John Peavoy: the best salesperson Salesforce never had

While in Amsterdam I share a few cold ones with John Peavoy, a salesperson from Ireland who travels extensively around Europe. As we were chatting he showed me Salesforce mobile on his Blackberry. The conversation was so fascinating that I recorded it on video. Excuse the occasional loud guffaw in the background. We were outside next to the Centraal Station, at a bar which had closed, under awnings sheltering from the rain sharing space with party goers.

His key message in the 6 minute video is that the way the service is introduced has a massive difference on adoption. John argues that companies should move away from Excel spreadsheets, put their pipeline requirements into Salesforce and then leave it up to users to choose what and how they wish to record data in Salesforce. His view: "If I'm in Salesforce anyway, why would I use another tool to record appointments, activities, meetings and so on?"

It's always good to hear from real people using real products. This is the first time I've heard a salesperson who isn't from Salesforce speak so eloquently about how the service benefits him. Do we hear the same from users of Oracle's Siebel or SAP CRM? Enjoy.