Implementing Salesforce can be a big step for any business. Maybe your sales team is growing, or managing customer information has now become more challenging. Or perhaps your current CRM can no longer keep up with your needs. Whatever the reason, you’re probably expecting Salesforce to make things a lot easier.
But getting the platform up and running is more than just purchasing licenses and creating user accounts. You need proper planning, so you don’t end up with confused employees, messy customer data, unexpected costs, and a system that performs far less than you expected.
The good news is that, with the right preparation, many of these problems can be avoided. So, in this article, we will show you seven important things you need to pay attention to before you begin your Salesforce implementation.
Seven Things to Get Right Before Implementing Salesforce
#1: Be clear about what you expect from Salesforce
Before you set up Salesforce, ask yourself this simple question: What problems are we trying to solve?
Maybe your team hasn't been tracking leads well, or your customer service department spends too much time searching for information. These are real problems worth solving. But you need to first identify them before you move forward with Salesforce.
So, speak with the members of your team that will be using Salesforce daily. Find out what’s slowing them down and how they think the new system can help.
Setting specific goals can also help. So, instead of saying we want to improve sales performance, you can go for a more specific goal like, let’s cut down on the amount of time we spend preparing weekly sales reports. Having clear goals like this will go a long way in helping you make the right implementation decisions and also measuring whether Salesforce is actually delivering the results you wanted in the long run.
#2: Review your existing business processes
With the decision to implement Salesforce also comes the chance to examine how your business currently operates. Consider how your team handles everyday activities.
How do they assign new leads? How do they handle customer enquiries? How does information move between marketing, sales, and customer support?
You might find out that your employees have been entering the same information into multiple systems or going through approval processes that eat the bulk of their time. These kinds of problems are what you should take time to address before setting up your new CRM. Otherwise, you may be bringing the same inefficiencies into Salesforce.
So, document your important workflows to identify where you might be having bottlenecks. That way, you can easily configure Salesforce around processes that actually work for your business.
#3: Get your customer data ready for migration
If your team has been using another CRM or has completely relied on spreadsheets, you’ll obviously have plenty of customer information to move to Salesforce. But before jumping right into transferring those data, take a good look at what you already have.
Check whether you have duplicate customer records, outdated or missing details. Check if the same information is stored differently across departments too. You need to check all these records and clean them first before moving them into Salesforce. Otherwise, you risk carrying those problems into your new system.
Start by getting rid of duplicates. Check for obvious errors and decide on which records you will actually need to follow you into the new system. Also, match the fields in your existing system with appropriate fields in Salesforce.
Once you are done with cleaning, test the process with a small sample of records. That way, you can easily spot any formatting issue, missing information, or other problems and quickly fix them.
#4: Choose the right Salesforce products and features
Salesforce offers different products for different business needs. That means you need to take the time to understand what each of them does before deciding on which to choose.
For example, Sales Cloud helps businesses track opportunities, manage leads, and monitor sales activities. It's a good fit for businesses looking to improve sales performance, while Service Cloud is built for customer support. But Marketing Cloud is designed differently. It offers tools that help businesses manage marketing campaigns and customer engagement.
What’s important here is that you go for products that address the actual needs of your business. This means you don’t have to buy every feature you come across just because it sounds useful. Otherwise, you may be increasing costs and making the system more complicated than necessary.
#5: Decide who will manage the implementation
Someone needs to take responsibility for ensuring your Salesforce implementation stays on track. Without clear ownership, important decisions can get delayed, or some tasks get overlooked. Different departments might also end up working towards different goals.
Start by assigning an internal project lead who has a clear understanding of your business needs and can coordinate with the teams involved. You’ll also need to decide who will be handling the technical side of things, such as data migration, system configuration, integrations, and testing.
If you already have experienced Salesforce administrators and developers working in your company, they may be able to manage much of the process internally. But if that’s not the case, you may need to work with a Salesforce implementation partner to help you plan the project and handle technical requirements your team may not have the expertise to manage.
Whatever the approach you decide to go for, ensure everyone understands their responsibilities and who has the final say on important decisions.
#6: Plan how Salesforce will connect with your existing tools
Salesforce would probably not be the only software your business uses. Perhaps you already have customer support tools, accounting software, an e-commerce system, or email marketing platforms. Before you begin with implementation, think about how these tools will work together.
For instance, if your sales team is using Salesforce while your finance team works with a separate accounting platform, there may be times you need certain customer or transaction details moved between the two systems automatically.
If there is no proper integration set up, this may be difficult. Your employees may need to start entering the same information multiple times or even work with inconsistent records.
So, take the time to list out all the tools you currently use and identify which of them needs to connect with Salesforce. Now check what integration options are available and decide what information to be shared.
#7: Prepare your employees for the change
As insignificant as this may sound, it holds a major role in ensuring your business makes the most of Salesforce. Your implementation could struggle if your employees aren’t comfortable using Salesforce.
This problem is usually because it’s not always easy for some employees to make the switch to a new platform after spending years working with spreadsheets or another CRM. Many will have to take a considerable amount of time to adjust.
That is the reason you need to involve your employees early. Let them know why the business needs to adopt Salesforce, how much impact it can have on their daily work, and what they can expect during the transition.
You should also arrange for training around different roles. Give your team enough time to practice and get used to the system before launch and ensure they know where to get help when they hit a wall.
Final Thoughts
A successful Salesforce implementation does not start when your team begins using the platform. It’s a thing that starts long before the implementation happens at all. The decisions you make during the planning stage can determine how smoothly the transition goes and how much value your business gets from the system.
We’ve shown you important steps to take to prepare your business for the transition. If you follow them, you will save yourself plenty of frustration later and be able to make the most of Salesforce.