This document describes a hypothetical "nightmare scenario" where a company has only 15 days to analyze customer data, set selling strategies, and forecast opportunities in order to grow profits. It then outlines 8 steps the company could take to assess their current CRM capabilities, define an ideal state with improved visibility and prioritization of key customer data, streamline unused fields and processes, capture necessary information to guide effective selling, and integrate additional tools directly into Salesforce to support relationship management and a proven sales methodology, turning best practices into automated processes. The overall message is that CRM systems have long been overdue for this type of disruption to truly enable companies to run sales more effectively and make the customer the top priority.

1. Picture this
Nightmare Scenario:
Every cost that can be cut has been cut.
There’s only one way left to grow profits: grow the Top Line.
You have 15 days to track all customer needs and intentions for
every opportunity, provide a no fluff forecast and set multiple
selling strategies, adapting each one till it succeeds.
What will you do?
We’re not saying this could ever happen - but what if it did?

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Step One: Assess the Current State
Here are your tools. Identify all data that reveal customer intentions. What fields
show the customer’s needs? Their interest in your solution? Their understanding
that your company can meet their needs? Their budget? Negotiation points?
CRM: Not one field about the Relationship or how it’s being Managed

3. Step Two: What’s the Ideal State?
Visibility is a priority. Years of studies have proven that the only reliable forecasts
are grounded in a company-wide selling methodology - so all views, forms, etc.
must have a foundation in and reinforcement of the methodologies.
Pipeline: Every view identifies best practice and highlights deviation

4. Step Two: What’s the Ideal State?
...adding flexible tools that don’t just add micromanagement metric distractions.
The views you need will provide ways to spot the key data that helps prioritize
each interaction inside and outside the organization.
Pipeline: Every view identifies best practice and highlights deviation

5. Step Three: Clear the Decks
If a field isn’t moving the ball forward why are we asking people to fill it out?
Or take the time to decide to ignore it? Or even glance at it as they look for
the fields that will move the ball forward? And editing must be instantaneous.
Blaster: Like a spreadsheet dedicated to a forecast’s key metrics

6. Step Four: Do What Sells
50 years of methodologies that teach
people how to sell effectively - but CRM
designers never got the memo.
Now you need only information that shows
what your customer wants to do.
The sales team has to ask the right
questions to get at answers that matter.
Editor: At a glance, see whether to invest more time/$ in an opportunity

7. Step Five: Act Now!
Any action will have a reaction - a ‘Result’ - so capture it. What did you learn?
Are you probing properly? Where are you getting traction? Analyze customer
info that leads to an even better Best Practice that will be shared with the team.
Result: More than just selling info - instant surveys about your customers

8. Step Six: Plato said “We Are What We Repeatedly Do
Excellence there for is not an act but a habit” (or a Sales Process.) Turn Best
Practices into sets of Actions saving each user countless keystrokes. With a click
they work through a full, battle-tested plan of how to sell like the top performer.
Sales Processor: Less typing = more doing

9. Step Seven: Unlimited Convenience
What was minutes of searching and clicking is now
right where you need it with one click. Plus auto-saving.
Lead management and customer retention are now just part of the Process.
If job-1 is the customer, why is so much time spent at the computer?

10. Step Eight: Disruption is not an option
There’s no time to move/sync or upsert (?) data.
Every field reads and writes to Salesforce’ existing fields on Salesforce’ servers.
100% Salesforce: A new way to work without leaving any of the old behind

11. Come to think of it...
Why would this be a
Nightmare Scenario?
Didn’t we all expect this from CRM
ever since it hit the market a couple decades ago?
Isn’t this exactly how every company should be operating?
So make it happen. Run sales the right way.
Salesforce delivers your Customer data structure and security.
Just use Pipeline Manager to add Relationship & Management.
...and make what any salesperson asks of their client: A buying decision

12. Pipeline Manager
Do more with salesforce
in much less time