If you are reading this post, you may be one of the lucky people out there that recently received a custom piece of art from FirstRain as part of our “Don’t Get Run Over by the Competition” campaign. According to a recent survey, over 74% of our sales and marketing users reported that access to FirstRain helps them identify competitive threats during campaigns and make sure they stay ahead of the game.
With that information in hand, our marketing team brainstormed ways to communicate this benefit with our customers, and decided that they would appreciate a one-of-a-kind gesture. So we put one of our summer interns, Doug Huynh, to work. Doug is a graphic design student studying at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo and has extensive artistic experience.
Inspired by our own users who use FirstRain on a daily basis to identify competitive threats, Doug designed and hand crafted unique pieces of art using bike tires and paint. Using tires of different treads and widths, he hoped to create a visually appealing mix of textures and effects. The results are cool, one-of-a-kind pieces of art that not only look good on your desk, but also provide a good reminder to always be aware of what the competition is up to!
Feedback from recipients has been positive so far. If you are one of the lucky ones, turn the artwork over and go ahead and tweet out with hashtag #FirstRainArt the custom number of your piece! We’d love to hear from you.
Interested in one of these custom pieces, but haven’t received one? Drop me an email at dbarbosa@ignite.firstrain.com and, if there are any left, I will mail one to you!
We are happy to announce the beta launch of mobile calendar integration for FirstRain! To help our users be as prepared as possible for every meeting, our algorithms will prioritize the most important customer insights, delivering a different personal insight experience tailored to each user and their role prior to any calendar event.
We’re excited to empower our customers with the mobile calendar integration by helping them increase the quality and frequency of customer engagement, guide activities to drive more opportunities and reduce risk through real-time understanding of customer and market events.
In conjunction to the calendar integration, we’re also introducing the FirstRain Labs program to accelerate innovation between FirstRain and our users. We always want to make sure that the personal insights and the functionality of our solutions help and empower our users as much as possible—and what better way to understand that than from the users themselves?
FirstRain Labs will grant participants beta access to capabilities that are currently being researched and developed, as well as to focus groups where they can share ideas with the FirstRain R&D team and the larger user community. We’re actively recruiting lab participants—sign up here!
When respected industry peers highlight our company and our products, it’s incredibly special for us. So, we are extremely happy that we have been selected by Matt Heinz, founder of Heinz Marketing, as “Matt’s App of the Week.”
Matt selected FirstRain because, as he said, “Even with the proliferation of information available online, getting it all together and keeping it updated has often been a hassle… That’s where FirstRain really shines. You tell them what companies you’re targeting, including the type of engagement or business relationship you’re interested in. They then filter the entire Web for information about the company and specifically related to your focus areas, and share it for you in one easy-to-use Web interface.”
Matt has been using FirstRain and says it is a “huge time saver—and I’ve found it a source of intelligence I’m sure I wouldn’t have found anywhere else.”
Thanks again to Matt for making FirstRain this week’s App of the Week!
Read Matt’s entire post here and follow Matt Heinz on twitter @heinzmarketing.
This is the final part of a 4-part series addressing how Personal Business Analytics help our customers respond to the emerging mega-trends set forth by McKinsey on the Salesforce blog.
Growth through learning
These days, the market can change so much and so quickly that those who can’t keep up will lose out to those who can. According to McKinsey’s mega-trends, “collaborative technologies and lower experimentation costs are game-changers for business economics” and the “premium today is on learning quickly, not planning.”
But to really get value from learning from every customer interaction, companies need to be much more agile. From their supply chain operations, to human resources, to how their sales people adapt to changing customer situations, every group should be ready and able to pivot and shift on short notice.
When looking at learning specifically for sales teams, there is more data available than ever before, as the amount of content on the Web has boomed. Today, insights can be found in all the nooks and crannies of the web—but many sales intelligence tools only look at a small subset of content available, leaving sales teams with the same insights as their competitors or forcing them to have to spend valuable selling time using non-professional tools like Google to find what they need. As McKinsey previously outlined, in a world where sellers have to keep up with highly-networked super buyers, the emphasis on learning can easily turn to catastrophe if it means that employees are spending too much time searching for the information they need.
