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Days after layoffs, Salesforce CEO Benioff still blasts worker productivity

4 points by gnicholas 4y ago

gnicholas 4y ago
> he said during the call that nearly all of Salesforce’s “annual contract value was being delivered by 50 percent of sales account executives.” I wonder what this was in previous years — surely it wouldn't have been remotely close to 1-to-1. Also, are the other account executives just sitting around doing nothing, or are they actively managing and selling into markets that just don't have many/any big customers?
- yunohn 4y ago
  I’m surprised he didn’t just say 80/20. Sales gets assigned regions/verticals/etc and you can’t have everyone on the /biggest/ clients. Obviously, you need to nurture and not ignore the others. So what’s his actual point then?
  - theGnuMe 4y ago
    Looking at the numbers since 2020, their cost of revenue has gone up inline with the revenue gains so I guess that means they aren't getting enough productivity. Basically they have to hire to X% to get that X% increase in revenue. It's been this way since 2020 apparently at about X between 25-30%. My guess is that new revenue has a high support burden and acquisition cost. So is everyone overworked? Are new hires not getting up to speed quickly enough? It doesn't seem like a new problem though... Can more experienced folks transition to new customers to speed onboarding? Or are they tied up supporting larger accounts? Is or can salesforce be self-service and to what extent? I have no experience with it but I know salesforce developer is a role most companies have.
- dv_dt 4y ago
  My first thought is that any given year it maybe be a different set of accounts delivering the bulk of the ACV.
jleyank 4y ago
Sounds like he’d like workers to walk so that he doesn’t have to pay them severance or offer such benefits. And he’s got a strong lizard brain re working as sales either travels or phones customers (neither profit from an office per se) or are developers who don’t profit from distractions.
okokwhatever 4y ago
Blablabla remote workers blablabla productivity blablabla evil trend blablabla layoffs blablabla...

4 points by gnicholas 4y ago

> he said during the call that nearly all of Salesforce’s “annual contract value was being delivered by 50 percent of sales account executives.” I wonder what this was in previous years — surely it wouldn't have been remotely close to 1-to-1. Also, are the other account executives just sitting around doing nothing, or are they actively managing and selling into markets that just don't have many/any big customers?

yunohn 4y ago
I’m surprised he didn’t just say 80/20. Sales gets assigned regions/verticals/etc and you can’t have everyone on the /biggest/ clients. Obviously, you need to nurture and not ignore the others. So what’s his actual point then?
- theGnuMe 4y ago
  Looking at the numbers since 2020, their cost of revenue has gone up inline with the revenue gains so I guess that means they aren't getting enough productivity. Basically they have to hire to X% to get that X% increase in revenue. It's been this way since 2020 apparently at about X between 25-30%. My guess is that new revenue has a high support burden and acquisition cost. So is everyone overworked? Are new hires not getting up to speed quickly enough? It doesn't seem like a new problem though... Can more experienced folks transition to new customers to speed onboarding? Or are they tied up supporting larger accounts? Is or can salesforce be self-service and to what extent? I have no experience with it but I know salesforce developer is a role most companies have.
dv_dt 4y ago
My first thought is that any given year it maybe be a different set of accounts delivering the bulk of the ACV.

jleyank 4y ago

Sounds like he’d like workers to walk so that he doesn’t have to pay them severance or offer such benefits. And he’s got a strong lizard brain re working as sales either travels or phones customers (neither profit from an office per se) or are developers who don’t profit from distractions.

okokwhatever 4y ago

Blablabla remote workers blablabla productivity blablabla evil trend blablabla layoffs blablabla...