It is an essential tool for medium to enterprise businesses, but it has to be designed well from the beginning. Implemented properly, the executive team, operations, sales leadership, inside sales, direct sales, marketing, and more will benefit.
Pros
HIGHLY customizable. All data fields can be pulled into reporting/dashboards. To implement properly, you have to reverse-engineer what metrics are important to your business. Once you have a comprehensive understanding of the reporting that you want to see then you can build fields, pick-lists, radio buttons, etc so you capture all relevant data. The beauty is that you are not at all limited to the out-of-the-box configuration (which is good, but generic). In the past I have built in lead sources and ROI, appointment setting quality grading, commission reporting, stack ranking, and many other highly customized reports. Start with the end in mind and then find a good implementation partner who can execute on your plan.
Cons
Cost and support at the lower levels. Unless you have (pay for) their premium support, their customer service is not quick to act.
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 10/10
Overall it has been great for me. As I said, once you get your salesforce process setup up, it's really easy to use, and the crashing that occurs is very minimal: it really only happens when your Salesforce admin tweaks with something. I can't speak to the cost (As I'm just a user), but from my perspective I would recommend it if you're looking for a solid CRM.
Pros
Once you have your Salesforce process setup and streamlined, it's great to use. It's easy to access leads and opportunities and manage data inside them with relatively few issues. I also like the dashboard feature which allows you to see a lot of data from different reports in an aesthetically pleasing manner. I have never used the Zoho CRM, but I know my company switched over and has been using it for over 2 years now.
Cons
The setup process can be difficult and might require some degree of coding logic. Like all software sometimes features won't work and you'll have to contact the salesforce administer within your company to fix it. Also, the reports can kind of be tricky to set up.
My biggest complaint is that no two people can edit a file at the same time. There have been times where I've spent 15 minutes inputting information in a file and tried to click save only to see an error message saying that someone else has edited the file. So I wish it would allow for real-time editing amongst co-workers or at least allow me to refresh the page while saving all the data I have already typed up.
I'm also not a fan of "lightning mode", which is the new UI that they are trying to push. Salesforce classic is just so much easier to use, and you can see so much data at one time when looking at leads/opportunities.
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 10/10
I wish I had known about it's capabilities a long time ago because we would've switched to it for onboarding much sooner. I didn't realize you could create custom objects that could tie to an account record and setup virtually as many fields as you needed.
Pros
Our onboarding team uses Salesforce for onboarding new customers. It allows us to track communications, activities, mark task that have been completed and create reports and dashboards to show how accounts are progressing through the onboarding process. Salesforce is the best in class tool when it comes to customization and trackability. We can setup whatever fields we need and collect whatever data we need based on various workflows. You can also create automated tasks.
Cons
Salesforce is a bit clunky and slow at times. We had to have training by a Salesforce expert to implement the systems we needed, so I wouldn't say it's very user-friendly (but that's expected when you have such a robust system).
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 9/10
Its a CRM. Like all CRMs what you put into it is what you will get out. If you live in it day in and day out its a great program and the reason for their popularity and success.
Pros
The fact that you can have access to your information anywhere is comforting.
Cons
Convoluted. There are lots of hoops you need to jump through in order to really have this software work for you. An GOD FORBID you have any issue because support is not great. At least in my experience.
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 8/10
Salesforce allows me to keep track of leads and where they are in the sales process. It allows users to customize their own views, although the desired view is not always available. Putting pre-set products into a quote is not hard, but printing out the quote or sending it with a title that is appropriate for a client is more challenging. Overall Salesforce is useful as all members of a sales/marketing team can see linked information, however as a pure sales tool there are better options. I can understand why larger organizations use this program however I don't think it is as flexible as needed for smaller companies/startups.
Pros
This software allows for a very nice layout by which you can see all of your opportunities, stages of the sales life-cycle, quotes, and notes. It is very easy to customize and save reporting so you can run reports daily or weekly. With email tracking you can see how often your emails are read or if a client has even seen an email. There is a lot of connectivity with other programs such as Act-On so marketing can also see how their performance is affecting sales.
Cons
The program is not intuitive to use. Some things like customizing reports are very simple while other things, such as printing or customizing a quote are more challenging. There are items on Salesforce Classic view which are not visible in the "better" Lightening view. Seeing daily tasks requires customizing the tasks field rather than just appearing on your dashboard as a daily list. Once a lead has been changed to an opportunity the view changes and you can no longer see tasks that you had previously set up. Notes become harder to find and this usually causes the sales team to create a duplicate account for each client which is messy and harder to keep track of.
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 6/10
Basic sales and marketing for up to 5 users
$25
/user/month*
(billed annually)
Complete CRM for any size team
$65
/user/month*
(billed annually)
Deeply customizable CRM for your business
$125
/user/month*
(billed annually)
Unlimited CRM power and support
$250
/user/month*
(billed annually)
How does Salesforce Sales Cloud compare with other Customer Management apps?
