Salesforce is synonymous with the term CRM, and a lot of that has to do with how long it’s been around. It was created in 1999 and has improved year after year. It’s one of the most feature-packed CRMs with customizable and automation to help sales teams close deal after deal.
Salesforce is the granddaddy of all CRM, but its age hasn’t slowed it down. This is the CRM businesses look to when they know they’re scaling quickly and need a program that’s going to keep up. Salesforce offers a wide range of products for all business types, and makes it possible to piece together a CRM solution a la carte.
I like how data displays on the dashboard with my digital assistant on the right. All my tasks are neatly organized and it’s easy to click and call a lead without navigating to another app.
Salesforce Genie is the newest feature. It’s a real-time CRM that pulls in customer data from all sources, and continues to pull new data, giving you the most up-to-date customer profile. It's one of the most valuable features Salesforce has added because Genie helps you home in on the customer experience, so you aren’t just making a sale, you’re building trust and creating loyalty.
What Salesforce does best is provide you with the most holistic view of your leads and customers with its AI tools, real-time data, and connections between your teams, employees, and other software you use. In fact, Salesforce’s thousands of integrations means you can create a centralized platform for all your teams. This functionality helps drive and support growth as you scale.
Although Salesforce gets expensive, it’s a popular choice because it provides your business any feature, customization, or automation it can, whether through its products or an integrated third-party app. However, it has a steep learning curve because it’s so expansive.
Who is Salesforce for?I found that Salesforce is a great choice for companies that are growing quickly, though I personally wouldn’t use it for my business (I’m running a one-woman operation). Salesforce provides entry-level plans for sales, support, and marketing teams, but it’s too much CRM for me and it gets pricier as your business grows. The hope is that your revenue is growing, too.
Recent upgrades to SalesforceSalesforce updates its products and adds new features three times per year, so check Salesforce’s website for new releases every spring, summer, and winter.
For summer 2022, Salesforce announced a subscription management feature for the Sales product letting you create a subscription that allows customers to subscribe for a product or service.
The Service module has a swarming feature, letting support members use Slack to problem solve. Marketing, Commerce, Analytics, and many other
Salesforce products received new features, too.
Salesforce pricingSalesforce’s Small Business Solutions plans range from $25 to $75 per user per month, if paid annually, but
Salesforce pricing is a bit complicated. There are basic plans for the sales, service, marketing, and commerce platforms, and some of them have different editions with different pricing. So, it’s difficult to show you all pricing tiers in one screenshot or paragraph.