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dreamforce

Come See FirstRain at Dreamforce!

Nov 2013/in /by

Step into Your Customer’s Reality with FirstRain

 

FirstRain is ready and excited for Dreamforce—and we want to see you there! We’re doing a lot from Sunday to Thursday, so take a look below to see everything we’ve got going on… then follow us @FirstRain!

 

Booth hours are:

 

Monday        12:00pm – 8:00pm

 

Tuesday        2:00pm – 5:00pm

 

Wednesday  9:00am – 5:00pm

 

Thursday      9:00am – 2:00pm

 

Our booth is going to be our home base, and we’ve got some great activities going on constantly. Swing by Booth N1924 to:

 

 

  • Be served a drink by Chassis the robot. How many people do you know who can say a robot bought them a drink?

 

 

 

  • Win a FitBit Flex. We know you’ve been eyeing them… and maybe it’s on your Christmas wish list. If you come by the FirstRain booth and get a demo, maybe you won’t have to wait until the holidays to get one!

 

 

 

  • Learn how you can make your sales and marketing teams more effective—and help a great cause. For every demo we give of our product, FirstRain will donate $2 to Soles4Souls and provide shoes to people in need.

 

 

 

Want more? We’re hosting some great sessions and talks at Dreamforce this year. Come see how our customers changed their sales and marketing game:

 

Women in Technology Table Talk: Achieving Effective Communication

 

Time & Location: Monday, Nov. 18th: 10:30–11:00 AM | Moscone Center West, Women in Technology Salon

 

How can women take a seat at the table with other developers and make sure their ideas are heard? Join us at the Women in Technology Salon for an informal talk, featuring Penny Herscher from FirstRain and Lori Williams from Appirio, on how to get your message across with confidence and persuasion.

 

 

Changing Sales: How Enterprise Sales Use Customer Insights To Drive Sales Growth

 

Time & Location: Monday, Nov. 18th: 3:00-3:30 PM | San Francisco Marriott Marquis, Foothill G1 + G2

 

Arming your sales team with insights and analytics within salesforce.com that actually drive growth and improve sales productivity is one of the biggest challenges most enterprises face—but is essential for positive ROI. Join FirstRain CEO Penny Herscher and Quality Technology Services’ VP Sales Operations Chris Oberkfell as they discuss how QTS is addressing this challenge.

 

 

Become a Mobile Hero: How to Turn BYOD and Multitasking into Revenue

 

Time & Location: Tuesday, Nov. 19th: 11:30 AM-1:30 PM | Yerba Buena Garden, Main Tent, Table 8

 

Enterprise mobility and BYOD have dramatically shifted the work-life landscape, giving enterprises an incredible opportunity to take advantage of how connected people are. With the amount of personal time people spend time on their smartphones and tablets, however, enterprises need to think about how they fit into the multitasking employee’s mobile world.

 

YY Lee, COO of FirstRain, will lead a discussion about the opportunities that the constantly connected environment presents to enterprises. She’ll address the differences between enterprise and consumer apps, what enterprise apps can learn from the consumer world and how to reconcile the two spaces to turn BYOD and multitasking into revenue for your company.

 

 

New Reality: How Big Data Insights Help Cisco Stay on Top of Its Marketing Game

 

Time & Location: Palace Hotel, Presidio | Wednesday, Nov. 20th: 10:30-11:00 AM

 

Empowering strategic marketers to take action in a changing market is challenging, especially in today’s post-recession economy—but to compete, it’s essential. Join us as Cisco’s Charlie Treadwell and Zunesis’ Evan Escobedo discuss with FirstRain CEO Penny Herscher how Cisco uses a revolutionary market insights solution to develop and implement their go-to-market strategy.

 

We’d also love to meet with you. Schedule some time now!

 

agenda

Want to add an interesting session to your agenda?

Nov 2013/in /by

As Dreamforce approaches (it’s November, and that means there are only 17 days left!), we’ve finalized our booth design, have finally all agreed on what we’re going to wear, and have our giveaways ready to go. We’re preparing for a GREAT show.

