You’re not alone if your company is using Salesforce Sales Cloud primarily for tracking tasks. Tasks are one of the simplest features and are easy to learn. They help users stay on track of open opportunities, larger projects, increase transparency and much more. Reports and dashboards can be built to show a high-level overview of users’ tasks tied to a specific opportunity, useful to review during project meetings. Companies that use Sales Cloud mostly for tracking tasks could get much more out of their current investment. Salesforce started out as a task and opportunity management system but has grown tenfold since then.
- 41% of Sales teams use Sales Cloud only for tracking tasks, where 35% say it streamlines their work. For other users, 27% use it for only tracking tasks, where 52% say it streamlines their work. (State of Salesforce). Other users are those in marketing, Service, IT, Finance and more.
So why are Sales teams not using Sales cloud past these initial features? Simply put, businesses aren’t keeping up with the new Salesforce features that are released. Sales cloud has released hundreds of updates that help deliver innovation to their customers. Users need to customize it to their unique selling experience in order to get more out of the platform than just tracking tasks and opportunities. Doing so will help pinpoint their customers’ individual needs, assist in their buying journey, and guide customers to contract signature. The best implementations extend the core functionality with solutions that assist sales users with everything from scoping and closing deals. We’re going to walk through the many ways us Salesforce users can streamline businesses beyond tracking the bare minimum.
Boost Sales Productivity
Each Salesforce cloud eliminates busywork so reps can focus time on what matters most. For Sales Cloud, it’s giving sales reps time back to focus on selling. Less time is spent updating multiple systems, tracking down information, and trying to find an old email – it’s all in one place in Sales Cloud. Sometimes, acquiring a new customer comes down to who contacted them first. A lead can visit 5 competitive companies and whichever one contacts them first gives them such a compelling pitch that they are favored. Chances are, the company that contacts them has a CRM, and it could be Salesforce Sales Cloud. Not only can it help companies engage leads quicker, but it also helps identify those potential leads, up-sell opportunities, and even sell to repeat customers. Some of these results aren’t from just one feature that can be turned on, it takes strategy combined with these features. With each strategy being different, knowing which system features to use is crucial.
Increase Efficiency
A profit increase isn’t the only ROI that should be tracked. Increasing your team’s efficiency is one way to help add to increased sales. Users can view important notes and documents that can help speed up the sale, helping the customer as soon as possible. For example, if a lead is looking for a few documents about a product, their sales rep can send the content to the lead, tracking, and logging when they open the content. They can accomplish this on their phone even as they’re heading out of an onsite meeting with a prospect. They can update fields and next steps so that those back in the office can move forward without having to wait. It doesn’t stop there with Sales; that’s right, Sales Cloud is for your entire company. A case can be automatically tied to a contact in Salesforce, recording the appropriate information and alerting the customer service rep. The rep can then record this and send a replacement if needed, which automatically alerts the Finance team. Your customers will appreciate the immediate responses and attention to detail that your company provides.
Implement Company Wide
From those measured in a Bluewolf survey, 45% say using one Salesforce cloud provides a cohesive experience. 55% said using three or more clouds provided the most cohesive experience. Implementing more clouds allows companies to onboard more departments onto Salesforce, helping the company stay on the same page. The clouds integrate seamlessly with each other, showing real-time information so there’s no more waiting around for someone to push an update. It also helps teams to be proactive, sending alerts when certain processes are triggered. For example, when a marketing lead reaches the criteria to become sales-qualified, the sales owner instantly receives a notification, prompting them to strike while the iron is hot. If engaged in a competitive sales environment, being first is key and sometimes even one day can cost companies a large deal.
Streamline The Entire Business
The moral of the story here is to think about processes that can be automated by Salesforce rather than become overwhelmed with what it has to offer. Find out from each department where the gaps are, and use the system to help better them. Salesforce Sales Cloud is a great way for a company to stay on top of its business and ahead of their competitors. With such a diverse system, it can be overwhelming to try and learn all of the features to know which ones are the most efficient to use. In no way is Salesforce a system that new users can set up themselves. There are too many features, and to properly learn the entire system in addition to one’s day job would take years. Expert help is always recommended, if not required to successfully implement Salesforce. Corrao Group’s Salesforce consulting business dates back to 2008 and has helped over 850 companies customize Salesforce to their business. Visit our Salesforce services pages to learn more about what we do, and how we can start the conversation of helping Salesforce streamline your business.
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