To meet this need and stay on top of this mega-trend of “growth through learning,” FirstRain customers are using very personalized information experiences across almost every business function: supply chain organizations use it to track market shifts and spot risk; human resources stays on top of trends in hiring processes; marketers get ahead of emerging industry trends and sales teams grow revenue by maximizing “learning from every customer or potential customer interaction” through insights that intelligently guide them through their sales cycles.
Agility and understanding go hand-in-hand, and having a solution that makes you both smarter and more flexible can change the game.
This is part 3 of a 4-part series addressing how Personal Business Analytics help our customers respond to the emerging mega-trends set forth by McKinsey on the Salesforce blog.
B2C-inspired customer expectations
With the proliferation of mobile in consumers’ everyday lives, as well as increased expectation of BYOD workplaces, both B2B employees and customers are coming to expect the same level of personalization that they get as consumers. In order to meet these B2C-inspired consumer expectations, “sales leaders need to develop frictionless and personalized models to connect with the customer across any channel.”
The need to understand how to really connect with your customers has led to the rise of CRM and enterprise collaboration platforms, but employees tend to resist change in their existing workflows—which can result not only in stagnating customer relationships but also in slowing sales cycles. The answer is to place intelligent guidance right where sales already lives, while providing value-based information stickiness in the tools you need them to use. This can be done with very specific, granular insights based on their role, product lines they sell, regions they cover, industry focus and market and competitor relationships.
Connecting with your customer anywhere, anytime is a priority—and as our FirstRain usage stats show across some of the biggest global sales organizations, mobile is the fastest growing platform to connect sellers with buyers’ needs. But for many organizations, gathering the customer intelligence needed to turn the sales team into customer experts is time-consuming. They are simply unable to create very personal experiences with basic sales intelligence tools they may have previously invested in, many of which don’t even have native mobile apps. Consumers today have access to almost everything they need on their mobile devices, from banking to finding their next date, so consumer expectations now mean having the same experience when it comes to customer intelligence. They want their phone to help them build better relationships with their customers so they can win more deals; so, when selecting a tool to match the needs of these sellers, consider:
Drop us a note if you’d like to learn more about enabling your sales teams with frictionless and personalized views that help them connect with your customers.
This is part 2 of a 4-part series addressing how Personal Business Analytics help our customers respond to the emerging mega-trends set forth by McKinsey on the Salesforce blog.
Micro-segments, macro-behaviors
Today, shifting buyer demographics are forcing companies to change their go-to-market strategies. For example, they must reflect the new buying behaviors that are emerging as millennials outnumber Gen-Xers and as cities in emerging economies contain the majority of new urban consumers globally. These shifts are leading simultaneously to more granular geographic opportunities and new but shared global behaviors. In order to be competitive moving forward, companies will need to develop strategies and philosophies that are flexible to meet both sets of needs.
These shifts are why FirstRain customers are leveraging personal business analytics to help their sales teams stay on top of the trends that are happening in their customers’ target markets—down to spending patterns. They need to know what’s top of mind for the consumers their own customers are targeting—is it security, ease of use, cost—and monitor those things based on how their own solutions can provide value down the line. What we are seeing more and more is that business professionals need a very dialed-in view of their customers’ customer, down to the micro-segment they are targeting. Getting specifics is difficult due to the amount of information available on the web today.
Using analytics to see emerging trends while they are still in their nascent stages is nothing new to large B2B companies, but when it’s delivered with intelligent guidance to sales so they know exactly what to do next, all sizes of company can develop a go-to-market strategy that is agile and responsive. And when they are the first to see what’s coming and adjust accordingly, they will always be one step ahead of the competition.
This is part 1 of a 4-part series addressing how Personal Business Analytics help our customers respond to the emerging mega-trends set forth by McKinsey on the Salesforce blog.
