First-Week Approach When Taking Over An Existing Salesforce Org

We kicked off our conversation with Jitin by asking for his recommended first-week approach when taking over an existing Salesforce org. He walked us through how he assesses and prioritizes what needs attention first.

Incomplete or Outdated Documentation

Documentation is often incomplete or outdated in inherited Salesforce orgs. We asked Jitin about key areas admins should focus on first, and what tools or methods he recommends for this process.

Technical Debt in Inherited Salesforce Orgs

At this point in our conversation, Jitin talked about how he evaluates which customizations or configurations should be kept, updated, or removed entirely.

Looking at Security in an Inherited Org

Security and sharing settings can be complex to untangle in an inherited Salesforce org for admins. We were curious about Jitin’s systematic approach to auditing and validating existing security configurations in an inherited org.

There was much more to our conversation with Jitin about inheriting a Salesforce org. Listen to the full Salesforce Simplified episode here. 

Related Resources:

How to Keep Your Salesforce Org Secure and Up-To-Date

Set Up Your Salesforce Org for Integration with MuleSoft

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For businesses navigating the ever-evolving maze of their industries, maintaining a competitive edge means more than having a high-quality product or service. It’s about leveraging technology to enhance customer relationships, streamline operations, and create new revenue streams. Enter Salesforce®, a powerful customer relationship management (CRM) platform that adapts to your business needs. Whether you’re a potential customer exploring CRM options or an existing customer considering new ways to optimize your operations, here’s how Salesforce can customize solutions for your business.

Understanding Salesforce: Beyond Basic CRM

Salesforce is renowned for its robust CRM capabilities, but its potential extends beyond managing customer data. The platform offers a comprehensive suite of tools designed to address various business needs, including sales, marketing, customer service, and analytics. What sets Salesforce apart is its flexibility and scalability, allowing businesses of all sizes to tailor the platform to their unique requirements.

1. Tailored Sales Solutions

One of the core functionalities of Salesforce is its Sales Cloud, designed to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of your sales team. By customizing Sales Cloud, you can streamline your sales processes, automate routine tasks, and gain valuable insights into your sales pipeline.

Customizable Dashboards and Reports

Salesforce provides customizable dashboards and reports that give you a real-time view of your sales performance. These tools allow you to track key metrics such as lead conversion rates, sales cycle lengths, and revenue forecasts. With this data at your fingertips, you can make informed decisions and quickly identify areas for improvement.

Automated Workflows

Automation is a game-changer for sales teams. Salesforce allows you to create automated workflows to handle repetitive tasks, such as sending follow-up emails, assigning leads, and updating records. This not only saves time but also ensures that no opportunity falls through the cracks.

2. Personalized Marketing Campaigns

Salesforce Marketing Cloud (a.k.a. Account Engagement) enables you to create highly personalized marketing campaigns that resonate with your target audience. By leveraging data-driven insights, you can craft messages that speak directly to your customers’ needs and preferences.

Segmentation and Targeting

With Salesforce, you can segment your customer base into distinct groups based on demographics, behavior, and purchasing history. This level of granularity allows you to target each segment with tailored marketing messages, increasing the likelihood of engagement and conversion.

Multi-Channel Campaigns

Salesforce supports multi-channel marketing, allowing you to reach your audience through email, social media, SMS, and more. You can create cohesive campaigns that deliver a consistent message across all channels, ensuring a seamless customer experience.

3. Enhanced Customer Service

Providing exceptional customer service is crucial for retaining customers and building long-term relationships. Salesforce Service Cloud offers a range of tools to help you deliver superior support.

Case Management

Salesforce’s case management system enables you to track and resolve customer issues efficiently. You can assign cases to the appropriate team members, monitor their progress, and ensure timely resolution. This leads to higher customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Self-Service Options

Many customers prefer to find answers on their own. Salesforce allows you to create a self-service portal where customers can access a knowledge base, submit support tickets, and track their status. This not only empowers customers but also reduces the workload on your support team.

4. Data-Driven Decision Making

One of the most significant advantages of Salesforce is its ability to provide deep insights into your business operations. By harnessing the power of data, you can make strategic decisions that drive growth and profitability.

