Salesforce has been helping businesses of all sizes and industries since 1999. Today, over 80% of Fortune 500 companies use Salesforce apps. With a 19.5% market share, Salesforce is the world's leading provider of Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Such is the impact of this enterprise software that revolutionized cloud-based customer interaction in a seamless manner.
What exactly is Salesforce?
In the simplest terms, Salesforce is a Software as a Service (SaaS) customer relationship management system. It helps manage all aspects of customer relationships, right from marketing to customer service.
Since it is a SaaS, you don't need to purchase the software and then install it. Instead, you can create an online account and access the entire suite of software through a browser. Businesses can set up Salesforce instantaneously at a very affordable cost because it uses a "pay-as-you-go" model.
Salesforce CRM is completely cloud-hosted, which makes it great for marketing and sales teams who are constantly on the move. Businesses can access reports and dashboards on any mobile device, making it easier for field personnel to use their mobile devices to get the information they need.
How does Salesforce work?
Salesforce offers a range of editions to suit different users. In fact, it offers several editions, including Enterprise, Professional, Enterprise and Performance (for Sales Cloud) that can be selected by an organization based on their goals and the features they need.
Salesforce's core product was Customer Relationship Software (CRM), which is now known as Sales Cloud. CRM is used by sales representatives at companies to track potential sales opportunities. Sales Cloud stores all information regarding a sale, including notes from customer interactions, customer contacts and the products being sold. This will allow you to determine what type of content or products your customers want. This will allow you to create marketing and sales strategies more in line with your customers' preferences. You can seamlessly use Salesforce tools to track sales activity as well as customer interactions, and also gain a better understanding of your clients.
Over the past 20 years or so, Salesforce's software offerings have grown beyond CRM and can now handle complex business situations using just one-fifth of the development effort. Salesforce CRM now works by managing standard objects and maintaining relationships between them. These are the types of clouds that it is built upon:
Sales Cloud
Sales Cloud is primarily based on Lead and Account objects. Sales Cloud has a great built-in feature that allows leads to be converted into account, contact and opportunity objects. It is possible to also set the mapping for any custom fields that are attached to the lead object. You can manage opportunities by giving them different stages or probabilities.
Service Cloud
Service Cloud's base objects are solutions and cases. An Executive Service can create a case for a customer inquiry or complaint. The solution can then be saved in a solution object. There is also some standard functionality like email to the case which will create a new customer case in the CRM for every email.
Marketing Cloud
Marketing Cloud is an app for marketing purposes. It allows you to create and execute marketing campaigns and email promotions.
Customization
You can add custom fields to standard objects and create custom workflows. Visualforce pages can be used to create custom views and business logic. This customization facility allows CRM users to meet almost any requirement they may have.
Analytics
Each CRM application should be able to present reports containing data it has stored. Salesforce's 'Reports and Dashboards" feature allows for effective analytics. You can find a variety of standard reports that are associated with everyday objects. You can use each report to create dashboard components such as graphs.
Salesforce automation
Salesforce automation features include managing leads, tracking emails, assigning tasks and notifications, as well as approvals, notifications, and approvals. This CRM handles all automation needed for sales, marketing, or service processes.
How Salesforce works for Marketing
Salesforce is a marketing platform that works for companies in the following ways:
It assists a marketing team with the creation and sharing of marketing messages to specific customers at the right time and in the right medium.
This allows for better lead generation and customer acquisition.
Increases the likelihood of upselling to customers an upgraded or more premium version of an already existing product.
Increases cross-selling opportunities and sales of new products and services to existing clients.
Collects and manages data from both first and second parties.
Collects and organizes data from potential and existing customers.
Integrates data from multiple external sources.
Allows integration with artificial intelligence for optimal interaction with customers.
Allows quick decision-making with facts, metrics, and data.
Helps create connected brand journeys, and then modify them based on individual customer interaction in order to offer a customized experience.
How Salesforce works for Sales
Salesforce helps sales in the following ways:
It allows the sales team to spend more time connecting and building relationships with customers than entering data.
Assists sales reps and support staff in developing and implementing precise and repeatable sales processes.
Personalizes sales experience with customer contact and account management.
Keeps track of sales opportunities.
Performs sales forecasts by understanding the revenue growth status and providing data-backed insight for better results.
Automates routine sales tasks like tracking activities, sending emails alerts, creating workflows, and so on.
Incorporates sales with commerce, marketing, service, and/or other lines to increase opportunities and improve customer engagement.
How Salesforce works for Commerce
Salesforce offers the following services for B2C and/or B2B commerce and shopping:
Offers an easy-to-implement and adaptable platform for commerce.
Attracts and converts more customers, creating customized buying experiences.
Connects commerce to other business aspects, which helps increase revenue and customer engagement.
How Salesforce works for Customer Service
Salesforce offers the following features for customer service:
It provides personalized customer service at every touchpoint with customers, including the contact center, field, service automation, and artificial intelligence-powered chatbots.
Manages self-service channels, field services, and online channels such as SMS, chat, and even social media channels like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and so on.
Helps identify and address customer issues immediately.
How Salesforce works for IT
Salesforce comes with integrated IT tools that can help companies work in the most efficient way possible.
It allows you to create modern apps that best serve your customers, partners and employees.
Automates processes to increase productivity, increase work scale, transparency, and security
Personalizes user experience to improve productivity.
Integrates IT, service, marketing, and sales into one customer view.
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