It’s that time of year again when the Salesforce juggernaut rolls into town, bringing along 8,000 “Trailblazers” eager to learn more about connecting with their customers. If you’ve ever been to a Salesforce World Tour – a regional spin-off of their annual Dreamforce event – you’ll know that there is no other software conference like it. It really is crazy.
In my marketing world, people do crazy things at events. I could write a book on what I’ve seen over the years (one exhibitor came along with a crate full of puppies). I could also write a fairly long list of things I’ve got wrong. And that’s why I always feel compelled to help others navigate the whirlwind that can be your experience at these events.
So, let’s concentrate on the most useful things you can do. The easy, straightforward things that you can specifically do at London World Tour on 23rd May. To help me, I’ve asked for advice from some of the best experts across the Salesforce community, from solution and service providers to technologists and company executives.
There’s more to Salesforce than just CRM
Back in 2006, Salesforce launched the AppExchange, a business app marketplace once dubbed “the eBay of business software.” It’s responsible for the creation of thousands of products and services that extend the power of the Salesforce platform – including Sapient i7, a platinum Salesforce consulting partner.
Stephen Aitken, CEO at Sapient i7, advises you to explore the customer expo to understand the vast range of apps in the ecosystem. Stephen says: “There is no need to reinvent the wheel! Understanding what is available to you to build hyper personalised customer and user experiences with limited code, enables your business to receive the benefits of Salesforce better, faster and with less risk.”
Techie or not, get your hands dirty
Not in the literal sense but try to spend a couple of hours in the various workshops, encourages our CTO, Wes Nolte, a Salesforce Certified Technical Architect.
“You’ll be able to get up close and personal to the technology rather than just hearing someone else tell you how good it is. See it for yourself. You could even participate in one of the Hackathons. It’ll really help to accelerate your learning.
Also make sure you attend the keynote. It’s a great way to get an overview of where Salesforce is and what they’re planning on next. But make sure you arrive early!”
You can meet Wes when he takes to stage and demos SalesTrip’s travel and expenses system in just 3 minutes for the renowned AppExchange #DemoJam. Catch him in the Customer Success Expo, Theatre 2, at 5pm.
Use the day to get exec sponsorship for your project
Getting executive sponsorship for the projects you’re working on can really help drive success says Finn O’Nuallain, Account Executive at Kimble, a professional services automation (PSA) solution built on Salesforce. “An exec sponsor ensures alignment to strategy and overall company buy-in, reducing the risk of low adoption.
Getting your execs along to World Tour – and Salesforce has an exclusive program for company leaders and executives if you can get them on it – is a great way to get a potential sponsor engaged and excited in your project. Speaking to your contact at Salesforce early can help you to secure one of the highly sought-after spaces on this program.”
Get out of your comfort zone
A sound instruction to leave us with from Will Davidson, VP of Sales at Sage People, a global cloud HR and People system.
“There’s so much attendees can get from Word Tour whether getting up to speed on the latest tech or hearing from innovative companies, big and small. At face value, HR and People leaders may not think there’s much for them but it actually provides the perfect basis for some out-of-the-office thinking. At a time when progressive People Companies are taking lessons from the customer experience and applying it to their workforce to great create experiences, why not hear from one of the world’s best brands on what they’re doing?
My advice is to get out of your comfort zone and soak up as much as possible from the sessions, even if they may not be focussed on your role or industry. You never know what nuggets you might pick up.”
You can find all four companies in the Customer Success Expo. Together, we hope the above tips prove useful and look forward to meeting you all in London on 23rd May.