Highly-networked super buyers
According to McKinsey, new technologies are making gathering information—and processing it—easy and cheap, resulting in a community of “super-user” buyers, who interact with and influence each other by learning from each others’ challenges and solutions. In an age where social media is prevalent and options for whatever products you need are easy to find—74% of B2B decision makers are using LinkedIn for business reasons, while 42% use Twitter—sales leaders today need to deeply understand context, provide relevant answers to customers’ questions, and shape their customers’ thinking in order to improve the quality and frequency of customer engagements – and win.
So how can sales leaders achieve the same information experience that buyers have, but from the seller’s point-of-view? Only with powerful tools that scan the entire web for sales-driving insights can they become “super-sellers” and trusted advisors in the eyes of their buyers. It’s clear that without targeted, role-based enterprise tools, the noise and information overload from consumer-grade solutions is just too much. As many of our customer success stories demonstrate, having a dynamic, 360-degree view of customers helps sellers in verticals like technology and communications understand exactly what their own customers’ challenges are—along with WHOM and HOW they should engage. Reaching B2B decision-makers is not an easy task, so when you get there you must be well-equipped to strengthen those relationships with meaningful conversations that both teach and influence their buying decisions.
Whether a sales team needs to know about Data Center adoption trends, government regulations, or changing industry buying practices, getting the right breadth and depth of content and insights about their customers is the first step to adding value for these highly-networked super buyers.
Ask yourself: in order to go head-to-head with these new super buyers, are your sales teams easily able to:
If the majority of them are not, tell us why!
http://ignite.firstrain.com/opportunities/Changes in technology are radically altering the customer buying cycle. Customers can easily inform themselves of the options they have, and more often than not they find more than a few options that intrigue them. Because of these advances, sales reps are finding that their traditional sales strategy isn’t getting them as far as it used to.
Tiffani Bova, a VP Distinguished Analyst at Gartner, pointed out in a recent webinar that sales organizations will continue to see falling effectiveness unless they become more agile and responsive to what these new, informed buyers really want. It’s important for a rep to really think about whom their buyer is—what are they really looking to achieve with this purchase? What are the typical buying behaviors at that company? Will you need to convince other people to buy from you?
It all comes down to understanding the buyer’s specific market and needs so each seller can have a conversation with the buyer about the outcome of the deal, not just the deal itself. There is no doubt that each company’s challenges will be different, and within those companies different roles might also have challenges.
Think about your own sales teams:
Are they still stuck on their traditional sales strategy, of extolling the benefits of your solution without really thinking about whether or not their buyer even cares about those particular “benefits?” Are they too busy talking about the deal instead of the outcome that the customer will get?
The answer is not simple, and often requires a well thought-out sales process management program, but there are some things that you can start affecting today:
Your new buyers value different things, so make sure you equip your sales teams to sell differently to each of these buyers. For example:
Based on observations by Gartner and others who are closely looking at today’s selling environment, it’s a no brainer that sales reps have to move away from the traditional sales strategy based around products specs. They must embrace approaches about how their solutions can help their customers achieve their growth goals. Sales reps who understand that it is now necessary to change their approach and become much more focused on the customer’s specific business needs—by doing their research and knowledge-gathering—will win.
Source: BusinessWire
FirstRain Introduces Personal Business Analytics™ for Salesforce1
FirstRain’s Personal Business Analytics for Salesforce1 to be available this summer; It’s personal, it’s about your business and it drives revenue growth.
June 18, 2014 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time
SAN MATEO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–FirstRain, the leader in Personal Business Analytics™ that give every professional their own personal and persistent x-ray into their customers, markets, strategy and competition, today introduced Personal Business Analytics for Salesforce1. FirstRain’s Personal Business Analytics already provide executives with uniquely useful insights based on the company and business unit they work for, the role they have, the territory they are responsible for and the critical business drivers that accelerate growth. Now all this will be delivered in an intimate information experience within Salesforce1. Executives now have analytics that tell them what just happened in their customer’s business that they have to act on and what action to take next – right in the palm of their hand.
