Wait a sec, I’m an MVP, and you want me to what?

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This past April I was named Salesforce.com MVP. I was quite thrilled with that honor, in fact I’m still not sure I fully understand how I deserved it.

Now I have been invited to San Francisco along with all the other MVPs for a day full of meetings with Salesforce.com management. I will be talking to the very people who are shaping the future of cloud computing…the movers and shakers. Wow! That’s pretty incredible. Hopefully I won’t pull a Wayne and Garth when I meet Marc Benioff.

Wayne’s World…We’re not worthy!

I’m really excited to be headed out to San Francisco at the end of August. There are three main reasons why I’m so excited.

1. I get to meet a lot of key people at salesforce.com. These are the people who decide what new functions get released and when. They are the movers and shakers of cloud computing.

2. The community… I already know many of the MVPs thanks to me being a user group leader for the past three years and having attended the past two years’ Dreamforce. But now, I’ll get to meet all the MVPs I may not have meet yet.

3. Its San Francisco…I’m from Indiana. Need I say more? OK…I will say more. Without the support of my family (who may not fully understand what I do everyday) and my manager, and the entire team of people I work with everyday, none of this would be possible.

So…off to the MVP Summit I’ll go. And then I’ll start the real countdown to the big show, Dreamforce. Its bound to be way beyond awesome this year! If you haven’t registered yet, use promo code D13MVPREF and save $100 ! See you there!

Top 10 Reasons to Attend Dreamforce 2013

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Here’s my top 10 reasons why you should attend Dreamforce this year:

10: Networking…its a great place to meet like-minded people. Don’t be scared, introduce yourself! You could very well be talking to your next coworker or manager!

9: Exercise…with all the sessions and activities spread out over Moscone’s 3 buildings as well as a half a dozen or so hotels in the area, you might end up dropping a few pounds from all the walking you’ll do.

8: Knowledge…Keynote sessions, hands-on training sessions, breakout sessions…who knows what all you could learn!

7: Awesome…yes, be prepared to hear that word quite a lot. Many will describe the event as Awesome or Outstanding.

6: Get Social…That’s right, Dreamforce isn’t really just an 8 to 5 event. Social gatherings, dinners, parties and even concerts await the adventurous soul.

5: Charity…Don’t just take things away from Dreamforce, give away some of your time to help out some great causes. Look for the Salesforce Foundation volunteer events and GIVE!

4: Save some money…register fast and get a lower price. Visit http://www.dreamforce.com for complete details, and when you register, be sure to save an extra $100 by using discount code D13MVPREF.

3: Partners…be sure to carve out time to visit the Cloud Expo. Many AppExchange partners will be there to give you live demos, great reasons why you need to extend your salesforce org outside the box, and pick up some cool swag along the way.

2: Rub elbows with the elite…the MVPs and User Group Leaders. Those people are almost overly passionate about the Salesforce ecosystem, but guess what? They are people too, and love helping others gain knowledge and overcome challenges!

And my number 1 reason to attend Dreamforce this year:

1: Community…What’s that? Its the culmination of all of the other top items rolled into one neat little package. Its that intangible benefit you get from being part of a group that is millions strong. Its that awesome feeling you get when racing between sessions with over 100,000 of your closest friends  It is Salesforce…it is Dreamforce. And its AWESOME!!!

Are you looking for some Salesforce.com training?

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As the leader of a Salesforce.com User Group since 2010, my biggest challenge has been finding content that provides relevant and helpful information to the members of the group. Our last meeting we had presentations by two business analytics partners of Salesforce.com. The group told me they wanted more analytics, so I began searching. That’s when I discovered Stony Point.

I recently coordinated and participated in Stony Point’s Introduction to Salesforce Analytics – Reports, Dashboards & Snapshots (SPRD-101A) course, along with several coworkers and many other members of the Southern Indiana Salesforce.com User Group. The entire experience, from the first interaction via email to the culmination and completion of the training session was outstanding. Stony Point provided great customer service, responding very quickly to my many inquiries about course cost, detailed curriculum, and scheduling the on-site training to our convenience.

I was equally impressed with the facilitator they provided us with. Beth Ann began the class by introducing herself, giving us a brief history of her qualifications and then asked the participants to do the same. She then dove right into the course. She did a great job making it very interactive, calling each student by name as they had questions, or when she was asking for real-life use case examples. She kept everyone engaged in the training session by injecting humor and some of her personal experiences.

The audience she was teaching at this session ranged from the true novice, who had never logged into Salesforce.com before to full blown certified Administrators and Developers. Nearly everyone indicated to me after the class that they gained knowledge of things they felt they could take back to their organizations and implement. It was a great success, and worth every penny.

I highly recommend Stony Point for your Salesforce.com training needs.

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About Stony Point: Stony Point is a leading provider of Salesforce training for end users, administrators, developers and consultants. Stony Point develops and delivers training classes throughout the world for customers of all sizes in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean and Chinese. All classes are conducted by a live instructor, offered publicly and privately and students may attend either virtually or in-person. Please visit StonyPoint for complete details on what they offer.

