It's time for a new SkyPlanner Parachute! Catch up on the latest news about Salesforce and the small business world.

It's SkyPlanner Parachute Monday! Find out what we at SkyPlanner, South Florida's premier Salesforce consulting company, have been reading, watching, listening to, and learning from during the past week. Click on each link to view our curated content.

• Women are quickly becoming a force in the technology industry. Salesforce is proud to celebrate the impact of women with more female forward content at Dreamforce than ever before.
• New technologies allow SMBs to connect with customers just like billion-dollar multinationals. These 8 tips from Forbes show how its possible for small businesses to grow their customer bases using resources like Salesforce and a little elbow grease.
• Dreamforce is the world's biggest cloud computing event...and you can go for FREE after signing up for a free Dreamforce Expo+ pass. 
• Time waits for no man...or deal. Allowing the party on the other end of a deal is never a good thing, even more so when you're the one selling. Learning to exercise "deal control" will help you make time work for YOU and your best interests.
• Customer referrals are an integral part of building a steady customer base. These 5 "T's" of Customer Referrals from Forbes can help you get started on creating your own effective customer referral program.
• Think you're the best Salesforce admin you can be? Not if you haven't been to Dreamforce. This week's SkyPlanner blog post is all about why Dreamforce 2014 is a no-brainer for the every Salesforce admin!

At SkyPlanner, South Florida's premier Salesforce consulting company, we love to hear from ours clients and supporters so please feel free to comment or email us with suggestions for future content.

Dreamforce 2014: THE place to be for all you Salesforce Admins out there!

You've worked hard to become a Salesforce Administrator. You studied and aced the Salesforce Certified Administrator exam. You've built a solid understanding of your company's business processes, and gained unparalleled knowledge of the organizational structure and culture of said company. You've built excellent communication, motivational, and presentation skills because of your intense desire to be the voice of the user within your company. You're also pretty good at analytics and project managment. BUT are you the best admin you can be? No. Not even close. Why? Because the world of Salesforce changes every day. Not only are there upgrades and updates but every day someone discovers new and innovative ways to implement that technology.

So how do you become an even better Salesforce admin? Easy. You go to Dreamforce. The seminal cloud computing event of the year is the perfect place to learn everything you need to continue your progression as a Salesforce admin. Here's some things you can look forward to as a returning, or first-time, Dreamforce attendee:

The Admin Zone

A new addition the already extensive Dreamforce experience is a zone just for Salesforce admins. The Admin Zone is a sanctuary of tips and tricks, networking, demos, and expert Q&As. There will even be Apex workshops for those admins who aren't afraid to get their hands dirty in a big bucket of code. And the Admin Zone is located right next to the Developer Zone so prepare for some serious mingling.

Barrel Full o' Content 

Admins can look forward to over 125 40-minute sessions covering analytics, declaratives, mobile, career advice, multi-org functionality, sandboxes, data, and more. Sessions will cater to everyone from the newest greenhorn to the most grizzled veteran. Use the Dreamforce Agenda Builder to plan your schedule for maximum learning.

The Success Hub

Want to know where to go to get your organization working at lightspeed? Get on down to the Success Hub, where you can find hands-on Salesforce U training. The Success Hub is also where you'll have access to the Services and Premier Support teams.

Circles of Success

Join 6 to 8 other admins and a Salesforce product expert, and prepare for a wild ride as your new group of best friends navigates through specific Salesforce themes of your choosing. The themes covered include data, adoption, metrics, innovation, and the Marketing Cloud. Check out the aforementioned Agenda Builder to ensure you get a seat in the group you want, but walk-ins are also accepted.

There's much more any and all admins can expect in San Francisco this year but the list of amazing things you can experience at this year's Dreamforce is too long to list here. To learn even more about what you can look forward to at Dreamforce watch the video below. And start getting excited!

Sources: 

1. Kraines, Marissa. "5 Reasons Salesforce Admins Can't Miss Dreamforce." Salesforce Blogs. N.p., 14 Aug. 2014. Web. 23 Sept. 2014."What Are the Qualities of a Good Salesforce Admin?" Cloud for Good. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2014.

It's the last SkyPlanner Parachute of the summer. Be sure to soak up all the rays of knowledge...because winter is coming!

It's SkyPlanner Parachute Monday! Find out what we at SkyPlanner, South Florida's premier Salesforce consulting company, have been reading, watching, listening to, and learning from during the past week. Click on each link to view our curated content.

