Salesforce is the leading customer relationship management (CRM) software company in the world. Some of you may ask what is it, how it works and why do 100s of 1000s of companies trust it to manage their critical sales, marketing, and customer service operations?
In this blog, I will take you to a journey where I will explain everything you need to know in details.It includes:
- What is Salesforce?
- Features/Tools of Salesforce
- Key Benefits of Using Sales force CRM
- Why Salesforce is number 1 CRM globally?
- How To Implement Salesforce?
- How to Get Started with Salesforce?
- FAQs
What is Salesforce?
A cloud-based software company that provides businesses with a customer relationship management (CRM) platform to organize and manage all their interactions with customers and prospects.
The CRM platform is delivered through cloud servers rather than traditional on-premise software. It provides companies a unified 360-degree view of the customer across sales, marketing, customer service, e-commerce, and more.
Was founded by Marc Benioff in 1999 and pioneered the concept of delivering enterprise applications through simple websites. Major companies using Salesforce include Adidas, Amazon, Google, Toyota, and many more.’
Some amazing stats about Salesforce CRM:
- 150,000+ companies use Sales force CRM, spanning all industries and sizes
- 20%+ global CRM market share
- $26 billion market cap, making it the #1 CRM provider
- Named a Fortune “Most Admired Company” 9 years in a row
- 4 million+ customers run over 9 billion transactions daily on Sales force
Features/Tools of Salesforce:
It provides a highly robust set of features and capabilities through its leading CRM platform, as well as additional clouds for marketing, service, analytics, and more.
Sales Cloud
The Sales Cloud delivers automation and productivity tools for sales teams to help them effectively manage opportunities across the sales funnel, including:
- Contact Management
Centralized database to store and manage prospect/customer contact information - Opportunity Tracking
Track deals from lead to close with sales stages - Automation
Workflow automation for tasks like email, call reminders, lead routing - Forecasting
Predictive analytics to forecast sales quotas and targets
Service Cloud
The Service Cloud provides features to help companies deliver excellent customer service and support, such as:
- Case Management
Route, track, and solve customer support cases - Knowledge Base
Library of support articles and resources for service agents - Entitlements
Define support levels (SLAs) per customer - Live Agent Chat
Real-time chat for personalized customer support - Customer Communities
Online portals for customer self-service
Marketing Cloud
Salesforce Marketing Cloud helps marketers automate and deliver personalized campaigns across channels, including:
- Campaign Management
Plan, execute and track marketing campaigns - Email Marketing
Design, automate, and test email campaigns - Social Media Marketing
Manage social media posts and campaigns - Digital Advertising
Centralized ad management and budget optimization - Marketing Analytics
Measure campaign ROI, engagement, and more
AppExchange & Integrations
It offers pre-built apps for every business need while also providing seamless integrations with other apps, including:
- AppExchange
Get apps for sales, service, marketing, productivity, and more - Lightning Connect
Integrate external data sources like ERPs - Lightning Sync
Two-way sync with apps like Gmail, Outlook, and more
Customization:
A highly customizable to meet the unique needs of every customer, including:
- Customize apps, workflows, fields, page layouts, and more
- Build custom apps with Apex and Visualforce
- Create custom tabs, objects, and user interface
- Leverage pre-built templates and designs
These robust features spanning sales, service, marketing, and beyond, provide an integrated CRM platform to help companies streamline processes and boost productivity across departments.
Key Benefits of Using Sales force CRM:
There are many excellent reasons why Salesforce is the #1 CRM platform for businesses of all sizes across every industry.
The main benefits of using Salesforce CRM include:
- Increased sales productivity
Automation and centralized data help sales close more deals faster - Improved sales forecasting
Data-rich analytics for accurate performance tracking and quotas - Enhanced marketing ROI
Measure campaign effectiveness and optimize spending - Better customer service
Unified customer data enables personalized, efficient service - Boosted collaboration
All customer data, communications, and documents in one place - Flexibility & agility
Easily create new apps and workflows to adapt to changing business needs - Latest innovations
Cloud delivery provides instant access to new features - Security
Enterprise-grade security, reliability, and permissions - Mobility
iOS and Android apps provide CRM access on any device
“With Salesforce, we increased sales by 25% year-over-year by improving productivity and leveraging data-driven insights.”
Sarah Davis, Acme Co. VP of Sales.
No matter your role in an organization, our CRM provides tools to help you succeed by delivering a complete 360-degree customer view.
What Can You Do with Salesforce?
Salesforce is highly versatile and can support critical business functions across departments, including:
Sales Teams:
- Manage new and existing customer accounts
- Track sales opportunities from lead to close
- Automate lead assignment and routing
- Log phone calls, emails, meetings, and tasks
- Score leads based on fit and priority
- Improve forecast accuracy with analytics
Marketing Teams:
- Build targeted email campaigns and newsletters
- Create and manage events and webinars
- Publish social media posts
- Run ad campaigns and track costs
- Analyze campaign metrics and ROI
- Automate lead nurturing workflows
Service Teams:
- Log, track, and resolve customer support cases
- Serve customers via call, chat, email, mobile
- Manage entitlements and service contracts
- Empower customer self-service with portals
- Monitor service performance and satisfaction
For Admins & Leaders
- Customize apps, objects, fields, and tabs
- Create custom reports, dashboards, and workflows
- Manage user roles and permissions
- Integrate Salesforce with other business apps
- Get an enterprise-wide view of customer data
- Monitor real-time analytics and KPIs
These are just some examples – the possibilities are endless for what you can achieve with the Salesforce platform.
