s acquisition of InfoMentis.  It combines the InfoMentis intellectual property that has been delivered to 50,000 sales professionals in 67 countries with The TAS Group’s Value Driven Selling methodology.  Incorporated in the intelligent Dealmaker application, it creates a superior sustainable solution for our customers. The proven effectiveness of the VES content has delivered the following benefits to customers:

1. 60 percent win rate on coached deals
2. Increase in sales win rate from 24 percent to 48 percent in one quarter
3. 95 percent sales forecast accuracy in the first quarter
4. 45 percent increase in overall sales revenue
5. 40 percent increase in sales quota attainment
6. Elevated customer satisfaction and relationships
7. Decrease sales on-boarding time by three months

The VES comprises two programs. Engage to Discover and Access equips organizations to understand the customer situation through the eye of the buyer – allowing sellers to understand and map customer problems and their related business impact and to connect potential solutions to the various needs they have uncovered. It enables them to effectively navigate to and interact with the key executives and stakeholders in the customer organization and establish a plan for working together collaboratively. Engage to Deliver Value focuses on the skills and techniques to provide the seller’s solution and value proof points in a concise and compelling way, reinforcing the seller’s competitive position and fulfilling their competitive strategy.

VES in Dealmaker is available today, and can be integrated with salesforce.com, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Oracle CRM on Demand, Oracle’s Siebel and SAP CRM, and, through the Dealmaker API, with any third party software application.

About The TAS Group

We help our customers to sell smarter and manage better. According to the Aberdeen Group, customers of The TAS Group (www.thetasgroup.com) realize 21 percent greater quota attainment – we think that this is pretty good! Our unique value is the result of combining two disciplines; (1) intelligent software applications, and (2) deep sales methodologies. Innovation is at the core of our efforts and the Dealmaker® intelligent software application is the engine driving revenue growth for our customers.

In concert with our customers, and augmented by the vision of our leadership, our Customer Success Charter ensures that we deliver superior and sustained customer value. We have helped more than 850,000 sales professionals in more than 65 countries; from small private companies to market leaders like Xerox, Kodak and Alcatel Lucent.

Delivering sustained customer value is our passion. Our approach is different – and not for everyone. We believe traditional approaches to sales training are fundamentally flawed and, on their own; do not deliver sustained customer value.

One last point to consider – we are the only company in our market with our own methodology and technology R&D center. Our R&D center is in Dublin, Ireland where we invest millions of dollars annually in continuous customer-focused innovation (and a few radical ideas). The company’s HQ is in Seattle, and we have a large presence in Atlanta, as well as satellite offices around North America. Internationally, our major offices are in Reading, England and Dublin, Ireland, though we have a presence in most major economies around the world.

###

All companies and products listed herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

For further information, please contact:

Suzanne Rabauer:  srabauer@thetasgroup.com

SEATTLE – Aug. 17, 2011 – The TAS Group (www.thetasgroup.com), the world leader in intelligent sales performance automation, today announced the first Dealmaker user conference to be held in New York October 13-14, 2011.

Dealmaker Velocity (www.dealmakervelocity.com) is being organized by the creators of Dealmaker, The TAS Group, whose unique value to sales organizations is the result of combining two disciplines; intelligent software applications and deep sales methodology expertise. According to the Aberdeen Group, customers of The TAS Group realize 21 percent greater quota attainment. Joining The TAS Group in presenting innovative sales effectiveness solutions at Dealmaker Velocity are Dealmaker partners Huthwaite Inc., InsideView, Datahug, Sirius Decisions, and the Sales Management Association.

At Dealmaker Velocity you will discover solutions and best practices to:

• Increase sales win rate and deal value with effective opportunity management and automated deal coaching
• Shorten the sales cycle and gain control of the buying process with effective sales process design
• Maximize penetration in key accounts with strategic account planning and customer collaboration
• Get sales forecasts you can bank on and a sales pipeline you can believe through predictive analytics
• Achieve continuous sales performance improvement through embedded learning
• Increase usage of Dealmaker and TAS methodology and improve CRM adoption

Dealmaker Velocity brings together a stunning list of speakers, the entire Dealmaker community, and deep-dive expert sessions. Speakers include:

Seth Godin, one of the world’s leading marketing minds, and Anne Mulcahy, ex CEO of Xerox, and chairman of Save the Children, will take the stage to discuss how selling smarter and managing better is critical to survive and thrive in today’s fast-moving and ever-changing economy, and meet or exceed revenue and profitability goals.

Donal Daly, CEO of The TAS Group and the visionary behind Dealmaker, is credited with changing the conversation in the sales effectiveness industry. He will discuss the current state-of-the-art and share ideas on the future of sales.

Umberto Milletti, CEO and founder of InsideView, has been a thought leader in the convergence of technology and content for 10 years.  Umberto will present his perspective on how Social Selling can help you change the sales game.

Bruce Wedderburn, EVP Channel and Enablement at Huthwaite will use practical examples to debunk the myth that bigger is always better when it comes to sales pipelines.