Moving forward

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A few thoughts occurred to me while flying from Chicago to Philadelphia recently.

Some organizations (and size doesn’t matter here) do a great job with customer service but meeting their customers where they are and communicating with customers in the manner I which the customer chooses. A few examples of such organizations include: Habitat for Humanity; Enterasys Networks; American Airlines; KLove Radio, Starbucks, and Salesforce.com.

Of particular interest from that list, at least to me, is Salesforce.com and Enterasys Networks. Why, you might ask? Because both those organizations focus more on B2B interactions, where the final customer may not even realize that Salesforce.com or Enterasys is involved at all. They both provide a backbone for their customers, who I turn rely on the stability of that backbone (or platform, if you will,) to in turn, provide excellent service to their customers.

So why the focus on customer service? Because in some form or another, we all provide customer service. At my job, I am in a role where I support Sales Representatives and Management, but that doesn’t mean what I do on a daily basis has no impact on my company’s customers. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Without the work I do, our Sales Reps might not make the best decisions on how to conduct their business, which in turn affects how our company’s customers view our products. Without customers, wait, make that without satisfied customers, the company can not thrive and grow. I worked in the corporate accounting office for a major shoe retailer for a few years, and we had a saying, “If you did not sell a pair of shoes today, what did you do to help someone who did?”

That sums it up very nicely. Everyone in an organization, no matter what their role, does something that helps shape the final consumers view of the company and the products or services the company sells.

I think it was Sam Walton who once said, “There are two rules in business: Rule #1 – The customer is always right; and Rule #2 – When the customer happens to be wrong, see rule #1.”

We all know that in a perfect world, that works, and we also all know that our world is far from perfect. However, if we all strive for excellence and have as our goal to exceed our customers expectations, we will all be much better off.

Remember, everyone has a little awesome inside, you just need to let it show!

Thank you, part two…and a preview of things to come!

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You know that song “Hook” by Blues Traveler?

“It doesn’t matter what I say
So long as I sing with inflection”

Hook by Blues Traveler

I’m not so sure I agree with that statement. Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge fan of Blues Traveler, and I do hope they make an appearance at Dreamforce 2013, but, in my opinion, most times it really IS what you say, and not how you say it.

In my last post, I thanked colleagues, friends, coworkers and others in the Salesforce community who have inspired and influenced me. In this post, I extend those thanks out to the ecosystem and feel the need to express gratitude to partners who have helped me on this journey over the past 4 years from rookie Salesforce.com business analyst to Salesforce.com MVP.

Forest Yule from Silverpop, thank you for having faith in me and my crazy ‘Midwest Dreamin’ idea for a regional user group event. I appreciate all the support you have given me, and continue to provide to all the Salesforce user groups.

Darren Cunningham from Informatica, Al West from Apttus, Mary Beth Kush from Acumen Solutions, Andy Thoe from Bluewolf – thanks go out to all of you for your support of the user group community.

Cast Iron, DocuSign, NextGen Consulting and JAUST Consulting Partners – Thank you all for your support to the user community as well.

Without all of you, Midwest Dreamin would have remained an idea in my head.

A lot has changed since May, 2011, and I wish I could have made Midwest Dreamin an annual event since then…but there’s always tomorrow – so…be watching, be on the lookout, there very well could be a Midwest Dreamin 2014.

A few thoughts…from a newly appointed Salesforce MVP

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It’s been an awesome few weeks for me. I’m working a job I love, for a manager who fully supports my efforts as the leader of the Southern Indiana Salesforce.com User Group, and who gives me credit, praise and recognition at work (when I deserve it, of course) and who helps keep me on track with priorities as needed.  I have a great, loving family, and my church home is really making a difference in many lives.

I received an email on April 10th from Matt Brown, Advocacy Program Manager at Salesforce.com that started with: “Congratulations! You have been selected to be a member of our exclusive Salesforce MVP™ Program.”

Wow! I certainly was not expecting that to show up in my inbox…at least not for another year or two. Don’t get me wrong, I’m absolutely thrilled to have been named a Salesforce MVP™, but I worry that I won’t be able to function to the high standards that have been set by other MVPs. It was great timing for such a nice surprise…it was my birthday that week, and I had planned on attending the Salesforce.com Customer Company Tour in Chicago on April 18th. That would have been a great event, even without the new title, but having it and being able to get a nearly front row seat for Marc Benioff’s keynote address made it a totally awesome experience!

I think the MVP title is beginning to sink in, and thus it’s time to thank a few people, who may or may not realize they have played a role in this:

Pauline Mulvey – www.linkedin.com/pub/pauline-mulvey/1/8b8/9a2


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Thank you very much, for without you taking a chance on me back in 2009, I would not have gotten involved with Salesforce.com. You gave me my start by hiring me as a Business Analyst, and suggested I get active in a user group. You supported my journey as I traveled to user group meeting in Chicago, St. Louis, Nashville, and Indianapolis. You gave me support as I decided to start a local user group in Evansville, and allowed me to attend Dreamforce!

