4 Signs Salesforce Isn’t Being Used to its Full Potential

Has your company successfully implemented Salesforce? Then I want you to take a moment to celebrate — seriously. Whether you

4 min. read

Has your company successfully implemented Salesforce? Then I want you to take a moment to celebrate — seriously. Whether you tackled the project yourself or brought in some outside help, getting a CRM up and running isn’t easy. It demands that you learn a new technology, understand how that technology does/doesn’t dovetail with your business processes and then get your team to actually use it. That’s a lot.

Without diminishing the accomplishment, I also want to pose a question: Are you getting the most out of Salesforce? A successful implementation is a great thing, but it doesn’t mean your system and your team are functioning at the highest possible capacity.

If your answer is “I don’t know,” that’s entirely understandable. When it comes to Salesforce, every org is different — and so is every team. With no obvious benchmark for success, you might not know where your system is falling short.

That’s why we’ve identified 4 of the most common pain points our customers encounter. If you’re experiencing one or more of the following issues, there’s a good chance you could make a few changes — either to Salesforce or the way your team uses it — to boost your CRM ROI.

4 Signs Your Salesforce Org Isn’t Being Used to Its Full Potential

Sign #1: Users Rarely Log Into Salesforce

No matter the reason why your company implemented Salesforce, your end users should treat it as their main productivity platform — a tool that helps them perform all aspects of their jobs more efficiently. Beyond the core concepts of running campaigns (Marketing Cloud), closing deals (Sales Cloud) and responding to customer service cases (Service Cloud), apps from the AppExchange give you the power to add almost any functionality to your org.

If your users are only logging into Salesforce once or twice a day (or even less frequently than that), there’s a good chance they don’t feel like Salesforce is something that can really help them. This could either be a sign that your company’s Salesforce org isn’t offering robust enough functionality or that users simply don’t feel comfortable using the platform yet. We recommend surveying your users to find out what’s going on. If additional training is in order, don’t be afraid to bring in an expert team on a short-term basis.

Sign #2: Users Have to Enter Data Multiple Times and Multiple Ways

Let’s return to the idea of productivity: In theory, Salesforce should be saving your users from duplicate data entry. If it’s not doing that, something’s wrong. For instance, if a user has to enter the same data for “project type” and “invoicing type,” they’re wasting time. That may seem like a little thing — and it is — but these kinds of duplications add up over time.

If your users are forced to enter the same data in multiple ways and multiple times, your org could probably use a process redesign. This is where Salesforce can get tricky — even if you know everything about how it works, you might not understand the best strategy for creating an efficient end-user experience. We recommend bringing in a consulting firm to help you with your optimization.

Sign #3: Management Doesn’t Use Metrics from Salesforce

While great leaders sometimes have to rely on their intuition to make big decisions, I imagine most of the time they’d prefer to rely on data. Data, after all, is absolutely essential in the pursuit of accurate lead/sales/revenue forecasts. If your sales team has won 30% of its opportunities for the last 14 months, for instance, you can probably assume the trend will continue unless something changes.

Salesforce makes it easy to access metrics like these thanks to dashboards and reports. So if leadership isn’t using them, that’s a red flag. Why aren’t they? Do they understand the value? Do they not understand how to generate a report or create a dashboard? Whatever the case may be, they might need a round of management training.

Sign #4: Users Are Spending Time in Salesforce Classic

Lightning is Salesforce’s newer UI, offering a slicker interface, more customizable styling and more modern features than Salesforce classic. While some might see the choice between Lightning and Classic as a purely preferential one, with no impact on efficiency or performance, statistics suggest otherwise. According to Salesforce, Lightning can lead to 25% increased productivity. As such, Salesforce is devoting more time and resources to Lightning these days, and fewer to Classic. Eventually, all users will have to make the switch.

That means organizations with users who are over reliant on Classic are operating unsustainably. Lightning adoption can be a process, but it’s worth the time and effort. You can use Lightning Adoption Tracker (free in the AppExchange) to see whether users are still logging into Classic. If they are, you’ll have to find a way to encourage a change.

And if you’re looking for ways to boost your Salesforce ROI, check out our eBook: “4 Foolproof Ways to Maximize Your Salesforce Investment.”

Tags

Avatar

AUTHOR

Danielle Sutton