Connor Murphy, is CEO of Datahug, a business relationships software company.  Did you know that the most valuable networking information is just sitting there, right in front of you, right inside your company?  Connor will show you how to unlock that value – in just two minutes.

Jim Ninivaggi is research director at SiriusDecisions.  Jim will leverage his 20 years of hands-on sales enablement experience to give an overview of the state of the market and to show how to use data, knowledge and insight to improve sales performance and drive ROI.

These sessions are complemented by presentations from Dealmaker customers who will tell their experiences of how they applied Dealmaker to increase their revenue and profitability achievement – by as much as 400 percent.

For practical day-to-day actionable ideas, technology and sales methodology experts will provide nuts-and-bolts sessions on topics including: sales forecasts you can bank on, maximizing implementing success, customer collaboration, embedded learning for continuous sales improvement, tuning Dealmaker to your business, automated deal coaching, effective opportunity management, sales and buying process alignment, maximizing CRM adoption, and strategic account management.

For more information, or to register for Dealmaker Velocity, visit www.dealmakervelocity.com.

All companies and products listed herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

About Dealmaker

Dealmaker intelligent software helps you sell smarter and manage better. Real-time automated deal coaching, sales process, deep methodology, and smart reasoning, deliver predictable improved sales results.  It can be delivered as separate application or can be integrated with salesforce.com, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Oracle CRM On Demand, Oracle’s Siebel CRM and SAP CRM, or through the Dealmaker API with any third party software application.

About The TAS Group

We help our customers to sell smarter and manage better.  According to the Aberdeen Group, customers of The TAS Group realize 21 percent greater quota attainment – we think that this is pretty good! Our unique value is the result of combining two disciplines; (1) intelligent software applications, and (2) deep sales methodologies. Innovation is at the core of our efforts and the Dealmaker® intelligent software application is the engine driving revenue growth for our customers.

In concert with our customers, and augmented by the vision of our leadership, our Customer Success Charter ensures that we deliver superior and sustained customer value. We have helped more than 850,000 sales professionals in more than 65 countries; from small private companies to market leaders like Xerox, Kodak and Alcatel Lucent.

Delivering sustained customer value is our passion. Our approach is different – and not for everyone. We believe traditional approaches to sales training are fundamentally flawed and, on their own; do not deliver sustained customer value.

One last point to consider – we are the only company in our market with our own methodology and technology R&D center.  Our R&D center is in Dublin, Ireland where we invest millions of dollars annually in continuous customer-focused innovation (and a few radical ideas). The company’s HQ is in Seattle, and we have a large presence in Atlanta, as well as satellite offices around North America. Internationally, our major offices are in Reading, England and Dublin, Ireland, though we have a presence in most major economies around the world.

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For further information, please contact:

Suzanne Rabauer:  srabauer@thetasgroup.com

Based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, The CTA Partners is a coaching, training and automation company recognized as a leader in the sales performance space.  As the latest addition to the rapidly expanding Dealmaker^® Partner Network, The CTA Partners will drive The TAS Group’s Dealmaker^® and industry-leading TAS^® methodology, to companies in Latin America, both in Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese.

“Through our international operations in Europe, located in Ireland and the U.K., and headquarters in Seattle, we serve customers across the globe,” said York Baur, chief marketing officer for The TAS Group. “Extending into Latin America, in partnership with The CTA Partners, builds on our goal of helping companies sell smarter and manage their business better wherever they might be based.”

The CTA Partners will serve as a strategic partner for sales consulting and performance services to Latin America leveraging the TAS methodology, which has helped more than 850,000 sales professionals find and close more deals, and the on-demand Dealmaker sales performance automation platform that integrates with leading CRM systems from salesforce.com, Oracle, Microsoft and SAP.

“Latin America is a tremendous marketplace of fast-growing companies seeking the methods and technology tools to drive sales performance at home and in the global economy,” said Alejandro Peñaloza, president and CEO of The CTA Partners. “Through our partnership with The TAS Group we are now in a better position than ever to help clients drive their businesses forward in meaningful, effective and efficient ways.”

About The TAS Group
The TAS Group^® (www.thetasgroup.com) is the sales performance automation company that helps companies sell smarter and manage their business better. Its industry-leading TAS^® methodology has helped more than 850,000 sales professionals find and close more deals, and its proven sales process shows companies what they need to do to move opportunities through the pipeline.  The result is increased revenue, accurate sales forecast and pipelines, and timely information to make better decisions. It all gets delivered through the on-demand Dealmaker^® technology that integrates with leading CRM systems from salesforce.com, Oracle, Microsoft and SAP to produced sustained, measurable results.  And to ensure that sales teams get the full benefit, Dealmaker virtual learning delivers on-the-job training worldwide – reinforced by expert coaching.  The TAS Group hosts a range of free resources, including Dealmaker Genius, which generates a customized sales process in under 15 minutes, the Success Charter, which helps companies identify the revenue and behavioral objectives of their sales effectiveness initiative, and the Sales 2.0 Network, a global forum to discuss issues relevant to sales professionals in a Sales 2.0 world.  The TAS Group is the only sales effectiveness organization with continuous multi-million dollar investment in its own methodology and technology R&D center.  In December 2010 The TAS Group acquired InfoMentis (www.infomentis.com), a provider of sales effectiveness products and services – combining to form the largest provider in this rapidly growing segment.  The company is headquartered in Seattle, with international headquarters in Reading, England and Dublin, Ireland.

