I’ve been in the Salesforce professional services world for what feels like an eon, mostly working with Sales Ops, Admins and Developers. In my early days as a Salesforce Admin, I actively avoided marketers. They were always asking for things that were difficult to deliver in Salesforce. They used terminology I didn’t undersimtand. Back then they were aIways going on about “eyeballs” and “clicks,” “spend” and “ROI.” Later they started using terminology that made no sense, muttering about “waterfalls” and “funnels.” Never mind being unable to help them with reports, I felt out of the loop.
In 2014, I met the folks at Full Circle Insights and found that their products were solving a real and present challenge experienced by lots of Salesforce users–the problems I had heard about from former marketing friends (the ones I failed to support). I joined Full Circle Insights in the fall 2014 and found myself surrounded by marketers–veritably encircled. I learned that marketers like to make lists telling people what to do. I mocked them in my head with list headings like, “Top 5 Reasons to Get Outta Bed” or “Top 10 Reasons to Go to the Grocery Store and Not Eat Cereal for Dinner.” This year, in preparation for our 3rd annual Circulate conference, my marketing colleagues asked me to write a short piece on why I think sales and marketing professionals, should attend Circulate. I’ve had 3 years to observe how our customers benefit from coming to Circulate, so here are my Top 5 Reasons You Should Attend Circulate 2017.
1) You are a Pioneer, Meet other Pioneers
Yes, it’s true, you are a pioneer. We held our first Circulate in 2015 because our customers begged for a forum in which they could meet others who were practicing advanced marketing measurement techniques and learning to change their company’s performance using data.The highest praise we receive about Circulate has nothing to do with the venue or the food. Although we’ve chosen a great place in a beautiful city, it is when a customer says “I met another marketer at Circulate who told me that she created this report…and it changed the whole way we do things.” Come and be a pioneer amid other pioneers–learn and share.
2) Grow the Inner Circle
Many of you have made discoveries about how to organize, distribute and manage information that our product team could never have imagined. You are developing expertise that is making you successful today and that will allow your career to flourish in the future. You are data-centric and persistent, but drawing insights can be hard. Come and do your part to build the community of insiders–people you can contact when you’re stumped or in need of a good idea to use at your company.
3) Help Us Help You
We want to build better products. We receive so many good ideas from so many of our customers. Bringing the community together in one place helps us see the trends and the common themes in heightened relief. We want to learn from you. Please come and share your stories with us.
4) Don’t Make Me Come Over There!
I talk to lots of customers. Some of the customers I speak with admit to me that they struggle with the transition to a data-centric way of marketing. Often, I can tell them that we had a customer who discussed solving just such a problem at their company during Circulate 2016. I ask them, “Why didn’t you come to Circulate?” I haven’t heard a decent excuse yet. What you’re doing is hard. Come and meet other people who are also trying to conquer data dragons. I don’t want to hear from you after Circulate that you had too much to do and couldn’t come. We are handing you the opportunity to meet a group of brilliant marketers, sales ops, and assorted Salesforce and Marketo whizzes, who love to help other Inner Circlers succeed.
5) It’s Fun
We will be at the W again, in the heart of beautiful San Francisco. In mid-September. It doesn’t get any better. We’ve added half a day longer for the conference because many of you asked for more content, hands-on sessions and opportunities to network. We’re ending the event on Friday noon so you can clock off early and catch a Giants game.
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