Why Salesforce is number 1 CRM globally?
There are some clear reasons why Salesforce has become the undisputed #1 CRM provider with over 150,000 happy customers, including:
- Cloud delivery
No hardware to install and maintain. Automatic updates push the latest innovations instantly. - Ease of use
Intuitive interface up and running in days, not months. Accessible for non-technical users. - Flexibility
Highly customizable to meet unique needs, with low-code configuration. - Mobile access
iOS and Android apps keep field reps connected. - Ecosystem
Thousands of plugins, apps, and expert consultants are available. - Scalability
Effortlessly grow to hundreds or thousands of users. - Data security
Robust security, controls, and permissions. - Total cost of ownership
Subscription pricing allows costs to scale with growth. - Proven ROI
92% of customers report ROI from Salesforce.
“We chose Salesforce over competitors because of their reputation for ease-of-use, flexibility, and for providing a unified solution as we scaled.” – Sarah Lewis, FastGrowth Co.
These advantages explain why most businesses standardize on Salesforce for their CRM and customer engagement needs.
How To Implement Salesforce?
Salesforce is flexible enough to fit companies, both large and small. Here are some common ways it can be adopted:
- Start small
Implement foundational CRM tools like contact management for sales teams first. Scale up from there. - By department
Roll out to one department at a time, focusing on their specialized needs. - Business-wide
Deploy Salesforce company-wide immediately to unify customer data. - Integrate
Integrate Salesforce with your existing ERP, financial platform, email, and other systems. - Leverage Salesforce’s out-of-the-box functionality to get started quickly.
- Customize
Customize Salesforce to match unique workflows and processes. - With partners
Engage Salesforce consultants and partners to aid in design and implementation.
How you ultimately implement depends on your budget, internal resources, and specific business requirements. But no matter how complex your needs may be, Salesforce can scale to meet them.
How to Get Started with Salesforce?
Here is how you can get started:
- Sign up for a free trial
Experience Salesforce firsthand with a free 30-day trial. - Attend online events
Salesforce hosts many free webinars, virtual events, and training content. - Take online training courses
Salesforce’s Trailhead platform offers free training at all levels. - Find a consultant partner
Certified Salesforce consultants can provide expert help. - Start small
No need for a complex rollout right away. Begin with a minimal viable product. - Focus on change management
User adoption is key. Invest in training and communications. - Leverage app exchange
Install apps to get more value immediately without custom development. - Consult client references
Talk to companies similar to yours who use Salesforce.
Starting small and prioritizing user adoption will help ensure a successful implementation that delivers transformative business results over time.
FAQs about Salesforce:
Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about the Salesforce platform:
What does Salesforce cost?
Pricing depends on which Salesforce products you need and the number of user licenses. On average, costs range from $25 to $300+ per user/month.
Is Salesforce secure?
Yes. Salesforce utilizes state-of-the-art security protocols like encryption, backups, permissions, and more. Your data is safer than in most on-premise systems.
Does Salesforce integrate with other software we use?
Yes, Salesforce easily integrates with 1000+ business apps, including email, marketing, ERP, payments, and more. APIs also allow connecting custom applications.
Can Salesforce scale with our high growth?
Absolutely. Salesforce was built to grow with you. It powers some of the largest companies in the world. Adding more users is seamless.
How customizable is the platform?
Extremely customizable to match unique workflows thanks to low-code tools, drag-and-drop editors, and the ability to build custom apps within software.
Is training and support available?
Yes, Salesforce has extensive training resources online, along with 24/7 customer support and a thriving community of experts.
Is there any Salesforce Partner in Dubai?
Yes, SalesForce has a lot of registered partner. Aphidas is leading partner in Dubai.
Hopefully, these answers address common questions about the Salesforce CRM platform and company. Their solutions are built for scalability, security, and flexibility for businesses in any industry.
Summary:
- SF is the global #1 CRM platform in 2024
- Used by over 150,000 companies of all sizes to manage sales, marketing, customer service, and core business processes.
- Its cloud-based architecture, ease of use, scalability, and ecosystem of applications and partners has driven its rise as the leader in customer relationship management software.
- With robust sales, service, marketing, and customization capabilities, SF gives businesses that unified 360-degree customer view needed to make data-driven decisions and create exceptional customer experiences.
- It’s flexible enough to start small and scale up as your needs evolve.
- By implementing best practices for change management and user adoption, any company can realize significant gains in productivity, efficiency, collaboration, and revenue growth with Salesforce.
- Hundreds of thousands of businesses trust Salesforce to strengthen customer relationships and accelerate success.
Aphidas provides Salesforce implementation, training, and support services. Get FREE Demo Today!
