Sales Prospecting Perspectives

Sales Prospecting Perspectives is pleased to bring you a guest post from Adam Becker, Director of Sales at Tinderbox.

It was my first time at Dreamforce in 2007, where over 7,000 attendees gathered in San Francisco to witness the unveiling of force.com, hear the inspiring sounds of INXS and listen to one of the greatest creators on earth, George Lucas.  I recall thinking, “There is no way that this massive conference could get any bigger or better.” Here we are, one week away from Dreamforce 2013, where more than 120,000 attendees are poised to take over downtown San Francisco.  As a soon-to-be seven-time veteran of the Dreamforce circuit, as both a sponsor and attendee, I feel compelled to share my thoughts on how to navigate this massive event and prepare both mentally and physically.

Do you wish more of your qualified opportunities would move farther down the sales pipeline?

I would assume the answer is yes.  

Part of the sales process for most technology companies is to conduct a web demonstration to a prospect or a group of prospects.  In my experience, this demo usually happens very early in the relationship building stage, at a critical time when the two companies are still rather unfamiliar with each other.

How fast summer goes by.  Now we’re back to autumn-scented Yankee Candles and Halloween costumes. I wonder how many Miley Cyrus bear costumes and Robin Thicke “Beetlejuice” outfits will be out trick-or-treating?  

I don't know about you, but I know my life revolves around technology: my laptops, my iPhone, my iPad, my GPS...  I could sit here for an hour and type about how much I rely on technology, but you get the point.  Most people use technology as a means of communication, using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, email, text messaging, FaceTime, you name it. We all rely on technology for communication because it's so convenient.  As a marketer, communication is very important, so I always try to stay on top of the advancing trends, learning how to grab prospects' attention, and overall how to make the best impression and delight both prospects and clients.  

In efforts to keep on trend, my boss and I attended Inbound 2013, a marketing conference that is held in Boston every year, to learn new marketing methods, hear from the best marketing and sales professionals and figure out how to ramp up our marketing efforts and take our company to the next level.  While there I met a handful of great new contacts and when I wasn't networking, my head was buried in my iPad jotting down notes and ideas.