Dreamforce 2015: 7 Highly Recommended Sales Strategy Sessions

Dreamforce is right around the corner, and while the keynotes are guaranteed to wow, my favorite part of the conference is always the breakout sessions. Dreamforce provides the opportunity to learn the latest sales strategies and tactics from the world’s top experts.

If you’re looking for sessions on sales strategy, these seven sessions feature A-list speakers and are sure to be packed with actionable takeaways. We’ve listed them in order of their date and time in order to help you plan your week.

Tuesday Sessions

Sales Summit: 9.7 Insanely Simple Productivity Strategies for Sales Executives

Description

Most sales leaders today struggle to keep up with the ever-escalating demands of their job. While the pressure to meet the numbers isn’t going to lighten, what can change is how you work. Join us tol find out how you’re inadvertently adding to your workload. You’ll discover research-based strategies that can save you hours each week. And, you’ll learn numerous easy-to-implement tips to free up even more time. This eye-opening session is led by Jill Konrath, bestselling author of SNAP Selling, Agile Selling and Selling to Big Companies, and Trish Bertuzzi, CEO of The Bridge Group, an award-winning inside sales consultancy.

Speakers

• Trish Bertuzzi, President and Chief Strategist, The Bridge Group, Inc.
• Vincent Cotte, Senior Manager, Salesforce
• Jill Konrath, CEO, Jill Konrath Inc.

When: Tuesday, September 15, 2:00 – 2:40

Where: San Francisco Marriott Marquis Hotel, Yerba Buena Salon 10-12

Sales Summit: McKinsey’s Megatrends: Shaping the Future of Sales

DESCRIPTION

Join McKinsey to learn what significant sales trends are impacting Sales and Marketing organizations today, how companies are taking advantage of the trends to drive efficiencies, and to gain competitive advantages. Lareina Yee, Partner at McKinsey will share her thoughts and the latest insights on sales transformation trends, best practices, and greatest growth opportunities.

SPEAKERS

• Tim Clarke-Product Marketing Senior Manager, Sales Cloud, Salesforce
• Lareina Yee- Partner, McKinsey & Company

When: Tuesday, September 15, 3:00 – 3:40

Where: San Francisco Marriott Marquis Hotel, Yerba Buena Salon 8

Wednesday Sessions

Gartner Predicts: Three Trends in B2B Sales Enablement and Sales Performance

DESCRIPTION

The advent of digital technologies will significantly change how B2B companies execute their sales processes. Join Gartner research analyst Tad Travis as he explains how the digital future impacts your sales processes, your sales training techniques, and your sales analytics. Tad will share insights drawn from Gartner’s recent Digital Business and Future of Sales research.

Speakers

• Anne Chen- Salesforce
• Tad Travis- Director, Research, Gartner

When: Wednesday, September 16, 9:00 – 9:40

Where: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Forum

Grow Smarter: How CareerBuilder Aligns Sales & Marketing to Triple Sales Success

DESCRIPTION

When Marketing and Sales are working in lockstep, your revenue soars and your business grows. Resident marketing technology expert, James Kenler, has been on both sides of the sales and marketing divide. Join us to learn how James used marketing automation to align the sales and marketing processes at CareerBuilder around a common business goal to ultimately develop a unified sales strategy driving overall revenue, resulting in the creation of new teams and resources.

Speakers:

• Chris Heiden- Salesforce
• James Kenler- Director of Marketing Operations and Technology, CareerBuilder

When: Wednesday, September 16, 3:30 – 4:10

Where: Century Theaters, Westfield Mall, Century Theater 1

Thursday Sessions

How to Make Every Sales Person Their Own Marketing Machine

DESCRIPTION

Your biggest marketing campaign of the season is rapidly approaching, and it needs to run like a well-oiled machine. With Pardot and Salesforce, you’ve got the right tools; but how do you utilize both platforms to ensure you effectively deploy and track campaign success? Join us as we dive into how you can make Pardot and Salesforce work in harmony; increasing your marketing capabilities and turning prospects into deals.

Speakers

• James Conley- Salesforce
• Jessica Heffernan- VP, Marketing, Echo Engineering

When: Thursday, September 17, 9:00 – 9:40

Where: San Francisco Marriott Marquis Hotel, Club Room

Sales Call and Email Jedis Reveal the Secrets of the Force

Description

There’s a great disturbance in the Force. Call connections, email open rates are at an all-time low. But with the right Jedi training, you can reach more prospects than ever. In this master class on prospecting, RingDNA founder Howard Brown will moderate as an all-star panel of sales Jedis will show you how to cut through the noise like a lightsaber and connect with up to 400% more prospects. This inspiring session will include a QA.

Speakers

• Howard Brown- CEO, RingDNA
• Ben Sardella- CEO, Datanyze
• Heather R Morgan- Founder, Salesfolk
• Max Altschuler- CEO, SalesHacker

When: Thursday, September 17, 4:00 – 4:40

Where: San Francisco Marriott Marquis Hotel, Golden Gate B

Friday Session

How to Coach Inexperienced Inside Sales Reps into A-Players

Description

In the face of increasing competition for inside sales reps, the average experience of an inside sales rep hire is just 2.6 years. To succeed, you need to be able to ramp up inexperienced reps quickly. Luckily, with the right coaching strategy and sales tools, you can quickly transform even inexperienced sales reps into A-Players. In this session, RingDNA CEO Howard Brown and an all-star panel of sales experts will reveal how some of the world’s most wildly successful inside sales teams are using Salesforce and other sales tools to ramp up reps and improve results faster than ever.

Speakers

• Howard Brown- CEO, RingDNA
• Sally Duby- General Manager, The Bridge Group Inc.
• Bridget Gleason- VP of Corporate Sales, Sumo Logic
• Craig Rosenberg- The Funnelholic/TOPO

When: Friday, September 18, 10:00 – 10:40

Where: Metreon AMC Theaters, Metreon Theater 12

 Bonus

Want to think a little less? Have a laugh at the one-of-a-kind Admin Comedy Club breakout Thursday 2 PM, Hilton Union Square, Continental Parlor 6.