Salesforce.com Partner Success Blog
Salesforce.com Partner Success Blog - Partner Marketing
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The Fastest Path to SaaS: Force.com ISV Partner Program Overview
Jun 23, 2009Last week I mentioned that every Monday at 10:00 am Pacific Time, we host an hour-long webinar entitled The Fastest Path to SaaS. If you’re interested in learning more about building and selling SaaS applications, this webinar series is for you. The webinars alternate every other Monday between discussing business topics and technical topics, and this Monday’s webinar, on June 29th, will be business-oriented.
During the webinar, we will discuss the SaaS market opportunity for ISVs and entrepreneurs, the fastest path to building SaaS applications, as well as an overview of the Force.com partner program. (As a sneak preview of the webinar, Galorath, an industry expert, has determined that building applications on Force.com is 5x faster and as much as 40% less expensive than on-premise Java or .Net development!) Sign up now to learn more about why Force.com is the The Fastest Path to SaaS.
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The Fastest Path to SaaS: Force.com Technical Overview for ISVs
Jun 17, 2009Every Monday at 10:00 am Pacific Time, we host an hour-long webinar called The Fastest Path to SaaS. This webinar series is designed for everyone that is interested in learning more about building and selling SaaS applications. The webinar alternates each week between covering business topics and technical topics. This coming Monday, the webinar will be technically-oriented and will be especially aimed at CTOs, Architects, VPs of R&D, Product Managers, Developers and other Technologists.
During this Monday’s webinar, we will examine the obstacles to success that companies encounter when they try to build and deliver applications in the cloud using traditional software development technologies. We’ll examine how Force.com removes those obstacles, and why Force.com is the fastest, most trusted and most complete platform for building and delivering applications in the cloud. We will also discuss a few of the many companies that have already achieved success by building their applications on Force.com. Register now to learn more about why Force.com is the The Fastest Path to SaaS.
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Activate Your AppExchange Leads
Aug 24, 2007We are excited to announce the launch of the AppExchange lead sharing program for all AppExchange-certified applications! If you are not already set up to receive opt-in leads from the AppExchange and have a certified application(s) for which you would like to receive leads, please follow these instructions or view this short recording.
1. Enable Web-to-Lead in your org
- Click on setup, then Customize, then Leads, then Web-to-Lead
- Look to see if Web-to-Lead Enabled is checked
- If not, click Edit, and check the box to enable your org to receive leads
2. Contact the AppExchange Partner Ops team at appexchangeops@salesforce.com with your Org ID and the name of your certified app(s). If you have more than one Salesforce org, let them know which org should receive your leads.
- To find your Org ID, click on setup, then Company Profile, then Company Information
- Your Org ID is located in the Organization Detail section
- Email the AppExchange Partner Ops team at appexchangeops@salesforce.com with your org ID, and let them know you would like to be set up to receive leads
3. Find your leads in your org!
- Click on the leads tab to find your leads
- If you don’t see them at the top of the list, you can change your view to look at today’s leads or another custom view
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Actions from AppExchange Partner Program Update: August 9
Aug 9, 2007Actions from AppExchange Partner Program Update: Share Your Customer Successes and Upload Your Logos
Thanks for attending today’s AppExchange Partner Program Update that provided you with the partner program vision, partner levels and benefits, and an overview of exciting new programs! If you missed today’s webinar or want to review the webinar, we will post the webinar replay on the partner success blog on Friday, August 10.
The list of Partner Success Managers assigned to each partner account can be viewed here.
Our focus on customer success and partner success is a foundation for our AppExchange vision. Share your customer success stories to get started on your path to success and to ensure the right partner qualification level. Use the Appexchange_Success Snapshot Template that includes an approved customer quote and email your template to successstories@salesforce.com by August 31. We will communicate your partner level by September 10.
As detailed in today’s webinar, we are excited to offer sharing of leads from AppExchange.com. Best of all, these leads will be offered for FREE for two months and delivered right into your Salesforce org by August 31.- Login to your Admin Console
- Click on the [Logo] link for each of your listed applications
- A window will pop-up, allowing you to
upload an icon and lead form banner graphic for your application
Note: Lead-passing functionality is more robust for non-DE orgs
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Get those user reviews
Apr 26, 2007It’s been exciting to watch the AppExchange grow over the last year and to see how our partners and their applications have just kept coming. We see so many solid applications that this is now the year to make sure that other people are hearing about yours. Many partners told me at Dreamforce last year that they had just spent so much time getting their app and listing together for their launches that they hadn’t really thought about user reviews.
