Salesforce is a household name in the world of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools. It’s been around for 20 years, has (literally) millions of users and boasts a robust suite of features. Like with any household name product, it’s natural to wonder if the hype is deserved. Does it actually help you, the Account Executive, do a better job?
Yes. Here’s how.
Better records
At its most basic, Salesforce is an excellent tool for managing information about prospects and customers. This is a fundamental function of all CRMs but Salesforce does it particularly well. When you consistently log information about your contacts in Salesforce, it becomes a real-time account of each relationship — when it began, the first email you ever sent them, what you discussed during your phone call on March 3 and whether they attended that lunch-and-learn you invited them to last month. It’s a 360-degree view, without a paper file folder. Aside from improved organization, why does managing all of those details matter? Because …
Better data
It creates a library of data that Salesforce can then pull summaries, reports and analytics from. You can create and customize dashboards, graphs and views that show you, for example, opportunities won and lost, how much time has been spent with a specific customer and what the results have been, and what the selling trends are. This provides incredible opportunities to tailor your efforts and create strategies based on real data — not assumptions.
Better Relationships
What these powerful records and data sets lead to is better, more personal relationships with your customers. Because Salesforce can help you adapt your strategies to better suit individual contacts, your interactions with prospects and customers will become more natural and instinctive. Customer satisfaction will improve, as well as loyalty, and in the end, your reputation as a winning salesperson.