Salesforce.com plays Google ad sales game: Big tease? Big letdown!
What does Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff have in Google store, after all?
Google piggybacks on Intel: What about Intuit? I underscored when Intel announced a not so "groundbreaking" collaboration with Google last month; I compared the Google Intel AdWords resale deal with the not so fruitful Google Intuit AdWords resale deal.
Upon the Wall Street Journals' tease a few weeks ago of a "major" Google Salesforce.com alliance, I predicted Google partners up? Salesforce.com deal NO Microsoft killer. I speculated a possible Google-Salesforce.com deal would also be inspired by the Google Intuit deal.
Moreover, contrary to the grandiose visions projected by WSJ, "“Google, Salesforce.com weigh alliance to battle Microsoft,” I also underscored, just three days ago in Salesforce.com CEO: Google is good, very good, the existing Salesforce.com-Google AdWords connection, which has been in force for quite a while.
This past Friday, I wrote about the ongoing Salesforce.com Keiden AdWords collaboration: Salesforce for Google AdWords debuted last year, designed as a for fee program, based notably on technology obtained with the Salesforce acquisition of Kieden Corporation, a third party search marketing company.
I aslo warned, however, that the Google-Intuit Web-based “alliance” announced many moons ago with much fare should NOT serve as a best practices for Salesforce.com emulation.
Apparently though, even the CEO Marc Benioff best of them finds it difficult to not be swayed by Googley charm.
Following perhaps one of its biggest recent teases, Salesforce.com now offers a big letdown: Salesforce.com and Google "are expected" to launch a "combined Web site" today that is designed to allow the online customer relationship management software maker to act as a reseller for Google's AdWords.
Google, Salesforce.com YAHOO? NO! (Not so) BIG DEAL!
While the "deal" may be hailed as representing a "market opportunity" of 900,000 Google AdWords customers and a pool of 20 million small businesses, neither Google or Salesforce.com shareholders ought to be uncorking any big future revenues champagne.
It seems that Benioff did not reach out to CEO peer Steve Bennett, regarding the non-event that Intuit's AdWords resale deal with Google CEO Eric Schmidt resulted in.
I projected a big Googley letdown for Intuit, from the get go, upon the Google Intuit announcement last August.
"We haven’t seen a huge lift" is how Bennett has subsequently evaluated the supposed QuickBooks-AdWords mutual booster.
I aptly predicted last August: Google QuickBooks 2007: Death of Yellow Pages, local newspapers? NO
I said of the Intuit-Google AdWords resale deal upon its announcement in 2006:
Google has been unsuccessful to date in capturing the small business advertising market on its own and in collaboration with a direct sales partner; Its alliance with Intuit does not present itself as a sure fire way to improve its track record.
Contrary to Schmidt’s beliefs, savvy small businesses are not waiting impatiently for Google to give them a turnkey desktop icon enabling Google to fetch all of their company financial information to do what it likes with.
Contrary to Schmidt’s beliefs, savvy small businesses are not waiting impatiently for Google to give them a turnkey icon on their desktop so they can get sucked into the Google-centric AdWords raise your bid continuously auction scheme.
NEVERTHELESS, big-time CEOs, of big-time companies, continue to set themselves up for big Googley letdowns.
The latest, Benioff of Salesforce.com, via his "new" Salesforce Group Edition featuring Google AdWords. Not quite spanking new, the Group Edition replaces Salesforce.com's entry level "Team Edition."
The big innovations?: 1) Link to Google.com for buying Google AdWords and 2) Salesforce.com analytics enabled Google AdWords client landing pages.
As I oft say, Google love does not conquer all; Neither does the Google "brand."
WHO WILL BE THE NEXT CEO TO "FALL" FOR GOOGLE ADWORDS SALES?