 

What we’re most excited about, though, are our breakout sessions. This year, we have two—one with Cisco’s Charlie Treadwell and Evan Escobedo, and the other with QTS’s Chris Oberkfell. They’ll discuss how big data insights are helping their sales and marketing teams drive growth.

 

Charlie and Evan will be talking about how Cisco is using FirstRain’s Market Insights to develop and implement their go-to-market strategy. They’ll discuss some of the challenges their organization faced, the goal it’s trying to achieve, as well as the characteristics that were important to them when they were trying to find a solution.

 

Chris, on the other hand, will be speaking to Customer Insights, and how it’s helped his entire sales organization replicate the behaviors of the top salespeople—and why having deep insight into your customer’s business is essential to compete in a fast-moving, constantly changing market.

 

We hope to see you there! To get more information on our sessions, click here. You can also enter to win a Fitbit Flex!

 

So, what are you waiting for?

 

app exchange

Customer Insights Expands on Salesforce.com’s AppExchange

Oct 2013/in /by

For more than three years, FirstRain has been delivering big data insights to our Fortune 500 customers through the power of the Salesforce’s Sales Cloud. Today, we are excited to announce an expanded partnership with Salesforce and an upgraded version of FirstRain Customer Insights on their AppExchange.

 

The more than ten thousand FirstRain enterprise sales and marketing customers that access our service through Sales Cloud will now enjoy an even richer and more deeply embedded customer intelligence experience within salesforce.com. And the deepened relationship between our two companies means enterprise sales and marketing professionals can more effectively tap into the power of social and mobile cloud technologies to accelerate their businesses.

 

Our expansion into the AppExchange will not force our users to learn a new way of working; FirstRain’s Customer Insights are streamed and embedded directly into the salesforce client to help drive revenue by making every salesperson as informed as your top 10% achievers.

 

We’ll be showcasing the newly expanded Customer Insights solution at Dreamforce 2013, November 18-21, in San Francisco, California. See you there!

 

steps

Ready, Set, Go! 5 Steps to Push Yourself and Boost Your Sales Numbers

Aug 2013/in /by

By Ryan Warren, Vice President of Marketing

The yearly sales marathon is more than halfway done, so it’s that time of year when you may need to ramp up your sales productivity to hit end-of-the-year projections. Some reps are superstars at this; they’re able to push themselves all the way to the end-of-the-year finish line. Their secret? They’re in shape. They’re able to pace themselves throughout the year and gather sales intelligence early. Now, don’t think you can’t catch up—you can. The trick is to get out of your comfort zone, mentally zero in on your target and push yourself until the end of the year.

So here they are—five steps you can use to push yourself to hit your sales targets:

1. Determine What’s Holding You Back
There can be any number of things that are stopping your productivity. Is there one client that just won’t budge? Is your go-to sales approach just not working anymore? Identifying all your challenges can give you insight on your own sales productivity and help you realize the odds you’re up against. Pushing through to the end of the year relies on you knowing these barriers.

2. Use the Right Tools
Some of these challenges can be due to not using the tools at your disposal—or not having them at all. If you’re unable to connect with your customers, it’s probably because you’re not collecting customer insights in an efficient way. When running a race, you don’t put on sandals—you grab that pair of running shoes that fit your feet like a glove. Using the correct tools properly is one of the only ways you’ll be able to stay productive in the time you have left.

3. Do a Little More—On a Frequent Basis
According to the blog Time Management Ninja, creating daily goals that are larger than the day before’s can be a great way to start pushing yourself. Time Management Ninja suggested just taking an extra five minutes every day to finish a task or concentrating on making one extra sale a week can ramp up your productivity. Think of it as building your momentum so that you’re not struggling in the final stretch.

4. Rest
We all get burned out, so taking some time to yourself can help you recharge and refocus. In a piece for Harvard Business Review, Tony Schwartz, president and CEO of The Energy Project, recommended building up your productivity through intervals. Just like running a marathon, you can only push yourself for so long when you’re just starting something new. Try taking a longer lunch break to relax for a while so you’re more efficient when you return.