Einstein Analytics

Salesforce Einstein Analytics uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze your data and provide actionable insights. It can identify trends, predict outcomes, and recommend actions to optimize your business performance. This helps you stay ahead of the competition and capitalize on new opportunities.

Custom Reports

Salesforce allows you to create custom reports that align with your specific business goals. Whether you need to track sales performance, customer satisfaction, or marketing ROI, you can design reports that provide the insights you need to succeed.

5. Creating New Revenue Streams

Beyond optimizing existing processes, Salesforce can help you explore new revenue opportunities. By understanding your customers better and identifying unmet needs, you can develop new products or services that drive growth.

AppExchange Marketplace

Salesforce’s AppExchange marketplace offers a plethora of third-party applications that can extend the functionality of your CRM. From e-commerce solutions to financial management tools, you can find apps that help you diversify your revenue streams.

Custom App Development

If you have unique requirements, Salesforce’s Platform as a Service (PaaS) allows you to build custom applications tailored to your business. This enables you to create innovative solutions that set you apart from the competition and open up new avenues for revenue generation.

The Takeaway: Building a Future-Proof Business with Salesforce

Salesforce is more than just a CRM—it’s a comprehensive platform that can be customized to meet the specific needs of your business. By leveraging its capabilities, you can enhance sales efficiency, deliver personalized marketing, provide exceptional customer service, and make data-driven decisions. Moreover, Salesforce empowers you to explore new revenue streams through its extensive marketplace and custom app development options. Whether you’re a small business or a large enterprise, Salesforce offers the tools you need to succeed in today’s dynamic market.

Incorporating Salesforce into your business strategy can transform the way you operate, helping you stay ahead of the competition and achieve your growth objectives. Embrace the power of Salesforce and unlock your business’s full potential.

How AdVic Can Help

While the Salesforce platform offers extensive customization, navigating its full potential can be complex. AdVic’s certified Salesforce consultants act as your guide. We understand your business goals, analyze your existing processes, and recommend the ideal Salesforce solution – whether pre-built or custom-built with AppExchange apps or development tools. We’ll configure the platform to streamline workflows, integrate with existing systems, and train your team to leverage Salesforce’s capabilities, maximizing your return on investment. Let’s get started today!

Related Resources:

Crunching Numbers: The ROI of Salesforce Adoption

How Salesforce Can Help Startups Grow and Scale: Beyond the Cost Perception

10 Salesforce Products to Supercharge Your Sales Pipeline

*AppExchange image courtesy of Salesforce.

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In today’s ever-changing digital age, customers are more empowered than ever before. They have access to a wealth of information and can make informed decisions about their purchases. This shift in consumer behavior has led to the rise of Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) companies that sell directly to consumers without involving any middlemen. While D2C companies have been successful in many industries, they have yet to make significant inroads in the B2B space. However, with changing customer expectations and increased competition, B2B companies are beginning to realize the need for a D2C experience. In this article, we will explore how B2B companies can provide a D2C experience.

Balancing B2B and D2C Strategies

Before we jump into how B2B companies can provide a D2C experience, it’s essential to understand what it means. A D2C experience is all about providing a seamless customer experience from discovery through purchase and beyond. It involves removing barriers between the customer and the product while also delivering personalized engagement at every touchpoint.

While this may seem straightforward, implementing a D2C strategy isn’t as simple as it sounds for B2B companies. Unlike D2C businesses that deal with individual customers who often make quick decisions based on emotions or impulse purchases, B2B clients are often representatives of an organization that follows strict purchasing procedures.

Moreover, many B2B sellers rely on distributors for sales and distribution channels. These distributors often represent multiple brands and might not be as invested in promoting one particular brand over another.

To implement a successful D2C strategy, a balance needs to be struck between traditional B2B sales channels and new direct-to-consumer models that offer customers greater control over their purchasing decisions.

Creating Unique Product Experiences

One of the key ways B2B’s can provide successful D2C experiences is by creating unique product experiences. The products need to cater to specific market segments rather than being generic enough to appeal to everyone.

For instance, if your business sells software solutions targeting small businesses, your website should highlight features catered towards those specific demographics – such as pricing plans suited towards small and midsize business (SMB) budgets or integrations with commonly used tools such as Salesforce CRM software.

Personalization Through Data

Personalization is crucial when creating engaging experiences for customers; incorporating data-driven insights adds an extra layer of personalization that can help businesses stand out from their competitors.

