Salesforce is a robust CRM foundation for any enterprise, from small e-commerce shops to the world’s largest, most complex B2B operations.
The SaaS giant has helped thousands of companies, from professional and financial services to manufacturing, media, retail, real estate, health care, etc.
But while Salesforce is easy to set up and integrate with essential functions, the learning curve can be steep when customizing and streamlining the software for your company’s needs. As a result, even the most capable IT squads need big questions answered about Salesforce, and fast!
Here is how to navigate the most pressing Salesforce questions for your business without wasting time or resources.
1. Identify Key Problems and Questions
Every company faces a different set of challenges with Salesforce based on their goals, existing infrastructure, business models, and customer demands.
These problems commonly relate to mismatched data, duplicate records, data migration, auto-created IDs, and out-of-sync apps that leave your teams without crucial data when they need it most.
To get your Salesforce questions answered quickly and effectively, isolate the exact nature of the problems you face and identify where bottlenecks and miscommunications occur between apps.
For example, a common obstacle is how to send data from Snowflake to Salesforce, an issue that, when resolved, can unlock greater performance and eliminate silos between sales teams, marketers, support staff, and other key players.
2. Connect Directly with Salesforce
The help desk at Salesforce does an exceptional job navigating customers through custom integrations and giving accurate answers to the most complex problems.
Now that companies rely more heavily on cloud data platforms and other SaaS apps to drive their operations, Salesforce can provide expert support to connect these technologies to drive business outcomes.
Just beware that direct support from Salesforce may be limited in scope and won’t offer insights beyond what is reasonably expected from a service provider.
Salesforce will not help your team create custom solutions from scratch or offer strategies outside of their playbook, so don’t count on them to deliver the best answers to your questions.
3. Build Up Your Tech Team
A subset of professionals in the tech industry specializes in Salesforce and its many integrations.
Considering that Salesforce is used by thousands of companies and counting, it may be wise to add some experts to the payroll if you plan to make this technology a core component moving forward.
Keep in mind that expanding in-house tech talent can be time-consuming and costly. Hiring a full-time Salesforce expert might not be worth the money and effort if you only need short-term support or a specific set of questions answered.
Also, remember that Salesforce is just the tip of the spear for customer experience data. Your company likely relies on data warehouse technologies like Snowflake, Databricks, or other storage architectures that demand a different skill set to navigate. For small teams, experts in these fields may be out of reach.
4. Outsource to Create Custom Solutions
Never discount the power of outsourcing in today’s tech landscape, especially for critical issues in Salesforce.
Rather than wasting precious time and cash on hiring employees (with no guarantees), try outsourcing your biggest Salesforce questions to a team of capable professionals who know the technology and its many quirks.
Startups and early-stage companies may balk at the cost of outsourcing for Salesforce and data warehouse issues, but the benefits far outweigh the risks in this case.
Your business is bound to become more reliant on Salesforce and data-driven analytics, not less. Seize the opportunity to outsource your challenges in this area and set aside lingering concerns moving forward.
5. Get to the Root of the Problem
The more time you spend with Salesforce, the more you’ll realize that your biggest questions about the software have little to do with Salesforce itself.
Instead, you’ll discover that the modern customer “data stack” is the root of many issues, causing confusion and slowdown for your front-line teams.
Speed and accuracy are the issues here, and they’re rooted in the data warehouse – not Salesforce or other direct points of contact. More specifically, the problem is how this data is updated and communicated across platforms rather than the functionality of SaaS apps.
Are you encountering the same data compliance and integration issues in Hubspot, Stripe, Google Ads, Talkdesk, Mailchimp, Asana, and other apps? It may be time to rethink your approach to data storage and connectivity rather than focusing on the apps themselves.
Improve Salesforce from the Ground Up
With software so valuable as Salesforce, you don’t want to cut corners. Your sales teams, marketing staff, customer support, and other critical units are all on the line here, so leave nothing to chance!
Get your most important Salesforce questions answered ASAP using these tips. In the meantime, consider overhauling your entire data warehouse plan to align your business with precision on all fronts.
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