What is Customer Relationship Management (CRM)?
CRM is a business solution software that helps you manage all your interactions - from running your company to building better customer relationships. A CRM system connects companies to customers, automates processes, and improves overall performance and profitability.
Why do businesses need to invest in a CRM Software?
The more we advanced into the digital age, the more businesses need to keep up with their goals, demands, and targets. As a result, companies will need the power of automation.
With CRM software, you’ll have a better overview of your leads, customers, overall business operations, and a lot more:
- Real-time and reliable report of customer data and leads
- Data visualization of crucial sales, leads, and customer data
- Personalized communication at various stages of the customer journey and sales process
- Automates repetitive tasks with tools such as chatbots and automated messaging to increase efficiency
- Increase collaboration and efficiency within multiple teams
- Provides accurate data and customized reports that enable smart decisions
- Data-based approach to solving issues
- Manage inquiries, leads, and customers across channels
Statista forecasted that the global customer relationship management (CRM) software market will grow to 43.5 billion U.S. dollars in size in 2024, which means it is now transitioning from “just an addition” to a “must-have” in every business.
Think about all the time and effort that you can save if you have this kind of software. By eliminating the constant need to update records, reports, and targets, you can focus more on planning your growth and development.
What is Salesforce?
Salesforce is the #1 Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform in the world. It brings customers and companies together and helps you run an entire business with just a single platform. Through the Salesforce Customer 360 platform, they help unite every department of your business so you can better focus on your customers.
It improves productivity by helping the entire company work smarter and more efficiently. It automates processes and eliminates the manual efforts that consume time, making it easier and faster for you to achieve your business goals. Since it runs through Cloud technology, your team can access and do a lot of things anywhere in the world, including via mobile app:
- Provide different services
- Store and manage customer data
- Oversee marketing campaigns
- Automatically analyze insights and performance
- Promote products across multi-channel platforms
- Gather leads and convert them to sales
- Communicate with customers
- Collaborate within your departments
- Develop custom-fit apps
- Customize as your business grows
What are the Salesforce Products?
Salesforce provides a wide range of business solutions for all kinds of industries and needs, all integrated on a single platform. So, whether you are a start-up, small to medium company, or a large corporation, you can customize the platform to fit your operational needs. Through the Salesforce 360 Platform, you can even integrate all your Salesforce internal operations into one CRM platform to result in a top-notch collaboration and efficiency across multiple solutions. Choose which solution is right for you:
- Salesforce Sales Cloud: With the world’s most trusted Salesforce automation software, you can monitor your business performance in real-time, automate administrative tasks, and have more time to focus on developing strategies for your target consumers.
- Salesforce Service Cloud: Personalize the way you do customer service and build end-to-end engagement with all of your customers.
- Salesforce Marketing Cloud: Achieve the highest return of investment by empowering your marketing with the world’s #1 CRM. Salesforce can provide you with your multi-channel needs from email marketing, digital and marketing automation, data management, and discovering top marketing insights at the touch of a button.
The Marketing Cloud offers services for both Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Customers (B2C). Know your customers and their behaviors on a deeper level and send the right message at the right moment using intelligent marketing automation.
- Salesforce Commerce Cloud: Create a seamless eCommerce experience for all your customers, manage orders efficiently, and grow your revenue online. Suitable for business-to-business (B2B) and Business-to-Customers (B2C) companies, the Commerce Cloud makes buying experience more organized and faster for all your customers.
- Salesforce Apps Cloud: Develop custom apps for any business need, enhance the Salesforce Platform experience, and extend Salesforce functionality through development and enablement on the Lightning Platform. Create pages and responsive apps quicker with a rich library of easily configurable components by simply dragging and dropping, adding custom themes, and personalizing your branding.
- Salesforce Community Cloud: Business integration, personalization, and customization – you can create branded sites connecting customers, employees, and partners with each other and customize the solution based on your community needs. It integrates your data and centralizes the systems that you use for your daily operations. You will also have access to automated data according to individual needs, behaviors, and interests connect groups, content, and experts for a deeper community knowledge level.
- Salesforce Analytics Cloud: Have the ability to integrate all the data you need from other Salesforce Cloud solutions to equip you with an in-depth analysis of the numbers and statistics that matter for your business.
See the complete Salesforce Cloud-based Solutions here.
Why is Salesforce the World’s Number 1 CRM Platform?
Salesforce is used by more than 150,000 companies worldwide, from small businesses to FORTUNE 500 companies. Even the world’s most influential companies, such as Google, Facebook, Toyota, Canon, Amazon, Adidas, and many more, rely on its cloud-based solutions.
According to Salesforce, businesses who use their platform report 37% more sales revenue, 45% higher customer satisfaction, and 43% better marketing return of investment (ROI). Read on some of the customer success stories here.
Salesforce is the global CRM leader and here’s why:
- Salesforce puts the success of their customers first
- It shifts your business to cloud-based operations – a secure infrastructure that will eliminate the need for investing in so many hardware
- Advanced technology: Salesforce continuedly to innovate and offers new features that include analytics, IoT, and artificial intelligence
- Enjoy a 360º view of the customer and connect systems and databases
- Integrate apps and improve the experience: With AppExchange, Salesforce provides more than 3,000 integrated apps that you can use for your business
- Run your business from your smartphone through the Salesforce Mobile App
Salesforce Pricing: How much does it cost?
Salesforce offers its cloud solutions at different rates. Depending on what you will choose, most products are offered through an annual contract, but Salesforce subscription terms vary, like Salesforce Essentials which offers monthly or even multi-year payment options.
To give you an idea, it can range from $25 to $3,750. It might also be a good opportunity to try out their free 30-days trial subscription before you purchase the license.
How to prepare for Salesforce Implementation?
Transitioning daily operations into a new technology software is a big move. It can be challenging to adapt at first, but there are many things you can do to prepare your business and your employees:
1. Hire a Salesforce Implementation Partner
If you do not have the internal expertise, we highly suggest that you work with a Salesforce Consulting Company. It would help if you had professional support to make sure things don't go the wrong way.
You can search for the best Salesforce Consulting Companies in the world and find the right one easily at CRM Consulting.
2. Determine who will lead the project and your internal key decision-makers
Once you hire professional consulting companies, you will need to select someone who will manage the project internally. That person will be in charge of supervising the step-by-step process of the implementation and will also be responsible for training your internal team.
The purpose and usage of Salesforce vary per department, so it is also a good idea to tap in all the important members of your organization to make sure all solutions are maximized.
3. Discuss the Implementation Timeline
The amount of time to implement Salesforce depends on the needs of a business. On average, it can take up to two weeks and some up to 60 days. You can definitely sit down and talk to your Salesforce Consultant about your milestones and target dates.
4. Encourage User Adoption
Once you’re up and running, it’s critical to get your users on board. To do so, it’s crutial that you support your users, measure adoption, and encourage adoption.
5. Launch by phases
We recommend that you implement the platform in phases. Give your employees time to adapt and adjust to the new platform that you are introducing.
6. Review and Improve your Implementation Structure
Always do improvements and upgrades to maximize your company’s Salesforce experience. Check which ones of your current processes can be updated to increase user satisfaction.
Read the complete 10-Steps Plan to a Successful Salesforce Implementation to learn more.