Well, this is the year that it matters. As our customers and partners begin to feel more comfortable with the directory itself, it will be more and more important to distinguish your listing with real feedback from actual customers. Who uses the application inside and out? Who feels the pain and celebrates when your product makes everything better? Whose success is the most important of all? The customer. It’s the customers’ success that drives us all to excel and this is the forum where they can be heard.
User reviews are an excellent source of truth for your prospects. They create trust and community and will lend credibility to your application, especially some of the vendors still out there making a name for themselves. We’ve found from page traffic reports that apps with few to no reviews lose the customer right there on the reviews tab whereas listings with multiple, non-anonymous reviews get the customer to look closer and take a test drive or watch the demo.
For example let’s look at DemandTools from CRMFusion, a Canadian company. They have 50 user reviews with a 5.0 average rating and as a result have over 1000 deployments. This was a relatively unknown partner who made a name for themselves by encouraging their customers to be advocates for their product. Mark Esdale, VP of Marketing at CRMFusion, told me that they use custom fields on the contact record in salesforce.com to track their closed customers and the reviews they post. This way his team knows who has given them a review and what that review was. Here are two examples:
These are the kinds of review you want. The customer identified themselves and/or the company, lending credibility to their opinion, and they clearly described the business need, a data management tool that is simple to use and powerful in its features. That’s a value proposition a customer can understand.
Here are some tips to make the best use of the user reviews section on your listing:
- Treat reviews like a sales opportunity. Track review statuses in fields in your production org. How about creating fields called Review Requested?, IsReviewed?, Rating, Takeaways, etc. in order to track reviews upon closing the deal. Make it part of your sales methodology to solicit a review upon closing. Now you can report on closed customers who have or have not given you a review and know if there was anything to learn from a poor review.
- Ask customers to use their name, company and role – Anonymous reviews are dismissed. People assume it’s either the vendor or a competitor.
- Have the customer describe the business problem and how the application solved it. A well-formed review will carry a lot of weight.
- Have talking points ready for them – don’t script it but have some thoughts to help them frame the review. How easy was App A to implement? How was the support if you needed it? How has it helped your business?
- If you review your own app, you must disclose your identity. Reviews posted by the vendor that do not disclose their identity will be removed. People can generally tell it’s the vendor because they know the buzzwords a little too well.
- If you review a competitor’s app, you must disclose your identity. Preserve the trust of the community by making it clear that you are a competitor but that you have used the product and have something constructive to add.
- Finally, be ready to take your lumps – not all reviews will be glowing and it will make you more “real”. Apps with all glowing reviews full of industry buzzwords seem coached and people will be suspicious.
For any questions or tips, contact Jeremy Engler, AppExchange Operations Manager
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Dreamforce 2007: The On-Demand Event of the Year!
Feb 21, 2007Create your on demand momentum at Dreamforce 2007
- Create awareness through sponsorship benefits
- Drive demand for your solution in the partner expo
- Build new customer relationships to 7,000+ attendees
- Engage with 300+ press and analysts
- Connect with Salesforce.com executives and sales teams
- Take advantage of a la carte sponsorships to increase your brand
Looking for additional branding opportunities at the conference? Take a look at the A La Carte Sponsorship Opportunities.
- Create awareness through sponsorship benefits
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Spring '07 Marketing Opportunities
Feb 8, 2007Spring '06 Partner eBriefing
Learn about the latest salesforce.com marketing activities for Spring ’07 by registering for our Feb. 14th (10-11am PT, 1-2pm ET) eBriefing. During this 60-minute webinar, you will cover the following: North America Success On Demand Tours, Dreamforce '07, AppExchange Category Sponsorship, AppExchange Opt-In Lead Passing Service, and How and Why you should sign up for the AppExchange Partner Program.