• Despite a controversial winner of the 2013 Dreamforce Hackathon we at SkyPlanner, as well as the rest of the Salesforce developer community, are looking forward to the 2014 edition. The $1 million prize should attract another round of great submissions. [via Salesforce Developer Force]
• The follow-up email: a necessary bane to many a salesperson. The key is to a successful follow-up email is to make it more than just a follow-up. [via Salesforce]
• Speaking of emails, similar principles apply to email marketing. Here's how to make sure you're emails hit home with their recipients. [via Marketo]
• A mark of a good leader is keeping your cool under mounting pressure. This in-depth post from Hubspot is filled with insight from those in position of power, including Steve Jobs, on how they handle the pressure that comes with that power. [via Hubspot] 
• If there's any group that can benefit from Dreamforce it's Salesforce Partners. Partner Sessions is a fully-packed slate of educational activities for those of us who make a living sharing the wonders of Salesforce with customers. 
• While the SkyPlanner Parachute happens once a week the Cloud Companion by SkyPlanner on Paper.li is our daily collection of news about Salesforce, cloud computing, technology, and much more. Be sure to subscribe to get it right in your inbox every day. 

At SkyPlanner, South Florida's premier Salesforce consulting company, we love to hear from ours clients and supporters so please feel free to comment or email us with suggestions for future content.

Disruptive Selling: Reaping the benefits of challenging your customers' status quo.

How wonderful would it be if we lived in a world where every customer does his or her own leg work, and all you would have to do as a salesperson is send them an invoice and collect their money. While those might sound like the ideal customer it's actually not. That type of customer is usually only concerned with price and if you won't , or can't, give them the price they want they'll buy from a competitor who will.

Instead some of the best customers tend to be those comfortable with the status quo. They're happy where they are and they don't see a need to change. And while that might seem counter intuitive on the outside it can be where disruptive salesperson can really cash in. That's because content customers are ripe for change they don't even know they need or want...yet. Challenging and overcoming the status quo is the key to winning new customers and extending existing customer relationships.

Now, be aware that being a disruptive salesperson isn't about cold-calling and telling customers they need change. It's about working to change the perception of what a potential customer actually needs as a business. It is about building confidence in your customers by presenting them with how your products and services will improve their own business in ways that they would have never thought of or expected.

On top of winning new customers there's an added benefit of proactively disrupting customers' status quo. You get a leg up on your competition. While rival salespeople are sitting at their desks waiting for a lead you'll be closing the deal on a business solution your customer didn't even know they needed.

Sources:

1. Hunter, Mark. "The Power of Disruptive Thinking." Blog. Salesforce, 22 Aug. 2014. Web. 03 Sept. 2014.
2. Peterson, Dave. "Shh! Do Not Disturb - Disruptive Thinking Going On - Blue Flame Thinking." Blue Flame Thinking. N.p., 14 Jan. 2014. Web. 03 Sept. 2014.
3. Webster, Adam. "The Disruptive Peacock, or Why the ‘wrong’ Way Might Be the Best Way." The Creativity Post. N.p., 29 Mar. 2012. Web. 03 Sept. 2014.

A new week, a new SkyPlanner Parachute! Last week's biggest Salesforce news all in one place.

It's SkyPlanner Parachute Monday! Find out what we at SkyPlanner, South Florida's premier Salesforce consulting company, have been reading, watching, listening to, and learning from during the past week. Click on each link to view our curated content.

• Diamonds might be a girl's best friend but Salesforce is a businesswoman's best friend. Salesforce Wear continues to bring the best of CRM to your ensemble with an expanding selection of supported wearables. [via theSkyPlanner Blog]
• Want to change the world the way Steve Jobs did? It'll be a difficult task but if you follow his productivity hacks you'll at least be on the right path. [via Lifehacker]
• Your customers know what they want, and if you don't give them what they want then they won't be your customers for long.
• Are you a Salesforce admin heading to Dreamforce? Here's a checklist of things you should do before the big event to avoid being overwhelmed by the avalanche of content when you get there. [via ButtonClick Admin]
• Ever leave a meeting thinking you nailed it only to find out no shared your opinion? You should think back and see if you performed any of these gestures that turn others off. They could be the difference between good or bad meeting mojo. [via Inc.com]
• Speaking of meeting mojo, how can you expect your customers (or potential customers) to have confidence in you if you don't have confidence in yourself. [via Salesforce Blogs]
• Winter is coming. That means it's time for building snowmen...and apps! That's right, the Salesforce Winter '15 release is here! Read up on all the updates to the world's #1 CRM platform right here on the SkyPlanner Blog!

At SkyPlanner, South Florida's premier Salesforce consulting company, we love to hear from ours clients and supporters so please feel free to comment or email us with any opinions or suggestions for future content.

It's Christmas in September! Salesforce Winter '15 is here!

If you're feeling the air getting a little chilly (or, as is the case in South Florida where SkyPlanner performs our Salesforce consulting magic, the air getting a little less hot) then you know that it's time for a major update to the Salesforce platform. Salesforce.com, the world's #1 CRM company, is rolling out its Winter '15 release and the product improvements the release brings with it. Salesforce releases three major platform updates a year, and the Winter' 15 release is the third and final one for 2014.

The following videos highlight some of the most exciting and important updates out of the more than 100 updates that make up the Winter '15 release:   

Below is the full  list of updates included in the Winter '15 release. If you're interested in specifics you can read up on all of them on salesforce.com's release resource site, found here. 

