EPIC’s VP of CRM & Sales Success Jesse Walker joined a panel of Salesforce partners in Las Vegas on September 29th for the Internet Marketing Association (IMA)’s annual impactSHOW. He was also recognized by IMA with the Technology Evangelist Award for his work in elevating EPIC’s sales strategy across the organization.
This event brought together some of the brightest thought leaders in digital marketing from all over the world for a day packed with insightful presentations and cutting-edge considerations from the industry’s most strategic thinkers. Seamlessly woven throughout each presentation was the show’s Elevate your Journey theme, delivered by founders and executives who launched and elevated brands like STANCE, Indi, TRX, Oculus VR, Microsoft, Lightspeed VT, and Evite. The event also included a startup challenge testing some of the newest innovators in front of a table of judges from Accelerate OC, Cardone Ventures, EXOIO & Mophie, and Channelstars.
Jesse’s panel, moderated by EPIC Principal Sean Conrad, featured several Salesforce executives who collaborate across their departments to bridge gaps in the buyer’s journey, through the power of impactful design. Salesforce partners included: Adam Doti, VP of Design, Adriana Sesana, Creative Director, Yi Leng Lee, Innovation Senior Director, Heidi Reinfield, Experience Design Director, and Rick Munoz, Product Design Director.
Together, Jesse and the Salesforce team stressed that while effective Design used to be heavily based on how something looks, today it’s truly more about how it works. The panel agreed that successful companies in the current market are thinking less about logo and font colors, and more about the buyer’s overall experience with the brand, from initial introduction to ongoing engagement.
And while so many marketing and sales teams struggle to find balance between automation and the buyer’s desire for extreme personalization, all under the caveat that the experience should still feel very human, the key is to automate appropriately. Smart marketers and sales people aren’t using automation to remove human touch altogether, but instead lean into AI and machine learning technology to streamline the tedious lead generation process. Not only does it provide a heightened experience for your buyer, but it allows sales people to get back to spending valuable time making a bigger impact on prospects the company never would’ve reached on such a personal level otherwise.
This mindset, Relationships by Design, is what Jesse uses to bridge the gap between EPIC’s marketing and sales efforts. With a powerful sales tool like Salesforce, Jesse is able to help build strategic engagement between EPIC’s producers and their prospects.
Every day, he’s helping our sales teams form connections and build relationship, by design. Jesse is constantly implementing new ways to use machine learning technology to not only learn what people need and deliver it, but to do so in a way that’s efficient, effective, and powerfully rooted in a personal relationship.
Jesse is also using analytics and automation technology to design a seamless experience across multiple channels and various source campaigns. The secret is to weave thoughtfully-designed interactions across the entire customer journey, not just an individual touchpoint.
We have to remember that regardless of the status quo in any given industry, companies like Apple have set the bar high on the way consumers expect to connect, engage, learn, and effortlessly use technology. Every industry can benefit from a design mindset, all while building trust with its buyers. This is ultimately what makes one company the preferred choice in its market. It’s no longer just about the product. It’s about the approach, the experience, and how easy it is to connect and stay engaged with your brand.
