By Gunn-Siri Stromme, Lead Generation Representative

It’s a given that SuccessFactors promotes the heck out of our own products—but to have our customers and prospects do it as well? Now that’s rewarding. The following story is no exaggeration.

I recently participated in an HR fair in Stockholm. During a lunch meeting, I sat beside someone from a potential client I had worked with and her VP of HR, plus several other participants. We had never met in person, so I introduced myself. They immediately replied, “Oh, it’s so nice to meet you, yes we have spoken a lot on the telephone, it’s nice to have a face behind the voice. We really liked SuccessFactors!”

SuccessFactors had lost the deal in question, because we had entered the running too late into the project and their IT department was not interested in a hosted solution. They ended up choosing another vendor, who they already had chosen when SuccessFactors entered the picture.

We then started to talk about tools to support Human Capital Management, and one of the other VPs of HR at the table said that they would soon be buying an HCM product from another large company this year. I was just about to jump in and sing the praises of SuccessFactors, but before I got a sound out my old prospects were saying to her, “No! You’ll have to look at SuccessFactors, they are the best, [that other company] is nothing, you can’t POSSIBLY choose them over SuccessFactors!” I did not need to even open my mouth during the discussion—and it ended with the new prospect enthusiastically asking for my business card!

How wonderful to be a part of company that has such a good product that even customers that did not choose you, sell you!