Congrats to the Sales Leadership Award Winners

Last week was jam-packed full of great events, sessions and keynotes at Dreamforce. We kicked off the event Monday with our annual customer summit. We had a great turn out, and lot’s of good conversation. Joe Galvin of SiriusDecisions gave a keynote covering a recent study conducted with Cloud9 on pipeline management and forecasting and presented some preliminary results as benchmarks to help us understand the importance of pipeline analytics to the acceleration of predictable revenue.

The highlight of the afternoon was presenting our customers with the Sales Leadership Awards. These awards honored customers that have successfully implemented Cloud9 pipeline management solutions and best-practice sales processes to positively impact their organizations bottom line.

Splunk: Winner of Best Forecast Accuracy

Splunk, a global provider of software used to monitor, report and analyze live streaming IT data, was recognized for its achievements in forecast accuracy. Using Cloud9’s Pipeline Accelerator Suite, Splunk increased forecast accuracy during the first week of the quarter from 60 percent to 95 percent, providing executive management with the predictability they need to manage their high-growth business.

Brainshark: Best Increase of Win Rate

Moving beyond forecasting, Brainshark, a global on-demand presentation technology provider, was awarded for its increased forecast win rates – a five percent increase that translated to $1.6 million of found revenue annually. Using Cloud9’s Pipeline Accelerator Suite, Brainshark sales leaders gained critical visibility across multiple sales teams and opportunity types to identify deals that were at risk and which deals their sales teams should focus on.

Schneider Electric: Best Sales Process Improvement

Lastly, Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management, took home the prize for improvements in sales process for its emphasis on a more consultative approach to sales. Using Cloud9’s Pipeline Accelerator Suite, Schneider Electric sales managers set expectations for the kinds of information they needed from their sales representatives so that meetings could focus on brainstorming and problem solving, not CRM and compliance. After a year, internal survey results at Schneider show that 75 percent of sales representatives report that their coaching sessions have improved or significantly improved. And, as a byproduct, Schneider Electric is 18 percent ahead of goal for the year.