Denise Carbone, www.linkedin.com/pub/denise-carbone/1/a27/180

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Gina Skocilich, www.linkedin.com/pub/gina-skocilich/7/956/449

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and Cecile Horsky – Thank you all, because due to your amazing hospitality when I attended my very first user group meeting in Chicago on March 4, 2010, I continued to seek out other meetings to attend. You ran a great meeting and set the bar high for other user groups. It was a very memorable experience.

Jeanine Thorpe – www.linkedin.com/pub/jeanine-thorpe/1/403/79a

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Thanks for the inspiration and guidance with getting me started as I organized the Southern Indiana User Group, and for your generous assistance while I pulled off Midwest Dreamin’ 2011. (Too bad 2012 didn’t work out, and with my recent job change, I don’t think I will have time to pull of a 2013 version, but I going to do my best to make it happen again in 2014!)

Rhonda Ross – www.linkedin.com/in/rhondaross

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Thank you. You called me a “Rock Star” in the Salesforce Community back in 2010, which helped my management decide to send me to Dreamforce! You have helped me grow in my Salesforce knowledge, and have inspired me to take it to the next step.

The Road2DF (2011) cast and crew – http://www.road2df.com/the-crew

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Even though I did not know most of you when you took your journey, thank you for taking it. I enjoyed the ride vicariously. It gave me a vision of things to come and energized me to keep moving forward!

Zachary Jeans – www.linkedin.com/pub/zachary-jeans/28/378/184

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Thank you for taking your Tour2DF (2012) across the country and back again. Many thanks for rerouting your journey simply to spend two hours with me! You are truly an inspiration. May all your wildest dreams come true!

To all the User Group Leaders and Co-Leaders (Way too many people to list individually) –

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Thank you for being the evangelists and experts that you are.  Thanks for helping to spread the “Cloudy” word. You all inspire me !

To all the MVPs who have come before me (Way too many awesome people to list individually) –

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Thank you for everything you have done to help me in my journey since I first became involved with the Salesforce Ecosystem in late 2009. Your willingness to share ideas, answer questions, suggest new features, answer questions, teach others, answer questions, present at Dreamforce, and answer questions, is awe-inspiring. Did I mention answering questions ?  (I think I owe someone a beer still.)

Erica Kuhl – www.linkedin.com/in/ericakuhl

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It has been an awesome journey getting to this point, and I know the best is yet to come! Many thanks for all your help and support, past, present and future!

And finally, thanks to my wonderful wife who may not always understand what I do for a living, and how that relates to me running a user group, but she’s always there for me and our family, and I know I wouldn’t be where I am today without her love and support.

I will close with a couple things: 1 – Who is DF13Ready? (Besides me, that is!) And 2 – who thinks there should be a Trek2DF for 2013? (Besides me, of course!)

Stay strong, and be awesome!

What can you do with Salesforce (dot)com ?

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Some friends of mine who really don’t know much about what I do for a living keep asking me to explain my job. That’s not an easy question to answer. I’m an analyst, and for those of you who are analysts, you can understand why that’s not an easy question to respond to. For those who are not analysts, I’ll try to enlighten you.  An analyst is someone who analyzes thing. Too simple ?  Yes.  Way too simple.  In my case, I tell people that I spend my time looking at data trying to determine the story it is telling. And it really doesn’t matter what kind of data you are looking at, or even what the source is. All data has a story to tell that can reveal some fascinating things about the nature of business, of people, and of society in general.

I have been an analyst for many years and in many industries: higher education; small-box retail; big-box retail; an airline; and a ‘mom and pop’ consulting firm, just to name a few. The one thing I found that was consistent among all that, is that people have a need to understand data and what it means. They want to know more, and more. In today’s terminology, I suppose I could say I am a Data Scientist.

By now you are probably wondering, how does all this tie into Salesforce.com…please bear with me just a little longer. I promise to make the connection.

When I started writing this post, my first ever blog post, I had an agenda in mind. I wanted to compare my career as an analyst to the cloud computing / CRM giant, Salesforce.com. But as I kept writing, I kept coming back to one theme: Asking an analyst what they do, is a lot like asking “What can you do with Salesforce.com ?”  The answer to that question is really quite simple: You can do almost, if not everything your business needs to do to succeed with Salesforce.com or an app from one of the scores of Appexchange partners.

Perhaps the best response to that question is truely a better question: “What can you not do with Salesforce.com?” And personally, I think the sky is the limit…the possibilites are endless, so jump in, sit down and start driving. I can’t tell you where your journey will lead, but I can promise you it will be a facinating ride!

So much for a deep, thoughtful, analytics-based reply.  Perhaps in my next post, I’ll delve deeper into the numbers.  Actually, I won’t, since my next post is almost ready.

Here’s the teaser to have you come back to read the next one:  Passion, what matters most and a Fiat 500 crossing the country in preparation for Dreamforce 2012.

Thanks for taking a moment of your day to read my historical first blog post.