“The future of information is personal. We are now making Personal Business Analytics available to Salesforce1 users in this increasingly mobile-first world”
Millions of business professionals already use FirstRain to get their own personal, role-based analytics that provide unmatched and highly relevant details into the changing characteristics of their customers and markets, down to the line of business, product, vertical market and dynamic trends. FirstRain’s business analytics engine dynamically responds to developments detected in the global web and social media, combined with user’s changing business interests, to deliver the most relevant personal business information experience available.
FirstRain Personal Business Analytics will be available to customers via the FirstRain beta program. Within Salesforce1, professionals will now have the precise insights relevant to them and their business, so they can engage their key customers and immediately share key information with their team on Chatter – easily bringing the brightest minds together to work on their opportunity. And executives will quickly see in real time the opportunities and risks occurring in their territory alongside other critical CRM data.
“The future of information is personal. We are now making Personal Business Analytics available to Salesforce1 users in this increasingly mobile-first world,” said Penny Herscher, CEO of FirstRain. “Offering our products on Salesforce1 helps our customers be more deeply informed on the changes that directly impact their job, and their business, so they can make better decisions, develop smarter strategic plans, get closer to their customers, achieve greater sales and outwit their competition.”
FirstRain will be demoing the beta Personal Business Analytics App at the Salesforce1 World Tour in Dallas, Texas today, June 18th, 2014 as a Gold Partner, at booth #116.
About FirstRain
FirstRain is a pioneer and leader in Personal Business Analytics solutions for the enterprise. FirstRain’s mobile, cross-platform solutions provide sales, marketing and finance professionals analytics tuned to their specific company strategy and allow them to deeply understand their customer’s business and their markets. FirstRain’s patented, advanced analytics technology finds business-focused Web and social media and then integrates it seamlessly into the world’s premier CRM and social enterprise platforms, including Salesforce.com, Chatter, Microsoft SharePoint and Dynamics, Jive and Yammer. This intelligence is similarly incorporated into leading research platforms such as Fidelity.com, Dun & Bradstreet, Interactive Data and Mergent. Based in San Mateo, California, FirstRain also has offices in New York and Gurgaon, India.
Additional Information
Watch the promo video: http://firstrain.it/BETAS1
Follow FirstRain on Twitter: @FirstRain
Contact:
MSLGROUP
Merrill Freund, 415-512-0770
merrill.freund@mslgroup.com
Having to build consensus among your buyers is one of the most challenging parts of the sales process. It is likely that many of the stakeholders (and maybe even all of them) are driving their own personal agenda—and many times, they won’t match up, neither amongst themselves nor with you.
The Corporate Executive Board mentioned in a recent webinar that having to build consensus can be frustrating for the salesperson, because it creates price-driven conversations, lengthens sales cycles, increases the need for specialist resources—all of which can result in more stalled deals.
Though the great benefit to companies of having diverse teams has been proven time and again, the diversity of opinions and points-of-view can frustrate the salesperson by increasing tension and slowing the buying cycle even more. So what can the salesperson do to avoid falling into that trap? Make sure you truly understand your customer’s business before you even start talking.
Help all stakeholders understand the problems they face. Getting every decision-maker on the same page is the very task that seems insurmountable in the first place. But if you demonstrate a deep understanding of the customer’s business and present their business challenges to them, you can focus the conversation around those particular points—and eliminate side agendas that can distract from what you’re trying to do. Using personal business analytics, you can see critical events and trends within their market, helping you make sure that your message really resonates with them when you walk into the meeting.
Demonstrate that your solution truly meets their need. Once you’ve centered your discussion around a specific handful of business problems, it’s time to work your magic. If you avoid selling your product itself and, rather, position it as a solution to their particular problems, your executive buyers are more likely to see the value that you create. Since you’ve already gotten them on the same page as to what their business issues are, you are more likely to be seen as a trusted partner—and explaining how you can help them tackle those challenges will help you get ahead.
Though it may seem like an intimidating task, there are things that you as a salesperson can do to shepherd your buyers in the right direction. By truly understanding their business, you can clearly define what their needs are and how you can help them.
