1. When Salesforce.com launched as an Internet-based service, how did that innovation help sales reps to interact better with customers?
2. Describe the differences that Salesforce.com has made for customers NBCU and GE Capital.
3. Consider the selling process. How might any of the Salesforce.com tools described in this case facilitate each step?
4. Looking forward, what products will Salesforce.com have to develop in order to remain on the cutting edge of supporting sales staffs with information and collaboration?
As Internet, social, and mobile media have proliferated, the nature of business-to-business (B-to-B) selling has changed. In fact, some have predicted the death of the professional salesperson, claiming that today's interactive technologies make it possible to sell products and services to the business customer with little to no human interaction.
But that perspective overlooks one very important characteristic of successful selling: The objective of making a sale and getting customers to purchase again and again is to build solid, enduring customer relationships. And to do that, salespeople are more important than ever. But these days, for salespeople to be effective at everything from prospecting to staying connected to customers between purchases, they must stay abreast of technologies that facilitate the management of customer relationships.