For instance, offering personalized recommendations based on past purchase history or search queries enhances customer experiences by catering directly to their preferences rather than relying on generic marketing tactics.

Efficient Order Management

Providing customers with efficient order management capabilities is another critical aspect of delivering an effective e-commerce experience that aligns with the principles of direct-to-consumer marketing. Customers expect real-time updates on order status so they can track progress at every stage of the buying journey.

Therefore, businesses must invest in robust order management solutions that can handle complex orders efficiently while addressing issues such as cancellations or refunds quickly.

Enhanced Customer Support

Customer support plays a crucial role in delivering satisfactory post-purchase experiences. Businesses must invest in dedicated support teams equipped with relevant training so they can address customer concerns promptly while offering resolutions aligned with company policies.

Moreover, enabling self-service options such as chatbots or knowledge bases empowers customers so they don’t always have to rely on contacting support representatives.

Summary

Direct-to-consumer strategies have become increasingly popular, especially among retailers because they create unique opportunities for building relationships with customers through customized offerings and streamlined interfaces. The same principles apply when it comes to providing great buyer experiences within the B2B space: Personalization/segmentation through data analysis-backed insights paired with efficient ordering processes and reliable post-sales support services will help differentiate you from competitors who lack these qualities.

Ad Vic’s dedicated B2B Commerce team is ready to apply their knowledge and passion to your challenges. Whether you are migrating from a legacy eCommerce solution,  just starting to dip your toe into the B2B eCommerce world, or want to explore direct-to-consumer options discussed in this article, our team has the skills and expertise needed to quickly devise a technology roadmap so you can drive new revenue. Reach out and talk to us today!

Related Resources:

B2B Customer Success Story
B2B Commerce Accelerator
B2B Marketing Tips You Have Not Thought Of

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Not to be confused with a sales funnel – which looks at the whole customer journey and the various stages a consumer will go through in their journey towards purchase – a sales pipeline looks at the different steps in the sales process, from gaining the lead to closing the sale. It is brand-focused, in that it looks internally at the stages that your sales and marketing teams need to move a prospect through in order to gain a customer and retain them.

And while you could do an internet search and come up with various numbers of stages – and numerous names for them – that people feel are in a sales pipeline, these seven are generally considered to be the “standard” stages for a business that follows a typical sales process.

1) Lead Generation: Sometimes called prospecting, lead gen is typically done through advertising to let your potential customers know that you exist, community initiatives/volunteering/giving back, or other promotional activities.

2) Lead Qualification: At this step, you are determining if a viable opportunity is worth adding to the pipeline and adding applicable information into your CRM. Also at this point, you have to consider if this marketing qualified lead (MQL) has the potential to become a sales accepted lead (SAL) or sales qualified lead (SQL).

3) Initiate Contact: Here’s where the real work begins in the various pipeline stages, as this is where the sales rep attempts to contact the lead to understand their business and requirements. This stage will help you map your business services against the lead’s needs.

4) Schedule a Meeting and/or Demo: So you have had your initial conversation with the lead. If the lead is convinced that your services could possibly be a solution for them, you may schedule a demo during this pipeline stage. You may also try to set up a meeting with the decision maker with a goal of negotiating the deal.

5) Negotiation: Many salespeople will tell you that the negotiation stage of the pipeline process is the most exciting to them. This is where top sellers separate themselves from others. And in a perfect world, your proposal would check every box, and your prospect would immediately sign on the dotted line. But in the real world, this doesn’t happen often. The goal of your negotiation is to find common ground. Sometimes it’s simple, and other times it seems like a struggle. Be prepared for everything that the prospect could throw at you, and rely on your experience to bring you across the finish line.

6) Closing the Deal: Here’s the coveted finish line! You found and qualified the lead, provided a proposal during a meeting/demo, and successfully negotiated a deal that works for everyone. But before you get too excited, you still need to close the deal, and that only comes when you have a signed contract in your hand – and not a moment before.

