Do You Know Your Uplifts Like Salesforce.Com

I was searching out some information for a client in Asia. I came across a marketing page for cloud/web/SaaS/on-demand crm provider Salesforce.

The above pic was on that page. They were trumpeting the improvements users of their product enjoyed after they’d bought. On a separate page nearby, were these strangely different figures;

• 33% lead conversion
• 34% increase in sales productivity
• 42% increase in forecast accuracy

After a brief exploration of their website, I found further figures. These “average percentage improvements reported by customers” are from their April 2011 customer survey;

My first impression was decent. Well done for actually posting figures of improvements.

Beyond that initial glance, my brow furrowed.

Those top four. They’re just too woolly. With the possible exception of ‘grow pipeline’, their meaning seems a touch translucent. Especially ‘gain business insights’. What does that even mean? And how does it affect tangibles such as revenues or profits?

And the bar chart. My mind boggled at how ‘sales’ went up across the board by 30%. As the financial reporters state, ‘like-for-like year-on-year’ revenues of that level for roughly 4,500 companies seem rather implausible.

Anyway, the plus point is that they have tried to uncover impact. Have you?