Have you ever heard a customer service representative say, “One second while I pull up your record”? Those records are what we call cases in Service Cloud. Cases are related to contact records, so when a customer calls in, an agent can quickly pull up her record and see not only her purchase history, but also a record of every issue and interaction that customer has had with your organization. Cases, and the ability to clearly see what’s going on with customers, make both your customer service reps, as well as your customers themselves, much happier. Nobody wants to be transferred to another agent, only to have to repeat the issue for the third time.
Service Cloud uses case management to expedite and streamline customer service, creating a much more efficient experience for everyone involved and bringing your service organization into the 21st century.
Interacting with the customer across multiple channels
Service Cloud has an added benefit: the ability to interact with customers across multiple channels. Or perhaps it’s better said differently: Service Cloud gives your customers the choice of how they want to connect with your company.
Not only can customers choose to contact you anytime, anywhere, and from any device, but they can also choose the medium through which they do so. Some customers are old-fashioned and prefer calling a toll-free number. Other customers dread long hold times and would rather chat with an agent online. Giving your customers the choice to contact you the way they see fit will do wonders for their perception of your company. Service Cloud gives you many different ways to do this, and it will pay off in terms of satisfaction, as well as reduced operational cost.
If you already use Salesforce, this topic may be a moot point. At the very least, you know which version of Salesforce you have.
All versions have the same consistent look and feel, but each varies by feature, functionality, and pricing. If you’re considering using Salesforce, consult with an account executive for more details about edition differences, pricing, and upgrade paths. Here are four versions of Salesforce.com’s service:
❯❯ IQ Starter: This edition has replaced the Group and Contact Manager editions. It’s a basic, out-of-the-box CRM system that offers basic account and contact management for up to five users.
❯❯ Professional: A thorough CRM system for any size organization that’s starting to nail down processes. Again, you can track the full sales life cycle from a new lead to a closed opportunity. Dashboards allow managers to track key metrics at a glance. Some optional features for businesses with more detailed process needs (such as managing marketing campaigns, creating contracts, tracking various products sold, or accessing Salesforce while offline) come at an extra cost.
❯❯ Enterprise: More sales and service functionality for more complex organizations, including the ability to integrate with other systems within your company, and the ability to create custom solutions with code. This edition provides more value than if you were to pay extra for certain add-on features in more basic editions. If you absolutely need your business processes to look and act a specific way, this edition provides more ways to make that happen for you.
❯❯ Unlimited: Even more customization capabilities for extending Salesforce to other business uses. You need a dedicated (and usually technical) administrator to take advantage of all the options that this edition delivers.
❯❯ Performance: This edition offers bundled pricing for Sales and Service Cloud licensing. It has everything the Unlimited Edition provides, but also includes features such as Live Agent Chat, an integrated knowledge base, as well as additional sandboxes.
Whichever edition you choose, the good news is that every edition of Salesforce is rich with features that can help companies of every size address their business challenges. You can choose a more basic edition today and upgrade later, as needed. Upgrades happen in the background and are easy, so you can focus on the business processes that drive the need for new functionality. And when Salesforce.com rolls out new releases of its service, it provides product enhancements for the different editions wherever relevant.
Most companies tend to make a decision between using Professional or Enterprise Edition. Budget may be an issue, but the decision usually boils down to core business needs. Consider these questions:
• Does your company have different groups with distinct sales processes, customers, and products?
• Does your company have a lead-generation or service team that relies on a call script when initially speaking with prospects or customers?
• Does your company plan to integrate Salesforce with other applications?
• Does your company require complex data migration into Salesforce?
• Does your company need greater control over users, what they see, and what they can do?
• Does your company sell in defined teams with specific roles?
• Does your company require consistent, specific workflow or approval steps to further automate processes?
If the answer to any of these questions is a definitive “Yes,” your company should probably at least evaluate Enterprise Edition, and possibly Performance Edition.
Part 2
Understanding Salesforce Features
IN THIS PART …
Learn basic Salesforce terms so you’re able to talk the talk.
Navigate the standard landscape of Salesforce to know where to go for what.
See how you can make Salesforce your own with personalization tips, including the Salesforce1 mobile app.
Get acquainted with Chatter and see how your sales, marketing, and customer service organizations can benefit from it.
Get the basic tools to help you work in Salesforce.
Chapter 3
Navigating Salesforce
IN THIS CHAPTER
Introducing Salesforce terminology
Logging in to the site
Getting to know about home pages
Understanding the Lightning Experience
If an application isn’t easy to use, you won’t use it. Period. Salesforce succeeds not only because it offers a universe of integrated tools but also because users can pick it up within minutes. You navigate Salesforce much the same way you do other websites: by clicking text links and buttons.
Still, you have so many ways to navigate Salesforce that it makes sense to lay down the obvious (and not-so-obvious) best practices for getting around the application.
In this chapter, you can find out how to log in to Salesforce and use the home page to manage your activities, create records, and jump to other tabs. We briefly review the major functional areas and describe how to use the internal home pages. Finally, we introduce you to the optional Lightning Experience that ushers in a dramatically different look and feel for end-users.