Read This First Before Getting Salesforce for Your Company

Salesforce is, without a doubt, one of the most powerful Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software system available in the market and it makes perfect sense to consider implementing it for your company if you are thinking about scaling up your business.

It is, after all, the best CRM system for enterprises as ranked by Business News Daily and described as the “All-in-one, cloud-based solution that has everything you need in a CRM software”. The review has also marked Salesforce as being easy to use, with key functions that help small enterprises with various functions within the organization.

However, before embarking on the (possibly tedious if done wrongly) journey of executing such a big exercise of integrating Salesforce into your existing processes and systems, there are 3 important advices we have and you may want to continue reading.

What are you using it for?

Do you really need such a powerful CRM system or are you just jumping onto the bandwagon because it is “trendy” to do so? What will you be needing it for specifically?

If it is just digital marketing, most of the social media & search engine already have very user friendly “self-service” platforms and there may not no need for another SaaS like Salesforce.

However, if you are looking at things like for example, improving customer relationships, bettering user experiences at different touch points, gathering data, making decisions quickly in order to make sure customers return for more, then you are looking at the right direction.

You may need further validation by knowing that SurveyMonkey has found out 72 percent of shoppers (in America) are more likely to shop from brands that make customer experience as a priority.

Are your staff ready to commit to it?

Salesforce is a powerful tool, only if the data it is getting has good integrity from the ones inputting them in.

It may sound simple on paper, but getting staff to commit on doing that additional step of keying in data on a daily basis may be much more difficult than previously thought.

Introducing something new in the company will almost guarantee resistance, albeit only with a small effort, let alone extra work.

Communication is key.

A lot of ground work may be needed, like explaining the benefits, showcasing the companies that are also using it, etc., before the stakeholders are more ready to start using it.

They may even see it as a privilege to be among the first to use it.

If you are confident of overcoming this hurdle, which may require a consistent effort over a long time, we believe that the team will also slowly start to see the benefits and reward of having the system (better conversion, increased sales, etc.), and get to grow into it eventually.

You need a good Salesforce partner, not just any integration provider.

Although Salesforce is based in cloud, you will still need to integrate it into your existing system and processes.

Even if you don’t need to, the reason why Salesforce is so powerful is because it is customisable to each different organization’s needs and wants.

You can go directly to Salesforce but they will be charging a much much higher fee.

Therefore, most savvy in-charge will go directly to the page on Salesforce where they show their list of authorised partners in different territory instead.

However, do note that not every Salesforce partner is as reliable as the next one. The experienced ones will make the integration of Salesforce into your organization seems like a walk in the park, a total breath of fresh air with a new toy to play for your fellow colleagues in no time.

A bad one will make you regret your decision of even proposing this (and maybe fighting for it) in the first place. And it is going to look very bad on you with all the “I told you” prophecies coming true, behind your back in the pantry.

A good indication will be the partner’s number of years in the field and their portfolio of clients, how many of them looks like the type your organization belong to. Those with in-depth cloud experience is a huge plus point too.

The journey of setting it may not be a bed of roses (especially when you end up with a bad Salesforce partner). But once it is up and ready, enjoy your new powerful tool and, when the data starts coming in, making critical decisions that are the best for your organisation.

Article is contributed by Mandy, who is a marketing executive of Crimsonworks Solutions, a top Salesforce Singapore partner, and have been helping clients with the customisation and integration of cloud solutions for organisations of various sizes since 2002.