Keeping customer data and records safe and sound as well as access is a nightmare. It has been a hectic task for companies, all big and small. There has always been innovation when it comes to data management because data is what keeps any organization running, but maintaining all the records in a single place was not only hectic, and money-intensive, but it was also a security issue for many years. We were introduced to Salesforce.
What is a CRM?
Any technology or process that helps businesses and organizations keep the relationship with customers in the best conditions is grouped under CRM. Salesforce is the pioneer in cloud Customer Relationship Management (CRM). They provide their users the opportunity to transfer the data required for effective CRM, Marketing, and Sales to the cloud and work on it online anytime, anywhere. This concept was path-breaking and a godsend. Salesforce comes with various cloud services- Sales, Marketing, Analytics, Apps, Data, Community and IoT. We will be focusing on two of these clouds- one for Marketing (Salesforce Marketing Cloud) and the other for Sales (Salesforce Sales Cloud). These two clouds when combined take care of most of the CRM of any organization.
How does Salesforce make Sales and Marketing easier?
Now arise the questions, what can be done with Salesforce and how easy can it make a task for marketing and sales personnel? Let us try to understand how this software functions and how it shares the responsibilities of the Marketing and Sales departments. The struggle to keep the records, their contact information, their statuses updated at all times is real.
Data Base of Records
To help sales professionals maintain their perfect sales streaks, it is mandatory that companies keep their customer records up to date, and this is where Salesforce steps in. Having come a long way from keeping records manually on files, thousands of records can be maintained on the Salesforce cloud. Individual records can be kept updated which also helps in creating an empathetic and unique relationship with each customer. Customers can be contacted through the channels they prefer, helping create a special relationship with each customer.
Real-time Analysis
Now that customer records are under our belt, we need to keep track of all the deals that have been closed and all the sales that have been made. Analyzing these reports at the end of the month for each sale has always been a tedious task, which is important for representatives and for coming up with better strategies and tactics in the future. Salesforce lightens this burden by simultaneously creating reports and analyzing data on the go. An added bonus is that we can customize these reports as per our needs, they can be more or less detailed, depending on the demand.
Highly Efficient Automations
Building customer loyalty is not an easy task, it comes with the great responsibility of taking care of the specific requirements of each customer. Customer journeys are created and analyzed at each step. Moreover, these journeys once created can be automated and can be customized as per the customers need for any platform of communication, be it SMS or email.
Cross-Cloud Activities
The biggest and the most important feature that Salesforce offers is synchronizing and combining the data from the Marketing and Sales cloud. A company does not function when there is no coherence between individual departments, after all, each department needs to be a well-oiled cog to help the engine of work efficiently. The records from Marketing can be synced and shared with Sales, helping in the generation of leads and their proper upkeep once the leads have been converted. Customer engagement is created and can be maintained with the help of this software.
At the crux of the discussion lays the point that each business requires a model to make their customers feel like they are being taken care of. This process of acquiring customers, keeping their records, and above all giving them special attention can all be achieved through one platform!
