Dreamforce is an event that stands out in so many ways. From the 140k registered attendees, to how Salesforce effectively takes over the city of San Fran for a week, to the massive scale and production value of everything they do, to the entertainment and the overall social buzz it creates.  However, one thing that stands out most for me is their almost singular focus on the customer.  Before every Keynote they have 2-3 customers come up and tell their stories, the intro video for every Keynote is a customer story, every billboard you see is a quote from a customer with their logo and face on it, most of the breakout sessions are panel discussions with customers talking about how they use the app and the value they get from it.  They are one of the best marketing machines I have ever seen and for all the right reasons. Most other companies showcase their awards, products, benefits, etc.  They might put a few logos of prominent customers on their websites but rarely are they showcasing the details of the value they receive.

What we say about ourselves (typical Marketing stuff) is usually average at best, what Gartner says about us being in the 4^th quadrant is better because of the whole third party validation thing, but what our clients say about us is what really matters because without them we wouldn’t exist. With that, as sales professionals we need to learn more about the real value we bring to our clients from their perspective and be able to share those stories to attract new ones.  The best marketing materials we have are our Case Studies. A tip/recommendation I always suggest is to choose a different case study every week and learn about it in depth. Learn how to tell the story. If you don’t have any case studies then call up some of your existing clients and ask them “if someone were to ask you about the value you get from our solutions what would you say?” And try to get a concrete result out of them if possible.  Once you do, take that and start making some phone calls to similar type companies and say something like “The reason for my call today is we recently showed xyz company in your industry how to (results) and I wanted to see if this was something you’d be interested in talking about.”

Remember, at every stage of the sales process, it’s about them, not us.  Good luck and happy selling.