"It's a time to identify opportunities for improvement, anticipate industry changes, and solidify a sales strategy that will align with the evolving expectations of business-to-business buyers, emerging technologies, and the company's business goals.

Read on to discover what you can expect in 2020 on topics like the sales development rep role, decision making around tech adoption and implementation, sales leaders as online influencers, and more..."

"Content marketing is a more effective and trustworthy tool than many other forms of marketing like paid advertisements, so phrases like 'content is king' are justified. According to Neil Patel, content marketing generates 3x as many leads at 62% lower cost. The numbers are incredibly impressive, and point to the fact that people no longer trust 'hard selling' strategies..."

"It's not making mistakes, misunderstanding situations, even some errors in judgement. As bad as those may be, it's the commitment to being stupid that astounds me.

Stupidity is a choice, and I'm stunned by the number of people that are committed to stupidity..."

"As part of any good email strategy, customer acquisition, retention and reactivation are all components of a solid email plan.

Acquiring new customers will always be a goal but focusing on retention is key.

65% of a company's business comes from existing customers

A 5% increase in customer retention can increase profits 25-95% ..."

"For many Sales Ops managers, one of their main priorities is to ensure optimized business processes at every point in the buyer's journey, and each year, new technological advancements drive Sales Operations leaders like yourself to reassess their strategies and toolbox in order to adapt quickly and leverage these changes into a competitive advantage. Staying on top of the latest trends can help you guide your team and advise management on ways to maximize revenue.

To help you out, we've compiled data on top sales technology and performance trends..."

• 'Where did that Post-It go? I need to call that person back!'
• 'I think we track that somewhere, but I'm not really sure where that information goes.'
• 'It's Sunday night, and I'm prepping for my meeting tomorrow morning. AGAIN.'

Can you relate to these statements at all? If so, it's probably time to add a customer relationship management (CRM) system (or update the one you already have).

Some companies ignore the signs because they don't want to add one more system to their workflow. Other business owners think they only have a handful of sales reps, so a CRM holds no real benefit for them.

Yet putting a CRM system at the center of your business means efficiency. For instance, you can integrate CRM with other software solutions, and you can actually prevent your team members from having to login into multiple systems.

Best of all, CRM can start as a simple solution that grows with you as your business expands.

Here are 6 signs it's time for CRM:...

• Zoho CRM, Pipedrive CRM, and SugarCRM are the three most-trusted CRM systems by their customers.

• Oracle CRM is the best at continually improving their CRM Suites as rated by their customers.

• Zoho CRM, Pipedrive CRM, and Oracle CRM are the best at including product enhancements at no charge in each new product release.

• CRM users are most dissatisfied with how their vendors overpromise and under deliver, with this category receiving the lowest aggregate score of 56% and finding 5 of 9 vendors at 51% or below. Only three CRM vendors scored above a 70% customer rating on this attribute.

These and many other fascinating insights are from SoftwareReview's latest customer rankings published today in their Emotional Footprint Report on Customer Relationship Management.

General Provision Downtown - Fort Lauderdale - 2nd Wednesdays of the Month

Monthly networking for Enterprise IT Professionals at a private co-working space with food, beer, wine and soft drinks provided by sponsors

Spend some quality time with a wide variety of IT professionals in a relaxed, private environment. Arrive at your convenience after 5:30PM. People will be around until 8:30PM.

We will short presentations starting at 7PM. Three minutes max. per presentation, and a maximum of 30 minutes.

Note that GP has two locations, one in the Fort Lauderdale's Art and Tech district (GP FATVillage) and the other in the middle of renovation of downtown Ft. Lauderdale, right next to Autonation HQ.

Recommend parking at the "Government Center Parking Garage" on SW 2nd St., next to the train tracks that are now used by the Brightline trains. Parking in this lot is $5 for the evening and is less than a block away from GP Downtown.

Please Register at eventbrite.

Sponsorships Available

We look for sponsors to deliver short commercial talks during vBeersPlus. The idea is for a sponsor to describe an IT problem such that people will relate to it then briefly describe the sponsor's solution. Attendees will be able to visit the sponsor's table, after the presentations, to discuss the presented solution.

Sponsorship fee is $300 for one event and include promotions in the email and social media that will reach 15,000+ South Florida IT professionals.

Non-profit groups are also welcome to "pitch" their group in a 3 minute or less talk. (no charge)

If you are interested in sponsoring please email sales@itnewsandevents.com or call/text Lauren McLaughlin for details at (954) 729 9130.

Sponsors

• The Execu|Search Group
• TechLauderdale.org
• IT News and Events (ITNE)
• ITPalooza
• General Provision

Hosted by John J. McLaughlin and Lauren McLaughlin From ITNE

"Would you be surprised to learn that the ability to produce innovative ideas is a shared issue for companies of all sizes?

