Pipeline Data (P) = 2

Knowledge Base (K) = 2

Some CRM Package (S) = 1

Thingamy (T) = 2

Some Sums

(P * S) + (K * T) = 6

(P * T) + (K * T) = 8

Conclusion

Yay! It’s still valuable even if you don’t “put everything in it“

Yesterday I attended one of their Ignite Sales Tour events (beer and pizza provided, which is usually reserved for the techy-evening events) in the London office. It was “interesting”… they were basically presenting their shift in message from “here’s the new version of Exchange, you get x, y and z new and a, b and c are all improved” to “here’s buzzword that makes your business better because it makes your employees more buzzword, oh and by-the-way Exchange enables that”. The presenter, who’s name escapes me, was quite confident in what he was saying but I challenged him on some points and he confirmed that some of the detail of what he presented was either “cutting-edge” or “not-available-yet”. Customers rarely buy cutting-edge, they’re just not into risk taking… and they’re certainly not into not-available-yet.
The most positive thing for me was that it again got me thinking about the language that I use when talking to people about what I do. When I’m tired or talking to someone I want to impress, I slip into detail mode where I get verbal diarrhea and shoot straight over their head. I must focus on the story, because that is what people really understand. Simple things, that transform peoples working lifes, and its not just a pitch.