5 Coolest Things We Heard & Saw at Convergence (+5 Superlatives) by InsideView

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5 Coolest Things We Heard & Saw at Convergence (+5 Superlatives)

#1 - Reducing Tension in Sales Greatly Affects ROI
Buying/selling relationships typically begin with high levels of tension, evidenced by resistance and objections, leading to slowed or halted business deals. By contrast, if salespeople can reduce tension, create trust and build intimacy in their customer relationships, they dramatically affect ROI. The end result? Customers raise fewer objections, are more willing to cut through red tape, and are less price sensitive. Heidi Tucker put it this way: "The ROI of Trust = Faster Deals + Lower Cost + Higher Margins."


#2 - IT and Marketing Need To Be True Partners, Sharing Glory and Blame
Increasingly, the roles of the CMO and CIO are overlapping, creating a counter-productive tension. Marketing relies on customer data and technology to meet growing responsibility for revenue production, and they need to be nimble and quick because revenue goals cannot wait. On the flip side, IT’s typically methodical processes are slow enough to dry out the revenue stream. How can these two teams come together? They need to become true partners, sharing goals, communicating regularly, and understanding one another. As one audience participant put it, “they need to be willing to share the glory and the blame.” All too often, when marketing is successful, they take the credit without a nod to IT, but when they aren’t making their numbers, they’re quick to place the blame on IT. Isn’t it time that marketing and IT stop butting heads and start shaking hands?

#3 - B2B Salespeople Need More Thank LinkedIn To Be Successful
Barbara Giamanco is a top LinkedIn user, and gives a lot of credit to the platform. But she also acknowledges that to sell intelligently and efficiently, salespeople need a deeper view into their customers and prospects, such as they get with InsideView CRM Intelligence.They need insights about the companies and people they call on, as well as connections, and they need to have this information readily available. With recent partnerships and feature announcements, Microsoft Dynamics CRM is now providing these insights within CRM.

#4 - Tech Is Neither Good Nor Bad, It's How We Use It That Matters
"Creating a culture of burnout is opposite to creating a culture of sustainable creativity,” says Arianna Huffington, a highly successful business woman, author and syndicated columnist, who advocates for work-life balance. As work and home life continue to converge into collective experiences and tech takes up more of our time, we have to recognize that we have a choice about how we use technology. We can use it wisely, and for good, or we can let it consume us. Huffington promotes the former, citing this example: Social has replaced front page news, where the old adage was, “if it bleeds, it leads.” Instead, social contributors are using their platforms to inspire, to share what’s good, what’s working…to promote our best.

#5 - Millennials Grew Up With Social, But May Not Know How Its Used For Biz
Don't assume your people know how to use social for business, even if they grew up on it - in fact, be more careful with team members who grew up with social media. Millennials are more likely to share content indiscriminately. It’s essential to develop company guidelines, train, certify and coach employees of all generations in using social properly and effectively for business.