Marc!

Your keynote this morning is terrific, but you said that you were invited to Crotonville to present to Jeff’s top 40 and you were intimidated because GE is such a big, diverse business…from locomotives to aircraft engines… so you arranged a private meeting with Jeff Immelt in advance to prep!

Poor lamb, I am so sorry! Had I known I would have made sure you had access to FirstRain inside the sales cloud!

Imagine how hard it is for your customers selling to GE’s many businesses. Your solution just would not work for most of them, Jeff doesn’t have the time to meet with every CEO and every major account sales rep does he?

Every sales rep can relate to the challenge you faced… how to quickly understand, analyze and stay on top of your customer’s business — by business line — when the customer has multiple, complex businesses and markets.

But now you can have the vision and understanding to be in the pack with your customer, protecting and growing their business.

Aaahhoooooo!

Penny

p.s. I am on stage with GE Capital tomorrow morning, and the challenge you faced is just one of the problems we solve with FirstRain. Join us!

Marc Benioff - Vampire Hunter!

Hi Marc

We’re on edge waiting for your keynote tomorrow at DF12. You are going to save us from the social media vampires! Facebook, Twitter, YouTube… They suck our time and our attention onto cute kittens and political posts from friends-who-are-no-longer-friends-because-they’ve-“liked”-Paul-Ryan and, according to Anxiety UK we are now anxious if we are away from them.

You, like Abraham Lincoln, have realized they are planning to take us over, and you are going to stop them!

You’re going to tell us our work life is now social so they can’t suck our blood any more. Thank you!! Now we can stay focused, never get distracted from the higher purpose of Revenue, and our every productive relationship is captured in your database. No more blood suckers taking us away from our customers.

Hail to the Chief!

Penny

p.s. Knowing your customer’s business is like a wooden stake - it works every time.

Hi Marc

The little guys are teaming up! The structural shift from many carriers to a duopoly-and-the-also-rans is now visible in the center ring of the mobile industry.

The Rural Cellular Association knows what’s in a name don’t they? Yesterday they changed their name to the Competitive Carriers Association. Capitulation, or the little guys teaming up? The end game, or the beginning of a new match?

Either way, all their businesses make great customers for you, and your customers, don’t they–if you can only get the customer intelligence to stay on top of their fast changing landscape…

Gotta go, my phone’s buzzing,

Penny

p.s. It takes analytics to punch through the noise in the mobile carrier markets.

AFP FILE PHOTO

Dr. Marc

So you want to connect with cars!? Is this like the Dry Bones song?

“The heel bone connected to the foot bone. The foot bone connected to the ankle bone…”

True connectivity with your customer’s business and product lines takes intelligence, and not just the brainy kind. Patrick’s joined you from a Europe-Japan alliance. Does he know it takes a doctor’s scalpel to extract true business intelligence on the US car industry and the market trends that are impacting their product strategy? Talk about a noisy industry!

Ouch!

Penny

p.s. Want the precision surgery kit to dissect and understand the internals of your customers business the way your strategy needs to see it? Tweet me @pennyherscher

Hey Marc

It’s so very exiting that you’re hosting a girly geeks evening before Dreamforce 2012. I’m sure your female customers (like me) know salesforce girls are smart and geeky and will appreciate their awesomeness together at your show. I’ve even invited one of my customers to be on the panel with me - with the kind acceptance of your very own girly geek team!

9 days to go!

Penny

p.s. Every one of your customer’s sales gals can bask in their customer’s awesomeness with FirstRain

Yo Marc!

Is this how your customers who sell to Dell feel? Pivoting on a dime as the terrain changes? I’m sure you have the inside scoop from your BFF Michael but they don’t.

Dell’s trying the stealth PR approach on their move into their new cloud storage service with Nirvanix (ie. no PR) - but if you do even just one tweet these days it’s enough if a sales team has the speed and style to see it.

The twists and turns of Dell’s dramatic enterprise strategy, combined with their hyper competitive market, sure makes selling to them (whether directly or as a sell-through partner) challenging. Your customer’s need the latest polyurethane wheels and high end ceramic bearings to stay up on Dell’s business!

Back to my longboard (yes longboard not skateboard for this Californian girl)

Penny

p.s. Customer intelligence comes in abec9 precision for your board dude!

Greetings Chief!

I know Avon is one of your key customers (love the pink customization of their platform btw) - and I am sure they are an account you want to grow… because they are growing, and how!

My intelligence tells me India is an important growth market for them. What with launching 300 new products into the India market, and more importantly for you personally, they are tapping into the lucrative MALE grooming market. How does this impact your sales strategy? To Avon of course, not Larry!!

Have a smooth one,

Penny

p.s. You need precision on your customer’s business, just like your shaves

original meme

Hi Marc

Did you watch TV over the weekend? Hope it wasn’t as scary as your customer DirecTV’s new arrangement with Viggle.

They’re teaming up to provide rewards to DirecTV viewers playing with the Viggle app on their second screen while watching TV. Have you talked with Viggle about how you monitor social media in the second screen experience? Or are apps like Viggle going to suck little girls into their networks so you can’t see them anymore?

Back to the couch,

Penny

p.s. It’s scary not to have intelligence about your customers business at your fingertips these days.

Dear Marc,

Is Asia your soft underbelly at Fuji Xerox? Looks like you lost to Sage CRM at Fuji Xerox in Thailand. Such a shame after they gave you such rave reviews in the US 3 years ago. And now Fuji Xerox is investing more in the region, entering Vietnam for the first time. Ever though it’s manufacturing at first, are your co-adventurers all over it?

Like any powerful dragon you need to protect your underbelly. But with all the noise in the news it’s hard to know where you are vulnerable every day, isn’t it?

Peace in Middle Earth!

Penny

p.s. Email me if you want your enterprise sales team to wear the armour every day.

G’day Marc

Don’t analysts make you feel this way sometimes? They put you in the arena and watch you slay competitors and wild beasts, and then they’re never satisfied. Like Commodus, who doesn’t realize Maximus’ ultimate goal, the Street doesn’t understand that you’re all about growing the huge new cloud market. Near-term GAAP profitability be damned.

But if the pundits ever get you down just load up your Apple TV and tune in to some testosterone. It works for me every time.

Click!

Penny

p.s. For testosterone shots on your customers, email me

Hi Marc

Maybe it’s time for you to set up a recruiting service alongside of your software business? Groupon could use it today!

What with Lee Brown leaving, right on the heels of Jayna Cooke, not long after their rock star board member Howard Schultz resigned. Ouch! You need to make sure they hire replacements from your fan base.

But then maybe what they really need is your new Marketing platform? While they claim their customer sat is OK, their brand’s been sinking along with their stock price. Time for a social media blitz - and you have the technology!

Off shopping,

Penny

p.s. Every enterprise sales rep can shop for intelligence on their customer’s business without jumping ship