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Why Salesforce Essentials CRM Is the Best Choice for Your SMB
• Date: May 2018 •
In 1999, when Salesforce was just founded, its CRM solution was primarily aimed at SMBs. With time it grew to be the largest CRM provider in the world, boasting big-name international clients like Adidas, American Express and Toyota.
Meanwhile, it's been long since small businesses started complaining that Salesforce fails to cater to their needs, despite the fact that it offered such SMB-specific products as SalesforceIQ and Desk.com. According to SMBs, Salesforce is too complicated to configure for small companies that typically have no IT staff on board. Another critical consideration is the price of the software, which very few companies of this scale could afford, especially given the number of cheaper (or even free) alternatives not overloaded with enterprise-level features, which SMBs choosing Salesforce still had to pay for. Now however, Salesforce mended its ways and presented a brand-new solution aimed specifically at small businesses – Salesforce Essentials.
Meanwhile, it's been long since small businesses started complaining that Salesforce fails to cater to their needs, despite the fact that it offered such SMB-specific products as SalesforceIQ and Desk.com. According to SMBs, Salesforce is too complicated to configure for small companies that typically have no IT staff on board. Another critical consideration is the price of the software, which very few companies of this scale could afford, especially given the number of cheaper (or even free) alternatives not overloaded with enterprise-level features, which SMBs choosing Salesforce still had to pay for. Now however, Salesforce mended its ways and presented a brand-new solution aimed specifically at small businesses – Salesforce Essentials.
Key Salesforce Essentials Features
The Essentials edition of Salesforce is designed so that teams can start using it almost at once, thanks to the availability of only the necessary features, intuitive Trailhead walkthroughs and a setup assistant. The solution offers its users access to the simplified versions of Sales and Service Clouds.
Sales Cloud Essentials
- lead management and email templates;
- customer and sales data management, with an opportunity to customize the sales process to the specifics of the company, as well as to manage opportunities and tasks;
- mobile accessibility, including offline mode;
- advanced reporting features and customizable dashboards.
Besides, as a part of the recently announced partnership between Salesforce and Google, Salesforce Essentials users can make use of G Suite applications for free for the first three months. Such apps and tools as Einstein Activity Capture, Inbox Desktop and Mobile are also available for a short time as a part of a promotion.
Service Cloud Essentials
- the full stack of service team collaboration tools;
- automated case assignment;
- escalation rules and queues;
- macro rules for repeating simple cases;
- account management;
- web and email case capture, Social Customer Service essential features;
- advanced reporting tools;
- opportunity tracking;
- etc.
Benefits of Using Salesforce Essentials
As it can be seen from the list of features above, Salesforce Essentials empowers small businesses with great tools that their bigger counterparts have been using. At the same time, the pricing for the edition is three times lower when compared to Professional – previously the lightest Salesforce edition priced at $80 per user per month when billed annually. Apart from this advantage of using Salesforce Essentials CRM, there are some more.
Out-of-the-box and custom-tailored apps for SMBs
Both users of Sales and Service Cloud can take advantage of applications for small business available on Salesforce AppExchange. A number of productivity and service apps, both paid and free, are dedicated to this market. Besides, there are even more industry-specific solutions which may be a good fit for a small business too. By using these applications, users can significantly extend the functionality of the application
Also, Essentials' users can make use of Lightning App Builder to create solutions tailored to the unique needs of their businesses. Thanks to the simple point-and-click interface, users can build applications with no coding skills required at all.
Also, Essentials' users can make use of Lightning App Builder to create solutions tailored to the unique needs of their businesses. Thanks to the simple point-and-click interface, users can build applications with no coding skills required at all.
Leverage artificial intelligence tools
Only a few years ago it seemed that it will be long before businesses of any scale can use the power of AI to run their operations. And now, in 2018, the technology got so accessible that even small businesses and startups can afford it – thanks to Salesforce. A number of Salesforce Einstein AI features are built into the CRM and thus available to users of all editions, including Essentials. This enables small businesses reduce the time they spend on manual customer data input and keep records up to date. This in turn can help shorten the sales cycle, boost client satisfaction and save teams time and effort for critical business tasks.
Scale smoothly
Growth is surely a good thing for businesses, but many companies find themselves unprepared for it. One of the pitfalls of scaling a small business is that it originally chose SMB-specific software which doesn't have enterprise-level options. As a result, they have to search for an alternative supporting a larger operation, make an investment of buy it (or subscribing to it), and transfer data from the original solution to the new one. This process surely takes time and may not pass unnoticed by the customers, which might have a negative impact on the business's reputation and cost it a few customers. Salesforce Essential users, on the other hand, always have an option of simply upgrading to another plan.
Our Best Articles and Salesforce Overviews
These and some other benefits of Salesforce Essentials make it an indispensable tool in the hands of small business owners and their teams. Though this edition of CRM is pretty straightforward, you still might need help with adding an advanced capability, integrating your legacy solution or developing a custom application.
Get in touch with Twistellar to discuss the many Salesforce-related services our team can offer to your SMB company!