Subscription plan?
Salesforce Sales Cloud
Free trial?
Salesforce Sales Cloud
Free plan?
Salesforce Sales Cloud
Requires iOS 12.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
As one of the largest and most well known CRM solutions on the marketplace, Salesforce is highly regarded thanks to its suite of tools designed to help businesses sell more and grow faster. Salesforce has introduced hundreds of features that give professional users ways to connect with leads, accounts, contacts, and important business information all from within a unified web-based system.
Designed for sales, service, and marketing professionals, Salesforce runs on the Salesforce1 Platform. Regardless of the device they are using, professionals are able to log calls, respond to sales leads, track ongoing opportunities, and check dashboard statistics. Salesforce also providers its users with strategic ways to collaborate with teammates in real-time.
At the heart of Salesforce is a CRM solution that provides ways for professionals to successfully manage their relationships with customers. Salesforce provides tools for learning about customer behaviors, which in turn help businesses develop healthier, stronger, longer-lasting relationships with their most important customers.
Over the years, Salesforce has branched out. It now provides users with advanced features that go outside those of a traditional CRM solution. For example, Salesforce now offers social media and social enterprise elements within its cloud-based business application. Mobile, Chatter, and Analytics features are just a few of the benefits that Salesforce provides.
Salesforce is used by hundreds of thousands of businesses, encompassing virtually every industry, size, and geographic location. The company has developed an industry focus in key areas such as financial services, health care, life sciences, communications, retail, media, the public sector, automotive, higher education, and nonprofit groups.
Although Salesforce was built to be utilized by everyone on a company’s team, it has become most useful for professionals in the sales, marketing, and services departments. A few of the company’s most well known customers include Wells Fargo, Chipotle, Avon, Delta Air Lines, and the City of Boston.
Using lead scores, sales teams can follow up with their highest impact leads, while their marketing teams take the time to learn which campaigns are leading to the best results for their companies.
Through the Leads tab, you can get a complete view of all of your most recent sales leads. Click on any lead for more detailed information, and collaborate with colleagues to reel in leads and close more sales. Salesforce allows you to work as a team, and it gives your bosses (such as VPs and CMOs) a better feel for how the sales pipeline is actually flowing.
Using Salesforce’s forecasting tools, businesses are able to plan and predict sales cycles. Collaborative Forecasts are also useful for managing sales expectations.
As an account administrator, you are able to create up to four different types of forecasts for your organization. Switch between forecast types by clicking on the titles. You can also view forecasts and related opportunities by forecast category. For example, if your company uses product families, then you can see forecast summaries for each product family that you use.
Sales and marketing professionals who use Salesforce are able to connect with their teams through the solution’s enterprise social network, Chatter. Using Chatter, teams can communicate and work more efficiently by utilizing social feeds.
Feeds sit at the heart of Chatter, providing you with a straightforward way to keep up with projects, topics, and teams from within a collaborative environment. In addition to providing you with a method for easily communicating with colleagues, Chatter also finds the information and experts you need. The enterprise social network recommends relevant contacts and files based on the deal or case you’re working on right now.
With Sales Cloud, users are able to find their best sales leads and get complete and accurate contact information for thousands of companies. Companies can align their sales and marketing managers around the same leads and opportunity pipelines, and they can connect with new accounts to close more deals in minutes rather than hours.
Find useful contacts based on keyword searches for any company or website, and get up-to-date company profiles courtesy of Dun & Bradstreet. Leads are automatically routed to Salesforce users, and scheduling time to qualify leads is a straightforward process through the integrated calendar system.
Salesforce provides professionals with the ability to close deals from anywhere. Download Salesforce’s apps to a mobile device, and you can stay on top of the latest information.
Open the Salesforce app to get a 360-degree view of your upcoming day, or to dial into a call with your team or an important client. Using Salesforce on mobile, you’re able to get real-time insight into your pipeline and your current ranking on the sales leader board. You can also get answers from teammates before company meetings, and keep your entire team in-sync when it comes to important contact details.
Salesforce integrates with more than 50 popular business apps, including (but not limited to) Kayako, JIRA, Intacct, HappyFox, and SurveyGizmo. Through the Customer Platform, Salesforce has made new APIs and tools available to enable businesses to build connected apps that integrate with the Salesforce platform, as well.
Pricing for the Sales Cloud starts at $5 per user, per month (for the Contact Manager plan), and ranges all the way to $300 per user, per month (for the Performance plan). The company’s most popular plan is the Professional plan, which costs $65 per user, per month.
Most well-known CRM solution in the marketplace
Helps businesses sell more and grow faster
Connect with leads, accounts, contacts, and business information
Collaborate with teammates in real-time
Mobile tools for staying connected
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