What’s the Deal with Dreamforce Donuts?

Hello, I’ve waited here for you (at Salesforce Tower)

Everlong…

Tonight, I throw myself into…

Some autumnal news on apps…

This week:

• Dreamforce donuts

• The Unbearable Lightness of Quota Achievement

• Finovating and it feels so good

AI fomo index

Driving donuts around Dreamforce

Is someone getting the best, the best, the best of you? Gee, I hope they were at Dreamforce, because that was a prime networking opportunity.

Now that the complimentary donut dust has settled, let’s recap ‘the best’ of force-fest:

Salesforce Einstein 1

Salesforce is back with another buzzword bonanza, christened the "Einstein 1 Platform."

In what seems like a cybernetic dream, they promise to rid the corporate world of its data-silo plague with their shiny, new AI-powered genie, Einstein Copilot.

It’s a conversation-savvy AI assistant that’s apparently more trustworthy than your loyal office golden retriever. It’s built natively into Salesforce CRM.

Oh, and it's low-code, because who has the time for coding in 2023, right? Metadata frameworks from yesteryear, begone!

A new, Einstein-ian Trust Layer

This fall, a new layer of trust descends upon the land.

It’s called the “Einstein GPT Trust Layer.” And on this harvest moon(-ish), it promises secure AI architecture, keeping your precious customer data snug as a bug.

Seamless privacy, dynamic grounding, and – wait for it – data masking! Now isn’t that more fun than any haunted hayride.

Hire me, hire me, do it again

One more plot twist. Remember the start of the year, when Salesforce laid off 10% of its workforce™?—well now they’re hiring 3,300 people.

——

And finally, no worries if you didn’t get Dave Grohl’s business card. It was a hectic few days. I mean, at least you got Lars’, right?

The Unbearable Lightness of Quota Achievement

I was just minding my own business. Then Salesloft teamed with Benchmarkit to release a Benchmark Study on revenue engagement.

What happened next changed me.

A woeful 50% quota achievement was noted among Account Executives, and 55% for Sales Development reps, heralding potential doom and gloom in revenue paradise.

The report also cheekily nudges businesses, suggesting the golden goose has been hiding inside of your day-to-day operations all along in the form of existing customers.

Apparently it’s two to three times lower to build on existing customer revenue. A little extra cherishing goes a long way, eh?

David Obrand, Salesloft's fearless leader, is urging a wild shake-up in the sales big band, with AI taking the solo.

Speaking of musical metaphors, hold onto your fedoras because Salesloft has got Rhythm, figuratively speaking of course.

Launched back in June, Salesloft’s patent-pending AI engine aims to address the oopsies the report brings up. Hmm, I wonder…

The Week @ CRM.org

Freshdesk vs HappyFox. Go to your happy place, or a fresh one…

What is a Helpdesk? When your computer is cryin’, don’t be sighin’

Trello Review. Scenic routes through Kanban valley, but no Gantt cliff-scaling.

Best Free Website Builder. Where fiscal responsibility meets the internet's reckless abandon.

Asana Review. Collaborationville, population you?

Finovating and it feels so good

Deep breath, more conference stuff…

FinovateFall 2023 just wrapped! Here’s the big ‘uns:

Arteria AI wins as Best Back Office/Core Solution

Enterprise documentation infrastructure is generally not kino, so props to Arteria. They're not just a flash in the pan, either—they were also spotlighted in the CB Insights AI 100 rankings.

Union Credit wins as Top Emerging Fintech Company

As yes, Union Credit. With their fancy marketplace, they're hoping to give credit unions a digital megaphone to shout their benefits and stellar customer service to the masses.

They’ve cosied up to some big-time partners too, which helps.

Rapid Enterprise announces SMB-targeting upgrades

The LaaS provider is trying to jolt the oh-so-drab loan scene with their spruced up digital darling, Decisioneer.

It’s a financial analysis glow-up, with the idea of giving lenders X-ray vision to scrutinize small businesses' financial innards like never before.

The app now tries to play nicer with lenders' CRM systems, zipping borrower info straight into its core with the grace of a ballet dancer. Sweet loan opportunities may also be whispered in multiple languages, so non-English speaking applicants won’t feel left out.

This Week’s Deals

Special 20% off FreeAgent CRM!

Use PROMO CODE:

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Click here!

Tasty Tidbits

CRM blips from around the web

Olympus expands relationship with AcuityMD. Oh yes, the Top 20 MedTech co. will also present at AcuityMD’s first annual conference, Flywheel (Boston, September 26).

ON24 announces 2023 Customer Award winners. The digital engagement power-er conferred laurels on clients powered by their platform.

IntelePeer’s SmartFlows platform gets new AI-powered analytics. Existing customers get the new “Call Summary Dashboard” free of charge.

Mindbody starts using Aria Data Feed. The wellness industry experience platform will use Aria’s AI and business intelligence-driven tool to trawl billing/subscription data.

HR likes conversational AI a lot. Why? They’re on 24/7, for one.

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And Arianna Huffington was there, and Matthew McConaughey was there, and the CEO of Slack was there.