TLDR: Salesforce CEO said days of SaaS companies hooking it up for their employees is dead because sales are harder, he’s wrong because its not harder you just have idiots selling
Bloomberg came out with an article recent from Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff stating that times are tough and SaaS companies are no longer going to make places fun to work.
Headcount
Benioff states that when the pandemic hit in 2020 headcount tripled in the sales team. If you look at tech companies around the world, that is in line with others. It became an arms race for talent, which always sinks to the lowest common denominator. They hired just to hire so that others could not. While sales and stock price rose for Salesforce (stock ticker CRM) during the pandemic it has started to decline with peaks and valleys.
Many companies that were previously using legacy tech needed to go remote and Salesforce helped bring their sales team into the “21st century.” Sales were easier says Benioff, and sales people bought dumb expensive things (as we should… I’ve got my eyes on a used Porsche 911 in red).
To synthesize, they (Salesforce) and other big name tech companies hired anyone with tech sales experience so they could have more reps to speak with more customers…
Only Constant is Change
Benioff writes that Salesforce and others tried to capitalize as long as possible on the newly remote work world companies were shifted towards, and there was a belief that it would have lasted longer. However, many companies are back in office or now fully moving to an RTO model, which Benioff claims is having issues with their sales as well as a tougher economic climate.
A tougher economic climate is not easy for sales people. Think back to the 2008 recession or even closer those first few months of 2020 when the pandemic hit. I was selling a software with a company name sounding exactly like Corona, wasn’t easy when everyone called Covid-19 the Corona Virus.
These tough times have been harder for sales people that were never fully trained or have not dealt with hard times. However as Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32d President and steered the US through the Great Depression and about all of WWII stated “Smooth seas never made a skilled sailor.” Tough times make tough people and to come out ahead you need to educate and arm your mind with strategies to overcome those times, like these according to Benioff.
Our Take
We think Benioff is wrong. Is it a harder selling climate than when money was being printed by the gov’t and interest rates were at an all time low? Yes… But is this climate no different than normal times? Also yes.
The market changes and demands different things and if you’re not selling something in demand that makes selling more difficult. Additionally while Salesforce is a top tier product, most sales professionals we speak to hate it. The Salesforce competition is catching up which makes things harder for their once “easy sale.”
SaaS companies are still making a killing and giving their employees fun things to do, like a pool table in the office and a kitchen stocked with beer and cold brew on tap. Could some be cutting back on spending? Yes. Is that action a result of the general economic times? We think so. If the economic outlook improves will fun times return? Absolutely.
Call to Action
Start reading sales books to improve your acumen, network with your peers, and take this “down” economy as a chance to sharpen your skillset so that when smooth seas return, you are the most skillful sailor.
