Recent Posts by Brian Dayton

Guest Post by: The first of this blog series delivered a compelling argument for utilizing CPQ as a must-have component of your sales effectiveness efforts, based on performance results between adopters and non-users. Today, let’s get under the hood of this machine by exploring how the strongest-performing companies in Aberdeen’s research use the solution most effectively. What exactly is CPQ? Aberdeen defines it as “a technology enabler with which sellingorganizations manage...

Guest post by: Welcome to the first of our five-blog journey focusing on the fast-growing niche of Configure / Price / Quote deployments. My job here is to leverage Aberdeen’s objective research findings to detail when, where, and how CPQ is most effectively used to reduce friction in the sales cycle. Your responsibility is to learn, not so much from me, but from your peers, contemporaries, and competitors, whether your sales engine is running in top gear or not. The first...

Oracle Sales Cloud and Marketing Cloud customer Apex IT gained just that, a 724% return on investment (ROI) when they implemented these Oracle Cloud solutions in their fast-moving, rapidly-growing business. Congratulations Apex IT! Apex IT was just announced as a winner of the Nucleus Research 11th annual Technology ROI Awards. The award, given by the analyst firm highlights organizations that have successfully leveraged IT deployments to maximize value per dollar spent. Fast...

Post Authored By: Monica Raofpur, Allison Kutz, and David Goltz "Out of all the CRM project problems reported, we found the most significant threat to be slow user adoption." – Bill Band, Principal Analyst, Forrester So you’ve purchased a state-of-the-art Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system with the expectations of getting better forecasts, closing more deals, and ultimately increasing revenue; But whatabout user adoption? In a recent study, Forrester found that 70%...

You’re running a sales or sales operations team. You get invited to a number of events—or are spending time out of the office with customers. That’s your job. Another invitation comes along. You quickly scan it, thinking “what’s in this for me?” The Checklist New Ideas: Do you look outside your company, to industry thought leaders and your sales peers for new ideas? Career Planning: Is it important to look ahead—for yourbusiness and your career—to understand where Selling is headed...

You’re running a sales or sales operations team. You get invited to a number of events—or are spending time out of the office with customers. That’s your job. Another invitation comes along. You quickly scan it, thinking “what’s in this for me?” The Checklist New Ideas: Do you look outside your company, to industry thought leaders and your sales peers for new ideas? Career Planning: Is it important to look ahead—for your business and your career—to understandwhere Selling is headed...

Last week I sat down with Mark Vito a Senior Director with the Oracle Sales Cloud Product Management team.  Mark is the guy responsible for “everything Oracle Sales Cloud” that you’ll see next week at Oracle OpenWorld 2013 in San Francisco. It’s a big event so I asked him what folks should focus on if they had a limited amount of time. Here’s the inside line: The Big Picture – Moscone West is the Place to Be Oracle Sales Cloud sessions, demonstrations and otheractivities are...

When your sales team is in and around the office you’re working to make sure that your people are tracking to goal, focused on the right opportunities, and closing deals. It’s your job. It’s their job. It’s sales. Despite breakthroughs in video conferencing and online collaboration the average field sales person still spends half of their time each week on the road. In airports, at customer sites, or in-transit between. There is no replacement for in-person, look them in the eye,...

When your sales team is in and around the office you’re working to make sure that your people are tracking to goal, focused on the right opportunities, and closing deals. It’s your job. It’s their job. It’s sales. Despite breakthroughs in video conferencing and online collaboration the average field sales person still spends half of their time each week on the road. In airports, at customer sites, or in-transit between. There is no replacement for in-person, look them in the eye,...