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The day of the great salesperson is here, according to salesforce.com. Attending Dreamforce (#DF13) in San Francisco, I am blown away by the sheer number of people dedicated to improving the sales experience. Here are four insights on this topic from Dreamforce.
Vivek Kundra, EVP of Industries for Salesforce gave an excellent keynote on Monday – highlighting the fact that, more than ever before, companies must be customer obsessed. Marc Benioff and key partners are saying the same thing at the Tuesday morning kick-off.
The Cloud has made it possible for billions of devices to connect people instantaneously with the services they want, the communities who can help them, and the information they need. Customers are playing in the Cloud and companies who want to compete in future markets must be playing in those same places.
Winning companies are learning how to listen to their customers and seamlessly respond – or, even better, anticipate their needs – using the channels and devices that their customers prefer.
Of course, great salespeople have been doing that forever – meeting customers where they are and going to great lengths to understand the customer’s personal preferences and desires. Now, billions of apps and devices will make it easier and more satisfying for us to do that and to delight the people we love to serve.
Vivek showed us that over 80% of CEOs understand that getting to know their customers better is their number one priority. To those awesome salespeople who knew this all along, it is likely that your senior management is already investing in tools that put your customers and prospects at the heart of your activities. (Just like you always wanted.)
Last night’s keynote highlighted the truly amazing company, Trunk Club. They are fanatical about giving salespeople tools to interact with customers. Trunk Club is effectively creating a Platinum Member experience for each and every shopper.
This is great for the customer, but even better for you, the Great Salesperson. It’s who you always wanted to be, after all.
Access to information has always determined who holds the power in the sales relationship. Truly great salespeople have always made it their job to get that information into the customers’ hands. Now, technology is taking care of that for everyone. The balance of power has shifted to the customer. Buyers have the information and customers own your brand. In fact, your customers are becoming your brand.
Finally, the market will be forced to create great salespeople.
You will no longer be taught to chase that "no" or overcome the objections. You will be encouraged to connect in new and more meaningful ways with people who want to buy the stuff you sell. You will be empowered to offer resources to your customers that make them smarter and keep them connected to what they care about. You will be pushed to make your customers rock stars in their own world with their own communities.
In short, you will have the full power of the market, your executives, the internet, and the large budgets to make you the great salesperson you always wanted to be.
Will it matter to you that everyone will now be doing it? Of course not. Great salespeople always wanted to be part of an honorable profession. Your time is here. Today.
The training you will receive will lift you up and inspire you to be an even better professional than you ever imagined possible. You will no longer have to deal with boiler room selling environments. You will be awesome with people and they will love you and buy from you. And you both will feel great about it!
The clear message from Vivek Kundra, Marc Benioff and Salesforce’s featured customers is that being customer obsessed is the only way to succeed in the future.
Bringing a Dash of Dignity, Adventure, and Poise to the Art of Selling, The Irreverent Sales Girl encourages her clients to seek new horizons and honor their own muse. She offers compelling messages that remind you of who you are and what is possible; a message of hope, challenge, and new thinking – just when you needed it most.
Learn more about winning sales techniques in this free salesforce ebook below.