7) Post-Purchase: Now that the contract is signed, it’s time to seal a positive future relationship and you do that by providing exceptional service during onboarding and regularly monitoring the account’s progress. At opportune times, you can cross-sell existing customers on new services and upsell them on premium solutions. When the contract is about to expire, you can explore renewal options with them. And among your happiest clients, don’t forget to ask for referrals to other potential customer

“AdVic has become a true business partner for us. We are seeing improved sales rep morale due to system simplicity, speed of execution for quoting, and accuracy of data entered into the system. Every interaction with the team has been positive and their work is top notch.” – Ryan Hesske, Sales Operation Manager, ConnectWise

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Salesforce, the world’s leading CRM platform, helps you streamline, manage, and track your sales process and pipeline – so your team can close the deal more times than they are today. And as a Salesforce Partner, the AdVic® Consulting Team has the breadth of experience to quickly implement a CRM system that will make your sales team’s pipeline steps a seamless success. Let’s get your business on the road to closing more deals today! Schedule a call with us below.

Related Resources: 

How to Improve Sales Forecasting in Salesforce with AI

Salesforce Tools for Retailers

Inside a Salesforce Implementation from Initiation to Go-Live

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Nothing moves without data analytics. Salesforce’s Tableau and Tableau CRM offer data solutions that are easy to analyze, and implement well with existing databases and/or Salesforce® CRM. Depending on a business’s needs or wants, one may work better than the other. However, having clean, usable data in a single system propels business forward.

On a recent episode of AdVic’s “Salesforce Simplified” podcast, our Analytics Practice Director, Abby Schreiber, gave valuable insight into the differences between Salesforce Tableau and Tableau CRM, including use cases of the two. 

About Tableau and Tableau CRM

Tableau is a software that works for all industries with business of all sizes. It allows anyone to visualize and analyze their data from virtually anywhere! Tableau connects with a number of databases making it accessible, and a necessity, and presents its users with ease of use as it pulls data and information from various sources and compares them alongside one another. 

“Tableau CRM does offer a handful of data connectors of its own,” Abby remarks, “but really it’s primarily used to analyze the data that’s in Salesforce. So, it’s used to maximize sales, service, and any Salesforce specific functions. So, the insights and visualizations from Tableau CRM can be plugged in alongside any live opportunities, cases, accounts, and any live data in Salesforce to help those Salesforce users make real-time decisions.”

Distinguishable Differences

While both Tableau and Tableau CRM are powerful reporting tools, they have noteworthy differences. One of the primary differences is that Tableau CRM is unique to Salesforce’s ecosystem. Tableau is a stand-alone product that can exist on its own. Again, both tools are impactful, but depending on use-case, Abby says, “One may be better than the other.”

The Advantages of Tableau

If a company has data in multiple systems and uses it across multiple functions within its business, Tableau is a great fit for them. Being that Tableau functions with practically any database, companies are empowered to incorporate data across a variety of sources. 

Abby adds, “Additionally, if it’s important for these insights to be shared with both Salesforce and non-Salesforce users, Tableau is definitely a better choice because it isn’t unique to the Salesforce ecosystem. It isn’t going to require you to have a Salesforce license to view. If you need to report on data across the entire organization, outside of just Salesforce data, you’re definitely better off with Tableau.”

The Advantages of Tableau CRM

A company that has implemented Salesforce, in need of reporting tools specifically for their users, will benefit most from Tableau CRM. Tableau CRM not only benefits Salesforce users, but changes the way they perform.

As Abby explains, “A company has to be comfortable reporting predominantly using Salesforce data, and they also should have an interest in really embedding these analytics within the Salesforce ecosystem, making these insights actionable in real time for their Salesforce users. This reporting tool makes it super easy to help the everyday Salesforce user make informed and efficient decisions.”

Tableau and Tableau CRM in Contrast

While both Tableau and Tableau CRM have the same look and feel, they differ. The biggest contrast is the use cases. Abby reiterates the difference noted as, “A Tableau dashboard might be a more holistic view, big picture, enterprise focus, function across function within a company, while a Tableau CRM dashboard would probably just be specific to data that’s in Salesforce.”

Frequent Customer Data Pain Points

The most common pain point that AdVic’s customers face is having data exist in multiple systems. Both Tableau and Tableau CRM can remediate this problem. However, Tableau is a better fit when there are multiple data sources that need to be reported in one system. This also alleviates the burden of managing dashboards manually on a day-to-day basis.