Communities

Customize Communities
Security and Identity Enhancements
Organize Content by Topic

Salesforce1 Mobile App

Setup Using Salesforce1 Wizard
View Chatter Recommendations
Weekly Events View

Data.com

Enhanced API
Removed Companies with Wrong DUNS
Duplicate Alerts/Blocking

Salesforce Files

Access and Share External Files
Search External Files
Display Most Recent File Versions

Salesforce for Outlook

Access Side panel
Associate Tasks
Associate with Leads, Opportunities, and more

Collaborative Forecasts

Custom Currency Field
Overlay Splits Forecasts
Add Context to Adjustments

Territory Management

Multiple Territory Models
Territory Account Preview
Assign Territories Directly from Accounts

Pardot

Email Performance Testing

Auto-Send Highest Performing Emails

Just looking at all the goodies makes it feel like Christmas has come early for us at SkyPlanner. The improvements to Salesforce means improvements to the services we can provide for all our CRM customers. And that's never a bad thing. 

Sources: 

1. "Feature Summary and User Impact." Release Notes. Salesforce.com, n.d. Web. 10 Sept. 2014.

Salesforce Wear: Another way salesforce.com continues to improve upon revolutionary business technology.

Salesforce.com continues to break new ground in the technology realm. The world's #1 cloud computing company has released a update to its Salesforce Wear suite of developer tools and applications. With Salesforce Wear, Salesforce.com builds on existing platforms such as Android Wear and takes their capabilities much, much further. Whereas Android Wear is limited to Android devices, Salesforce Wear lives across the gamut of wearables and connects them all with the Salesforce1 Platform.

While it is still relatively early in the lifecycle of wearable tech the industry it is safe to say it isn't a passing fad. In fact, wearables are ahead of where smartphones were at this time in their lifecycle in terms of public perception. Remember just a few years ago when it seemed ridiculous to think that important business calls could take place on the go? Smartphones and tablets changed all that. Thanks to innovations like the iPhone it's now common to see someone on an important businees call while sitting on a park bench (or, as in the case with another tenant in the building that houses our offices, leaning against a men's room urinal). It is not outside the realm of reality that wearables will have a similar affect on business.

SkyPlanner has covered Salesforce and it's plans for wearable technology in the past, so the following is a quick recap of the newest updates.

Salesforce has added five new devices to the to the lineup of wearable tech it supports, including the Oculus Rift, bringing the lineup to eleven devices. And with Apple' announcement yesterday of the iWatch we're sure that lineup will include 12 devices sooner rather than later.Salesforce is also venturing into heads up display, or HUD, technology. Salesforce's goal is to perfect facial recognition software and combine it with HUDs to a point where salespeople can use it call-up important client information with a glimpse of a client and display it without the salesperson breaking stride.

Many customers have already been using Salesforce Wear in innovative ways. One example is using the technology to let salespeople know when a preferred customer or VIP is within a certain range so they can proactively greet the customer. Another example is a company using smartwatches to automatically clock when an employee walks off his or her shift.

Sources:

1. Gownder, J.D. "Salesforce Continues to Drive Wearable Innovations | ZDNet." ZDNet. Forrester Research, 4 Sept. 2014. Web. 08 Sept. 2014.
2. Leung, Stuart. "How Wearable Technology Can -- And Will -- Change Your Business." Salesforce Voice. Forbes Magazine, 07 Sept. 2014. Web. 07 Sept. 2014.
3. Leung, Stuart. "How Wearable Technology Can (And Will) Change Your Business." Blog. N.p., 01 July 2014. Web. 09 Sept. 2014.

The SkyPlanner Parachute: the best way to start your week!

It's SkyPlanner Parachute Monday! Find out what we at SkyPlanner, South Florida's premier Salesforce consulting company, have been reading, watching, listening to, and learning from during the past week. Click on each link to view our curated content.

• The capabilities of the Salesforce1 app are nearly endless, including being customizable to meet almost any customer need. This article showcases a wonderful example of just that capability. [via Salesforce.com] 
• The Internet of Things (IoT) continues to grow, and every day more and more inanimate objects are connected to the cloud. Naturally, monetizing the IoT is a top priority for many businesses...and this infographic shows how it can be done. [via CloudTweaks]
• Social media is a great resource when used properly (like we do here at SkyPlanner) but if used incorrectly it can turn out to be a huge drain on your time. [via Salesforce]
• Are you a diligent, intelligent employee yet finding it hard to advance at your job? It could be your personality. [via Inc.com]
• First rule of productivity? Talk about it. Or more specifically read this article about three steps for increased productivity at work. [via Salesforce]
• If you're a Salesforce Developer you need to go to Dreamforce 2014. That isn't a clever line. It's an order. If you need more convincing here's our post from last week listing 5 big reasons why Dreamforce is a can't miss opportunity for developers. [via SkyPlanner Blog]

At SkyPlanner, South Florida's premier Salesforce consulting company, we love to hear from ours clients and supporters so please feel free to comment or email us with any opinions or suggestions for future content.