Dreamforce Presentation on salesforce.com Adoption
Presentation Summary:
| salesforce.com taped
this presentation
delivered by Dell at
Dreamforce,
salesforce.com’s global
conference. The
presentation focused on
best practices for
driving salesforce.com
adoption. This page
provides a link to the
presentation recorded by
salesforce.com and a
summary of the key
points.
Prior to August 2007, Dell did not have a unified CRM to coordinate the sales activities of a 20,000 member sales organization. In her presentation, Frankiewicz addresses the obstacles Dell faced in rolling out salesforce.com, the key components that led to successful adoption, and the benefits realized in the process so far. |
Dell identified two critical elements to drive salesforce.com adoption:
- Front Line Sales Buy In - Getting field reps and inside reps to use salesforce.com and the sales process are two main drivers to improving effectives and creating ROI. Dell attacked this challenge by recruiting "field evangelists" to share best practices, and by deploying monthly webcasts to address the latest updates in salesforce.com, the key metrics being measured in the adoption strategy and the scorecard, and recorded best practices in the form of Knowledge Nuggets.
- Executive Buy In – Without robust executive support, salesforce.com adoption would be inconsistent and ineffective. To increase the value of salesforce.com for its executives, Dell interviewed leadership to identify specific performance gaps the executives were concerned with. Dashboards were then built for the global executives around issues like pipeline management, win/loss, and activity management, to provide them with real time information needed to oversee operations. Executives also agreed to include salesforce.com metrics in sales rep performance plans.
Dell also identified two important best practices for driving salesforce.com adoption:
- Communication – In order for salesforce.com adoption to spread throughout the organization, messaging referencing expectations and processes surrounding the implementation and operation of salesforce.com were centralized to ensure consistency and relevancy.
- Support Process – Users must have access to timely and knowledgeable support at all times. Dell provides in-house support, so that reps know exactly when and how support will be accessible to them. Dell also makes use of salesforce.com Premier support as a second support option.
Finally, Dell determined that in order to drive maximum salesforce.com proficiency and adoption, they needed a targeted Sales Enablement process. To achieve this goal, they contracted with Baker Communications, a leading provider of sales transformation services, including the effective deployment of salesforce.com. Baker’s unique program provided "day-in-the-life" practical salesforce.com training focused on generating revenue while accelerating adoption and generating significant, measurable ROI. The pilot program was built around:
- 6 sales teams
- A coordinated sales and marketing play that extended over 12 Weeks
- Weekly 90-minute training/coaching sessions delivered via WebEx
At the end of 12 weeks, the results of the pilot program were:
- Revenue up 19% from last year
- Account Planning up 76% from last quarter
- 89% Follow up on leads, a 36% increase.