Another major pain point Abby says, “is the use of Google Sheets or Excel to produce and maintain these visualizations, which long-term is such a burden on the person who is maintaining them. So, if we see this happening, Tableau CRM or Tableau, can help with that because the data is always going to update instantaneously on a set schedule.”

Victories With Tableau and Tableau CRM

AdVic has empowered numerous customers with efficiency by way of Tableau products. Sales and support reps who once spent countless hours maintaining and managing data can now access data through dashboards that update frequently. 

In particular, Abby relates, “We recently created a dashboard [for a customer] to track their average lead conversion rates, times, and factors to help sales reps make a decision about when to continue to pursue a lead or when to just stop pursuing a lead.”

She adds, “This customer now uses that dashboard to track the key characteristics of a lead that delivers a successful conversion or a dead lead. They use this dashboard throughout the day, helping their sales team to target credible leads, be more efficient, and have more time throughout their day.”

Adaption Post-Implementation

Introducing new software to the workforce can be intimidating, however that is a challenge that AdVic chooses to fix out-of-the-gate. 

“In the beginning of the project,” Abby says, “we get to know the customer, their needs, users and owner of maintaining, managing and creating new dashboards. From there, they are engaged from the beginning to the end of the project. We use this process to ensure their comfort ability and competency when maintaining dashboards, reports on additional metrics moving forward. 

“On the other end,” Abby continues, “adoption amongst the audience is also a priority. This means understanding their current dashboard; the pros and cons of it.  From there, we translate those evaluations into a new Tableau or Tableau dashboard. In the end, user adoption is a success because of the precautions and understanding of their needs.” 

The Future of Tableau & Tableau CRM

Abby predicts that one day, Tableau and Tableau CRM will become one in the same. A recent rebrand from Einstein to Tableau CRM supports her theory. 

“On top of that,” Abby adds, “there have been some recent announcements around being able to integrate some Tableau CRM functionality, specifically around another tool – called Einstein Discovery – being able to integrate the metrics from that tool into Tableau.”

Lastly, Abby says, “There is currently an active effort to integrate both tools, as they look alike. But there have also been very recent changes to Recipe Builder in Tableau CRM, so that it matches the data prep tool, which is really just the data cleansing and relationship tool found in Tableau.” 

As always, stay tuned… AdVic will keep you posted on any and all Salesforce updates.

When you implement Tableau or Tableau CRM, you transform your data into powerful, interactive dashboards. Plus, you can securely share your data and dashboards so everyone in your organization can ask and answer their own questions right from a browser, tablet or phone. Let the AdVic multi-cloud consulting team show you how.

Related Resources:

What‘s the Difference Between Tableau and Tableau CRM? – Podcast

The Analytics Power Inside Salesforce Tableau and Tableau CRM – Podcast

Meet Tableau and Tableau CRM

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At AdVic, we seem to get this question every day: Is CRM worth it for my business? 

In a word, yes! If you have customers, you can benefit from CRM (Customer Relationship Management), a methodology and system that helps businesses and organizations of any size track and manage information about prospects, leads, opportunities, customers, and clients. 

Even if your customer base is small, no one can keep every interaction — ones that have already happened, or need to happen — memorized and organized. CRM is a powerful business tool that streamlines processes, gives valuable business insights, and virtually connects employees at your company so they can collaborate as a team, in real time.

What are the Different Kinds of CRM Solutions?

Though there are many CRM providers, there are two main types of CRM solutions that companies can choose, depending on their needs and budget.

• On-Premises CRM: Housed at the location of the business that uses it, on-premises solutions require the up-front purchase of servers or datacenter equipment and the installation of CRM software and middleware by IT staff. It also requires IT for ongoing maintenance and updates. In some cases, you may even need to build the software yourself.
• CRM in the Cloud: Cloud-based CRM solutions – such as Salesforce – provide solutions through any browser or mobile device and are instantly scalable, requiring no on-site IT staff. Essentially, CRM in the cloud allows you to pull up a login page through a browser like Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Safari, or Firefox. You simply log in with a username and password, and your CRM is right there. Even better, the mobile functionality of cloud CRM solutions has cut the tethers for reps and managers on the go.

