Salesforce.com Aims For High Gear With Sales Performance Accelerator

Salesforce.com Wednesday launched two add-on solutions that leverage its CRM platform to make finding client data as easy as searching for a restaurant on Yelp.

The add-ons, called Data.com and Work.com, are integrated with the San Francisco-based company's Sales Cloud platform and are packaged as the Sales Performance Accelerator, which is accessible across devices.

Data.com includes targeted lead, customer and business data and is aimed at shortening sales cycles and improving win rates.

Work.com is for managers to motivate and coach sales reps, while also providing feedback, to create top performers. It allows them to track specific goals and give sales teams what they need to be successful, said Brigette Donner, Sales Cloud director of product marketing.

Both add-ons already were connected to the Sales Cloud platform but are more deeply integrated in Sales Performance Accelerator. They offer enhanced features, particularly the coaching element in Work.com, according to Mark Woollen, vice president of product marketing for Sales Cloud.

The Sales Performance Accelerator allows channel partners to "unleash peak performance," he said.

Data.com opens up the sales pipeline with a repository of potential contacts, as well as data from Dun & Bradstreet that is filtered by Salesforce.com to keep information up to date, Woollen said.

For the next 90 days, Salesforce.com is offering Accelerator for $90 per user, per month, through partners. Pricing will start at $110 per user, per month after that.

Corinne Sklar, chief marketing officer at Bluewolf, a New York-based Salesforce.com partner that has been using a pre-release version of Sales Performance Accelerator, said the new components give partners a way to drive staff engagement.

Bluewolf is using Sales Performance Accelerator to drive incentives among sales reps, who in turn offer the app to clients such as Siri developer Nuance and Stanley Black & Decker, according to Sklar.

Engaged staff drives adoption, which drives customer engagement, she said.

PUBLISHED JULY 18, 2013