Global staffing firm Robert Half Management Resources polled over 2,000 CFO's from small to large companies, and asked how good their company was at innovation. Their findings were that only 30% of companies with 20 to 49 employees rated themselves as 'very innovative' with ratings a bit higher (38%) for companies with 1000+ employees..."

The onslaught of technological advances of the last decades has expanded the possibilities of corporate action and, as a consequence, made competitiveness more difficult to achieve.

This means that achieving success is explicitly entwined with your business's ability to find cost-effective and high-impact solutions to any problem that may arise.

TechLauderdale powered by the SFTA is an organization of collaborative trailblazers passionately curating content, inspiring creativity, building tech brands, and connecting business leaders to cultivate and expand the tech ecosystem in South Florida.

• Platinum Membership Benefits $3,500/year
• Gold Membership Benefits $2,500/year
• Silver Membership Benefits $1,500/year
• Bronze Membership Benefits $500/year

TechLauderdale also offers:

• Individual Membership Benefits $250/year

Learn. Connect. Grow.

Thursday, December 5, 2019, Ft. Lauderdale

ITPalooza is South Florida's Premier Technology Conference. Now in its 8th year, ITPalooza is the preeminent platform to drive business deals and forge valuable connections with local and regional tech professionals.

Ticket Codes:

• ITP2019GA30 - $30 off General admission ticket price
• ITP2019VIP50 - $50 off a VIP Ticket

Statistics for the last seven editions:

• 15,000 - Attendees and Guests
• 800 - Speakers and Presenters
• 1100 - Participating Companies
• 82% - Technology Professionals

Quick Summary of Sponsorships:

• Platinum Package With Sponsored Speaking Session (6) - $6.050
• Platinum Package With VIP Lounge / Party Sponsorship (4) - $5,500
• Attendee Lunch Sponsor (4) - $2,000 - $2,750
• Check-In Sponsor (4) - $2,200 - $2,950
• Gold Package (75) - $2,750 - $3,500
• Silver Package (50) - $1,100 - $1,850
• Non-Profit / Startup Package (20) - $550 - $1,050

If you need a convenient PDF document to forward to your boss or a colleague, download the official ITP19 sponsorship opportunities price list, here it is.

SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM

• ISACA South Florida Chapter outreach to more than 1,000 professionals, and partner organizations which represent a range of Corporate IT Audit, IT Compliance, IT Governance & IT Security responsibilities in a cross section of industries and business sizes
• Extensive networking opportunities, face-to-face contact and one-on-one meetings
• Display of your latest products and services to all attendees
• Traffic flow throughout the exhibition area
• Display of your logo and link to your home page on our ISACA South Florida Chapter web site

Find out more! Contact us at president@isacasfl.org

The ISSA South Florida Chapter (SFISSA) is a not-for-profit organization of information security professionals and practitioners. It provides educational forums and peer interaction opportunities that enhance the knowledge, skill and professional growth of its members.

Members include practitioners at all levels of the security field in a broad range of industries, such as communications, education, healthcare, manufacturing, financial and government. SFISSA is an excellent vehicle for those who need to acquire CPE credits for certification needs.

Chapter sponsorship:

• Platinum sponsors $1,500/meeting
• Program sponsors $1,000/meeting

We need your support, so we hope that you will consider becoming a sponsor to support our chapter.

Become a Refresh Corporate Member!

Be front and center at all our monthly speaker events, get training on the latest technologies, break bread with our distinguished speakers, and find qualified candidates via our sponsored job listings.

Refresh Corporate: $2000/Year

• Guaranteed ticket to all speaker events
• Complimentary ticket to three (3) Refresh Miami workshops ($150 value!)
• 40% discount on all other Refresh Miami workshops ($160 value!)
• Preferred Access to VIP/Speaker Dinners
• Discounts on Community Events
• Partner Discounts
• Refresh Miami T-Shirt
• Ability to post relevant events to Community Calendar
• Ability to post jobs to Refresh Job Board
• Ability to post business to Refresh Miami Tech Map

$2000/Year

Our Memberships are based on Exposure, Talent, & Business

• STARTUP - $500/year
• Tier 3 - $1,000/year
• Tier 2 - $2,500/year
• Tier 1 - $5,000/year

Palm Beach Tech is a nonprofit membership association Building the Palm Beaches into a Tech Hub.

The South Florida Interactive Marketing Association (SFIMA) is dedicated to educational excellence and expertise in digital marketing. The organization serves as the primary interactive voice in South Florida offering lifelong learning, top-notch networking and professional growth opportunities to marketers in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.

Sponsorship options:

• Platinum Sponsorship
• Gold Sponsorship
• Event Sponsorship

Founded in 2004, SFIMA is an all-volunteer organization. Since its inception, the South Florida IMA board has partnered with other IMAs in the United States and top sponsors to present outstanding programming.