Space is limited so please register for the eBriefing at: https://www.gotomeeting.com/register/304380988
North America Success On Demand Tours
Join us on our roadshow through nine cities in North America, and meet with more than 3,000 salesforce.com customers and prospective customers! Learn More.
- Toronto - March 15
- Houston - March 21
- Washington D.C. - March 22
- San Diego - April 3
- Raleigh - April 4
- Detroit - April 5
- Atlanta - April 5
- Huntington Beach, CA - April 17
- Denver - April 19
Spring '07 Product Launch
On Monday, March 19th, salesforce.com's CEO Marc Benioff will unveil our Spring '07 product release for the very first time in grand London fashion. We will also be showcasing some of the amazing applications and tools that some of our 25,000 developers of the Applications Developers Network (ADN) have been working on. As a partner, you are welcome to join us and demo your solution to customers, prospects, other partners, analysts, and members of the press. Learn more here.
Get ready to roll at Dreamforce '07!
This will be salesforce.com's largest user and developer conference ever with upwards of 7,000 attendees. Get ready for inspiring keynotes, in-depth training, and dynamic discussions around on-demand technology, products, partners, and services. The event runs from Sept. 16-19 at Moscone Center South in San Francisco. Corporate Marketing will be holding a webinar to introduce partners to our '07 program on Wed, Feb. 21 at 9am PT (noon ET). Invites will go out shortly.
Increase Traffic to your AppExchange Listing
The latest release of the AppExchange directory has prompted more visitors than ever. Read up here on latest enhancements. Take advantage of the re-design to increase web traffic to your listing by featuring your application as a snapshot at the top of your category page and above the fold. This is a huge competitive advantage as profiled partners have seen 10x more traffic to their webpage. Learn more.
Questions?
Please email all questions to partnersuccess@salesforce.com.
NOTE: We will also be holding a webinar dedicated to Dreamforce '07 on Wed, Feb. 21 (see below).
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New Annoucements!
Dec 7, 2006Salesforce.com Winter '07 Launch and Success On Demand Event - January 16th, 2007 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco
We're going to kick-off 2007 with an event that will showcase the new Winter '07 release, our biggest product launch in three years! Leveraging Salesforce’s multi-tenant architecture, Winter ’07 will deliver unprecedented customization across every level of the service from the user interface to the AppExchange development platform. Customers, developers, and partners will be able to develop powerful new processes and applications, giving them a means to manage and share all of their information on demand on The Business Web. This launch event, combined our regional Success On Demand Tour, provides a preview of Apex Beta and the latest innovations for the AppExchange Incubator program directly from Marc Benioff.
At the launch, you can demonstrate the power of your products and services to customers, prospects and press in the Partner Solution Showcase. We're expecting over 1000 attendees! To learn secure an area to demo your solution at this event
Become Part of the Extended Salesforce.com Team
Want to educate our sales teams about the solution you provide? Identify joint sales opportunities at prospect accounts? This is just one benefit of working with us on site as part of the AppExchange Incubator Program, where your company becomes part of the extended salesforce.com team. Interesting in hearing more about the program? Contact Rob Lamb.
North America Success On Demand Tours
We are taking our roadshow to New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Boston in January '07. Gain additional traction at these regional city tours! Tell me more.
- New
York – January 11
- Chicago – January
16
- San
Francisco– January 16 (with Winter ’07
Launch)
- Minneapolis – January
18
- Boston – January 23
Increase the traffic to your solution on the AppExchange
How do you get extra visibility on the AppExchange? Feature your application at the top of the page. More traffic = more leads and more market awareness of your solution. These snapshots get more traffic...a partner sponsor this quarter has already seen a 10x increase! In addition, significantly more customers and press visit AppExchange during event time, so why not take advantage of a 40% off pro-rated amount? Be featured during the Winter '07 launch. Simply fax back the contract with 40% off the listed prices, and your application is featured until Jan 31, 2007!
Get Ready for Dreamforce 2007
The three-day conference and Solutions Showcase will be an engaging, high-energy event that provides in-depth education and training; dynamic information exchange and practical, high-impact solutions for the community that depends on salesforce.com’s on-demand technology, products, partners and services. Save the date for Dreamforce 2007 – September 16-19 at Moscone Center South in San Francisco, CA
Additional Information
For an overview of all current marketing programs available, download the Power Point overview. Have questions? Contact Partner Marketing.