5. Know You’re Better Than You Think
Superstars often reach their targets because they know they can. Confidence is key in sales, so if you don’t think pushing yourself is a possibility, think again. Recognize that you’re stronger than you think, and all you have to do is tap into that power. Getting out of your comfort zone and pushing yourself relies on understanding you can be a sales superstar if you want to. You just need to condition yourself to think that way.

So get moving! Push yourself to make those sales and reach your goals, otherwise you’ll be kicking yourself later in the year. Take a cue from your rock star colleagues and leave your comfort zone—you’ll thank yourself when you succeed. It may seem cliché, but you can do it!

Road to Dreamforce

FirstRain’s on the Road to Dreamforce

Aug 2013/in , , , , /by

FirstRain is revving up for Dreamforce 2013, and to make sure we’ve got all the latest information, we’ve been watching The Road to Dreamforce on Salesforce Live. It’s been really informative and has helped get our creative juices flowing—except they stillwon’t tell us who the band is! Come on, guys!

 

The best part is that anyone can participate. If you have a question, you can easily ask in real-time: just go on Twitter and use #salesforceLIVE during the session. You might even get an on-air shout out and be famous like Justine!

 

 

If you missed yesterday’s episode, don’t worry. You can watch it here.

 

thinking

The Importance of Developing a Customer-Focused Sales Methodology

Aug 2013/in /by

By Ryan Warren, Vice President of Marketing

Every aspect of the business needs a standard methodology, but nothing requires an official set of procedures more than sales. With generating revenue being central to the business’ success, sales reps need a specific process to follow to optimize their interactions with clients. Even if your team already uses a set sales methodology, if it’s not focused on gathering and employing customer intelligence, you’re not going to see all of the sales opportunities you could be. Creating a customer-focused procedure that is standard to your team can boost your sales and improve client relationships.

Understanding What “Sales Methodology” Means
According to sales training firm Richardson, your team should think of sales methodology as “the system a sales organization follows to win business.” Now, this can include many things, such as documenting the process of pitching a sale, to the tools the team uses to conduct customer intelligence, but for sales teams to be successful, each aspect of the methodology it uses should be client-centered.

Yet it’s much easier to develop a customer-focused sales methodology than it is to alter an existing one. However, teams can revamp their standard procedures by taking a look at each aspect of the selling process. Does the first contact with the client focus on how your team can help them, or on what their issues are? If you can’t answer that question with a client-centered answer, it may be time for you to overhaul your outdated sales methodology.

Steps that Work
According to Salesforce, the Budget, Authority, Need and Timeframe (BANT) methodology is no longer applicable to today’s customers. They say BANT doesn’t work anymore because 70% of all purchasing decisions are made before the sales rep is even present.

With that in mind, entrepreneur Mark Suster recommended teams develop a sales process in the following way:

  1. Pain: Identify the customer’s challenges
  2. Unique selling proposition: Determine your product’s unique selling point
  3. Compelling event: Understand what is driving your customers to you
  4. Champion: Designate a mid- to senior-level employee who approves your company’s strategies
  5. Key players: Examine which workers will interact with the client
  6. Aligned purchasing process: Provide options for budget-tight clients

Suster calls this process PUCCKA. Each of these steps answers part of the customer’s question, “why should I buy from you?” Clients are continually focused on what you can do for them, so your entire sales methodology should be compelling your whole client contact team—including those in customer service—to always be interacting with clients in a regulated method that is centered on their needs.

The Key: Gathering Customer Intelligence
According to Suster, outdated sales methodologies are the biggest reason most sales don’t close; many don’t focus on providing a solution to client needs. A customer-centered methodology is essential to today’s sales team, and every procedure relies on one main tactic: how you gather insight into your customers and their market.

With a customer insights tool that allows you to research your client’s markets, you’re able to identify what is driving your customers to seek out a solution and determine the right champion for the sales team. Conducting customer intelligence allows key players in the sales process—most notably, the reps—to understand how to interact with the client and even identify if there is leeway in pricing. You’re able to understand the challenges they are currently facing—and may face in the future—and develop a unique selling proposition centered around that information.

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