Signs You Need CRM

If you’re not sure if your business would benefit from CRM, below are some clues that can help your business find, win, and keep customers more efficiently:

• You have teams that work closely together, even when not actually together.
• Your sales teams are often on the road.
• You are unable to quickly find or view complete customer data to make decisions fast.
• You feel deals are falling through the cracks because you’re managing things in spreadsheets, notebooks or in a siloed system. 
• You have a patchwork of apps that you “call” CRM, but they are not really connected on top of a single database or “system of record.”
• Your business is growing more quickly than you feel ready for.
• You know that your business’ customer service experience is lacking or you are losing more customers because of service issues than you’d like.
• You or your IT department is buried with maintenance requests.

How CRM Will Keep Your Customers Happy

With solutions that range from self-help pages (that allow agents to focus on the tough cases), to full call centers, CRM brings immense value to customer service teams. Your service reps can also use it to generate service tickets and keep track of all your customers’ contact with your service department. And, because the entire system is connected, account reps and every other relevant department will be fully aware of customers’ issues, so everyone can be a service agent when you need them to be.

Insights about customer service issues can be shared and added to a knowledge base so that agents can help customers even faster. In addition to shortening case resolution time, this kind of connected service also makes agents happier. It all comes down to giving them the tools to do more for customers — which in turn drives customer loyalty and referrals.

Adding a CRM can serve as a key driver of digital transformation for any size business, and the Salesforce® consulting team at AdVic has years of experience implementing and integrating systems with great success. We’re excited to help you get there! Let’s get to work together today!

Related Resources:

Tracking People, Places and Things with CRM – Podcast

Driving Sales Efficiencies: A CRM Utilization Guide

4 Ways Salesforce CRM Improves Lead Conversions

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Growth within the pharmaceutical industry is inevitable. Every year, the world of pharma grows 7%, which is expected to score billions of revenue dollars. While the shift in focus for pharma sways between vaccines and new drugs, their challenges tend to persist.

However, using cutting-edge technology with mobile access and artificial intelligence, such as Salesforce Maps, empowers pharmaceutical reps to engage with customers, data, and projects in an insightful way. Here’s how…

Pharma, Meet Salesforce Maps

Salesforce’s Maps is a powerful tool for any pharmaceutical organization, as it helps reps with territory management, data and financial analysis, and business process automation. It also enables visibility for reps to target physicians, track and monitor written prescriptions, frequencies, and refills, all from a mobile dashboard. This eliminates time-consuming manual tasks and empowers reps to target high-priority customers. And with intelligence hosted in one place, there is no longer a need for endless spreadsheets, documents and puts an end to keying in data and address input.

And to remain competitive in a heavily regulated market, pharmaceutical businesses need technology that brings visibility and efficiency. When a salesperson is on the go, another of the many benefits of Salesforce Maps is optimized routing. Reps can easily maintain and manage their schedules as needed with access to AMA data, including written prescriptions by doctors and pharmacies. And as reps tackle their day, optimized routing also allows them to plan meetings and calls by priority. Even changes in the weather can be monitored so reps are always on course and continuously informed.

Key Features of Salesforce Maps

The infographic below (Download Here) illustrates how Salesforce Maps relieves pain points so that pharma reps can focus on important duties such as engaging with the right physicians at the right place and time. 

If your Pharma team is searching for a productivity and sales solution, set up a call with the AdVic Salesforce Maps Team, we are always happy to simplify Salesforce for you. Fill out the brief form below, or click here.

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Related Resources:

Increase Sales & Service Productivity with Salesforce Maps – Podcast

5 Reasons Your Team Needs Salesforce Maps

Data, Precise Targeting Propels Retail Sales

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Salesforce® is an essential and dynamic business tool. When used effectively, sales and marketing teams are met with significantly less challenges in their every-day operations. From visual dashboards to automations Salesforce is a CRM that works for its users. The platform brings efficient processes that allows you to focus on building an everlasting relationship with customers and optimizing daily schedules. 

To be competitive in current times, businesses need to transform the way they engage with customers. Salesforce collects important data that helps teams to build 1-to-1 customer journeys. However, it can only do so much. It is important to train stakeholders on the numerous features of Salesforce to utilize every benefit.

To have a successful CRM solution it is important to focus on important aspects of the tool. On the AdVic Salesforce Simplified podcast episode titled “How CRM Utilization Drives Sales Efficiencies,” with T-Mobile Business Sales Manager Kenneth Scott, we discuss how he leads his team every day in executing key business goals and how they can work for your company. 