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All companies and products listed herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

For further information, please contact:

Steve Stratz (for The TAS Group)

Illuminate Public Relations

206.300.9134

steve@illuminatepr.com

The TAS Group (www.thetasgroup.com), the world leader in sales performance automation, recently completed a thorough assessment of its capabilities conducted by ES Research Group, Inc. (ESR), a sales training research and advisory firm. The TAS Group sought the evaluation to acquire unbiased, candid feedback on its strengths and challenges as a sales training provider.

ESR is the only company to offer independent, methodology-based evaluations of sales training providers. In 2006, it began publishing an annual Vendor Guide that initially provided assessments of 15 leading sales training companies. The popularity of the Vendor Guide indicated a demand for in-depth, impartial research and evaluations of sales training providers. ESR responded by dramatically expanding the number of companies reviewed, the depth of analysis of each company, and the options available to purchase the reports.

“We strive to help companies sell smarter and manage their business better, and do the same for our own business,” said York Baur, chief marketing officer of The TAS Group. “Participating in ESR’s evaluation not only enables us to improve our company, but, most importantly, The TAS Group’s sales technology and methodologies that more than 200 clients around the world rely upon us to deliver.”

“ESR understands The TAS Group as an organizational change agent with both the training tools and the ability to institute cultural change that will be persistent. Its intense focus on the market segment ready for cultural change is tremendously positive,” said Dave Stein, founder and CEO of ESR. “We definitely agree with and support the notion of the client accepting the software in the business model as a prerequisite for doing business. We think this is a strong, positive market qualification approach.”

Among the findings about The TAS Group, ESR’s summary concluded:

• The TAS Group has a broad array of intellectual property that can be deployed to cover both the discipline and management of selling.
• The TAS Group is remarkably effective at not only delivering training, but also inculcating a long-term change in student behavior. Its model for doing so has stood the test of time.
• At its heart, The TAS Group is an organization that brings about fundamental cultural change in its clients. Its programs, technologies, and disciplines are all geared in that direction. The firm has a very broad range of adaptable programs, reinforced by technology

ESR analysts use the results of probing questionnaires completed by sales training providers, contacts with executives who have hired the training providers, responses from client sales training RFPs, and ongoing interviews among their wide network of informed sources to write an initial report of a sales training company. Profiled sales training providers have an opportunity to review the report and correct factual errors before an assessment is published. Assessments are regularly updated and refined to accommodate changing information.

ES Research Group’s sales training provider assessments are available for a fee on an a la carte or subscription basis. An annual subscription entitles the user to complete access to all research and reports issued by ESR or individual company reports are available starting at $95.00. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.esresearch.com

About The TAS Group
The TAS Group^® (www.thetasgroup.com) is the sales performance automation company that helps companies sell smarter and manage their business better. Its industry-leading TAS^® methodology has helped more than 750,000 sales professionals find and close more deals, and its proven sales process shows companies what they need to do to move opportunities through the pipeline.  The result is increased revenue, accurate sales forecast and pipelines, and timely information to make better decisions. It all gets delivered through the on-demand Dealmaker^® technology that integrates with leading CRM systems from salesforce.com, Oracle, Microsoft and SAP to produced sustained, measurable results.  And to ensure that sales teams get the full benefit, Dealmaker virtual learning delivers on-the-job training worldwide – reinforced by expert coaching.  The TAS Group hosts a range of free resources, including Dealmaker Genius, which generates a customized sales process in under 15 minutes, the Success Charter, which helps companies identify the revenue and behavioral objectives of their sales effectiveness initiative, and the Sales 2.0 Network, a global forum to discuss issues relevant to sales professionals in a Sales 2.0 world.  The TAS Group is the only sales effectiveness organization with continuous multi-million dollar investment in its own methodology and technology R&D center.  In December 2010 The TAS Group acquired InfoMentis (www.infomentis.com), a provider of sales effectiveness products and services – combining to form the largest provider in this rapidly growing segment.  The company is headquartered in Seattle, with international headquarters in Reading, England and Dublin, Ireland.

About ES Research Group, Inc.
Based in West Tisbury, MA, ES Research Group (ESR) is a business advisory firm that helps companies evaluate, select, implement and measure their sales performance improvement programs. ESR offers a range of analytic and assessment reports, teleconferences and advisory services. ESR is the only source for independent research and advice on sales performance improvement programs and the companies that provide them. Visit www.esresearch.com.

# # #

All companies and products listed herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

For further information, please contact:

Steve Stratz (for The TAS Group)

Illuminate Public Relations

206.300.9134

steve@illuminatepr.com