- Gartner named it the World’s #1 CRM Platform of 2016.
- 90% of Fortune 500 companies use at least one app from Salesforce’s AppExchange.
- 150,000+ enterprise users rely on it to carry out everyday transactions.
We are talking numbers related to Salesforce.
Salesforce is not any ordinary tool. It is a globally acclaimed enterprise-grade CRM tool that is used by companies that have dedicated marketing teams.
Salesforce users as such, have distinct characteristics compared to other CRM users. This blog is a round up on some such traits that Salesforce users have.
1. Salesforce users are more optimistic about AI
Salesforce claims the future of sales is artificial intelligence. We couldn’t agree anymore. Technologies like Artificial Intelligence is not an option but a must-have capability to gain an understanding of customers who leave multiple digital trails. To sell better, salespeople need to stay abreast with the advancements like AI. AI will help sales people understand their customers better and provide tailored offers that will convert better.
How does Salesforce deliver such high levels of sales intel? Einstein!
Einstein is an Artificial Intelligence-based business technology that can deliver predictions and recommendations based on data accumulated from diverse data points. It simplifies the task of a sales rep who otherwise has to sift through multiple data points to arrive at sensible conclusions.
With Einstein, Salesforce empowers its users to rate leads as warm or cold early in the discovery process and chart their further negotiations accordingly.
2. They enjoy greater transparency at work
While selling is more of an outreach process, the internal process largely remains one that is highly collaborative in nature. There is a huge amount of information that needs to be collected and exchanged between several departments before the lead can get close to becoming a deal.
Also, a sales professional needs to give constant updates about how a deal is coming through and in which stage of the sales funnel it has reached. But, sharing sales data transparently and consistently is a task easier said than done.
For Salesforce users it is a breeze. They enjoy greater transparency at work since the CRM offers greater visibility of the pipeline that can be instantly shared. That makes Salesforce users one of the most satisfied sales professionals than non-Salesforce users.
3. Their CRM skills are a cut above the rest
Salesforce wants everyone to learn how to use the CRM the easy way. To make the learning process more persuasive, Salesforce released Trailhead – a fun way to learn Salesforce.
Trailhead is a gamification-based Salesforce learning platform. It is split into trails, modules, projects and super badges, which improve Salesforce users’ CRM skills significantly. Unlike other CRM modules, Trailhead is more geared towards enhancing selling and CRM handling skills of users. This makes the CRM skills of Salesforce users a cut above the rest.
But, what difference can it make it to the business? According to research by InsideSales, 63 percent of salespeople’s time is focused on activities other than selling, such as updating spreadsheets or trying to find their way around CRM tools. Training and skills enhancement changes all that. Salesforce users are more productive at selling since the tool streamlines all CRM activities.
4 They run on real-time data
Customers of today are hyper-connected more than ever. In the process of looking for information online and performing online transactions, they churn out tons of data. That leaves sales reps with vast data pools that can be dissected to arrive at meaningful conclusions. Most of this data also happens to be real-time, which enables sales reps to find the opportune moment where lead conversion could be the highest.
This has made Salesforce users obsessive users of data. In fact, Salesforce users tend to check their CRM data dashboards three times more than non-Salesforce users. In fact, study by Cien.ai has found that sales forecasting tools for lead scoring and pipeline analytics are very popular among 34% of sales professionals.
Sometimes, It Is The Wand, Not The Wizard
Duff Goldman once said, “It’s not the wand, it’s the wizard.” It is the expertise of an individual that makes him/her better than the tool used. Well, this might be true in certain scenarios. But, in CRM, it is definitely the tool that gives the wizard an edge over others. Salesforce, without an iota of doubt, is one great tool that turns even ordinary users into extraordinary professionals.
Salesforce arms sales reps with data and also the means to make sense of the data for selling. It puts the right data, in the hands of the right person at the right time.
And, it is not any historical data, but, data that is alive and real-time. With the latest release of AI-based Einstein intelligence and other Salesforce marketing tools, this real-time data can be turned into quick actionable insights. A sales professional armed with actionable insight about customers is nothing but a powerful selling machine. It goes without saying that Salesforce is empowering salespeople to get better at what they do, directly and indirectly.