Optimize Your CRM Platform Guide

As an everyday user of Salesforce, Kenneth is a go-to man on this topic. He manages his T-Mobile team and leads them to victory one automation at a time. In this guide, he offers his best practice tips to optimize your CRM platform.  

Create “War Reports”: “War Reports,” as he’s labeled them,” are unique to Kenneth’s team. Without having to micromanage or disrupt his team, he is provided with customized visual dashboards of his sales reps’ progress and task tracking, War Reports also display valuable metrics to managers and reps to set new strategies and to meet greater goals. Kenneth adds, “This also works for meeting ratios.” 

Trust Automation: Kenneth describes automated reports as “everything!” At the end of every day, he receives an automated report via email that provides him with gaps that need to be filled amongst his reps and frequent reminders of any unfinished tasks.

“Salesforce helps us execute our key initiatives is customer retention.”

Embrace Salesforce’s Flexibility: Salesforce eliminates tedious and manual tasks from salespeople, one being exporting leads from third-party databases directly to Salesforce. As Kenneth says, “This allows for salespeople to begin making calls immediately. Also, with the flexibility the platform offers, reps have access to their list on mobile, tablets and laptops. Lists can be cloned, categorized, and created in Salesforce as they would in Excel.” 

Favorite Salesforce Feature & Wins

Kenneth’s Favorite Salesforce Feature: Kenneth says his favorite tool is Opportunities. “That’s because then you are able to scale your business the way you want to from either going to discovery, to business needs, to proposal stage, to negotiation stage, and finally the commitment stage. And my favorite part of the Opportunity stage is how easy it is to maneuver through it. I also enjoy its easy talking points, too, especially when I’m speaking one-on-one with my reps asking about certain Opportunities. It’s all right there for us.”

Wins with Salesforce: Salesforce limits preventable leaks by tracking, managing and reminding reps of opportunities and tasks to stay on top of. Kenneth explains, “It helps us execute our key initiatives is customer retention, as far as keeping our customers. As we go through our system, we can see our active customer base.”

Adding a CRM can serve as a key driver of digital transformation for your company, and the Salesforce consulting team here at AdVic has years of experience implementing and integrating systems with great success. Perhaps we can help you make the case to your stakeholders about the benefits of a CRM? We’re excited to get you there! Next step? Let’s talk.

Related Resources:

Tracking People. Places and Things with CRM – Podcast

Turn Sales into Selling Machines with CRM, AI, and More – Podcast

How to Convince Your Stakeholders It’s Time to Get a CRM

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New standards require distributors to progress or sink in the competitive retail industry. For modern retail distributors, victory is to defeat challenges by finding new ways to run businesses efficiently. It is essential for distributors to have software that allows their operations to grow and remain strong in the face of change. 

More frequently, retailers are growing their businesses and overcoming obstacles with high tech solutions that provide stability, advancement and ease-of-use. A recent AdVic customer is one of those companies.

The company’s previous software, Microsoft Dynamics, was outdated and disparate. Due to having disconnected systems, business was at a standstill, as they did not have a way to conduct a true market analysis. Completing their tasks manually was timely and left plenty of room for human error and inefficiencies. 

In order to remain competitive, the company needed a digital transformation that would propel their business forward. They reached out to AdVic for assistance. 

The AdVic Challenge and Solution Overview

This particular company is an integrated food services company in the business of distribution to convenience stores, contracting with food services, and development of proprietary concepts and brands. 

The company offers innovative solutions to businesses looking to build their brand at a controlled cost and peace of mind. With their diversified customers, they require technology that is user-friendly, customizable, and that offers advanced solutions. Using Microsoft Dynamics, they felt left behind. On the prowl for a dynamic and robust CRM experience, The company partnered with AdVic to simplify processes and advance sales.

 After integrating to Salesforce®, the company reached great heights, found new successes and cohesiveness within their company’s operation and advancement. 

AdVic spoke with the company’s Certified Salesforce Administrator and Sales Training Manager about how the company’s challenges were resolved with Salesforce.