- New
York – January 11
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Last Minute Dreamforce Reminders & Winter '07 Program Preview
Oct 5, 2006To Dreamforce Partner Sponsors:
Dreamforce is just days away and the excitement is building! Please review a few Dreamforce reminders and take advantage of special offers on Dreamforce ’07 and Winter ’07 marketing programs.
Dreamforce Reminders
Registration Reminder
-We show many unused partner sponsor passes. Please ensure that you team is registered, both full conference and booth staff, no later than Friday, October 6!
-Please contact registration@dreamforce2006.com with any questions.Dreamforce Expo – Partner Briefing
-Please join us at the salesforce.com campground in the expo on Sunday, October 8 at 5:30 p.m for a quick partner briefing before the Welcome Reception.Sign up for 1:1 meetings with Partner Marketing
-Interested in finding out all the ways to go to market with salesforce.com?
-We invite you to meet with the Partner Marketing Team for 30 min or 1 hour sessions in our expo hall meeting room (Room 21) -Please find our available timeslots on expo days (Oct 8-11th) here: http://calendar.yahoo.com/partnersuccess
-Please schedule your meeting time with an email to partnersuccess@salesforce.com with your name, company name, and suggested times/dates.Onsite Logistics Contact Information
-For logistical issues, please go to the Info Booth at the entrance to the Expo Hall
-For other issues, please email partnersuccess@salesforce.com.Additional Passes
These passes can be purchased on-site at the Dreamforce registration counter:
-One Day Booth Only = $150
-One Day Full Conference Passes = $300
-Gala Only = $200 (for partner sponsors with booth only passes)Partner Summit – October 11
- You and your team are invited to the Partner Summit on Wed, October 11 from 1:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. to find out how you can effectively go to market with salesforce.com.
- All you need is your conference badge to attend, no need to register.
- For more information, go to http://www.salesforce.com/conference/partner_summit.jspGet ready for Winter ’07 Marketing!
Winter ’07 Success On Demand Tour
-Continue the marketing momentum after Dreamforce by signing up for one or more of our Winter ’07 Success On Demand Tour cities!
-Sign up for two or more cities and receive 10% off your Winter ’07 sponsorship.
-Click here for more information: Download Success_on_Demand_Winter_07_brochure_v2.pdfWinter ‘07 AppExchange Category Sponsorship
-Drive demand and increase the visibility of your AppExchange solution with an AppExchange Category Sponsorship.
-Enroll by October 31 and receive 25% off your Winter ’07 AppExchange category sponsorship.
-Click here for more information: Download Q4_Appexchange_Sponsored_Listings.pdfSave the Date for Dreamforce ’07 – September 16 – 19 at Moscone Center, San Francisco!
-Join us on November 15 webinar to learn about Dreamforce ’07 sponsorship packages
-Sign up and confirm your Dreamforce ’07 sponsorship by December 15 and receive 15% off your sponsorship
-Email partnersuccess@dreamforce2006.com for more information.We look forward to seeing you at Dreamforce this Sunday!
- The Partner Marketing Team
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On-Demand Applications of Most Interest to Salesforce.com Customers
Jun 22, 2006
As a salesforce.com AppExchange partner, knowing which additional on-demand applications are of most interest to salesforce.com customers is critical information for you to have. To help you develop on-demand applications our customers say they want, using an independent third-party CustomerSat, Inc., in June 2006, we surveyed a random sample of salesforce.com customers including system administrators, business sponsors, executives, and end users. Customers were asked what additional on-demand services would be of interest to them in the next 12 to 18 months. Respondents were given a list of 30+ options to choose from. The graphic shows the results of 963 respondents (which is a good sample, as a sample size of 1000 for example, gives a good statistical accuracy of +/- 3.10% at the 95% confidence level). One highly validating point is that survey respondents selected on average six to seven on-demand applications of interest to them, demonstrating the demand for more on-demand services on our platform. If you want to see the top 5 on-demand applications of interest to our customers by various market segments plus more, Download finding_the_apps_you_most_want.pdf
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