The Digital Transformation Details
The Technology: Sales Cloud  I  Salesforce Maps I Tableau  I Salesforce Mobile I  Pardot

How did the Salesforce Implementation impact your sales process, opportunity forecasting, and goals? 

“The Salesforce Mobile app has made it possible for our team to capture accurate store-level data while in the field. Salesforce provides an excellent reporting dashboard, so the real-time data that is now captured is at our fingertips.  Our team is universally ecstatic with having reliable, easy to use mobile app – because our sales goals are now easier to achieve.”

How are sales reps using the platform for better targeting? 

“Pardot was key to engaging with new customers. Now equipped with the right marketing tactics and strategies, our company’s sales representatives were able to draft marketing plans that targeted engaged customers – those prospects that are “ready to go.” With a goal of 15.4%-22% closing, sales reps are now provided with critical information to achieve this mark.

“Our company’s efficiency levels increased tremendously as repositories of information became easily accessible from wherever they were. 

“Now with platforms that communicate with one another, reps were able to balance their day-to-day duties to ensure they focused on the right targets resulting in operational efficiency.” 

 Analytics and Improvements

The company lacked the data they needed to accurately forecast product needs – this impeded their ability to provide leadership with an accurate future financial view of sales. By implementing Tableau, the company is now able to upload raw data into the system and have Einstein work its magic to provide a forward looking forecast for financial analytics. This once manual task, taking 25-hours, now takes one-hour!

 Before partnering with Salesforce and AdVic, the company was never able to conduct a true market analysis of 180,000 convenience stores they were looking to potentially partner with in an “affordable and scalable way,” the company rep remarks.  

Now that the company utilizes business data from Maps, they are able to do so. The rep explained, “We set up a proximity around existing customers, then populate the U.S. business data outside of those proximity but inside territory.” 

The company is also now able to quantify available leads that can be targeted. They have recently conducted analysis of the entire market share, which is something their company has not been able to do in 25 years. 

With Salesforce and AdVic, this company transformed its selling process, marketing, and operations. Now empowered more than ever before, AdVic equipped them with their very own platform. Tailored to their unique needs, Sales Cloud, Pardot, Tableau, and Salesforce Maps are accessible from their mobile platform, allowing for increased productivity and efficiency. Sales reps can now conduct prospecting and sell calls from their mobile devices, along with managing deals. 

Is your company in need of similar solutions as this company’s? Don’t put them off anymore! Fill out the quick form below, or click here, and an AdVic consultant will be right with you! 

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These days, everyone and everything is becoming smarter and more connected than ever before. To that end, Ad Victoriam’s (AdVic) commitment to our customers has been rewarded once again, this time with a coveted Salesforce® Master designation for Sales Cloud.

The rigorous review process for this new Master designation for Sales Cloud required AdVic to demonstrate deep practice expertise with Salesforce solutions, including a detailed history of proven Sales Cloud customer success stories. This proven proficiency empowers the AdVic team to connect our customers with their consumers in entirely new ways.

What Our Customers Say

A recent Sales Cloud customer success testimonial offers insight into how the AdVic team achieved our latest Master designation: “We had little CRM experience before working with Ad Victoriam,” said Brian Williams, YANMAR America. “They had manufacturing experience so we knew they would understand our high-level needs and business model. After they performed their thorough fit/gap exercise, we moved forward with Salesforce as our solution. Their communication and project scheduling were prompt and flexible. It was a great experience.”

Salesforce Sales Cloud is a customer relationship management (CRM) platform. It’s designed to support sales, marketing, and customer support in both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-customer (B2C) contexts. It includes Leads, Accounts, Contacts, Contracts, Opportunities, Products, Price-books, Quotes, and Campaigns, and is designed to be an end-to-end solution for the entire sales process.

“I am proud of the AdVic team, who dedicated themselves – through hard work – to meeting the comprehensive Sales Cloud Master requirements,” remarked Jeff Jones, President, Ad Victoriam Solutions. “We pride ourselves on providing products and services that are based on the latest technological advances to drive customer success. Salesforce Sales Cloud is such a product, as it allows our customers to sell smarter and grow their revenue.”

If your business is considering a Salesforce solution, why not find out first-hand why the Ad Victoriam Team was awarded a Master designation in Sales Cloud. We’re ready to start helping your business sell smarter and grow your revenue starting today! Click here!

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