fuzzy
Notable Contributor
13
CMO (Chief Meme Officer)
Leverage Trailhead and become a Trailblazer, take the test, get certified then make $120k a year to build easy ass reports that you can automate in the first 20 minutes of your day.
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
6
War Room Enthusiast
Sounds like a plan! How do I become trailblazer? Are their courses online or how is the process? You’ve peeked my interest for sure! Are you a certified Trailblazer?
fuzzy
Notable Contributor
6
CMO (Chief Meme Officer)
Just google Salesforce Trailhead. Free classes. Easy and fun all the way up to not so easy and not so fun. I have a trailblazer hoodie ;)
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
6
War Room Enthusiast
Will do for sure!! appreaciate the tip Fuzzy!
markedclosedwon
Big Shot
6
Account Executive
I've spoken with other professionals in my industry (3D printing sales), and it seems Salesforce is more complex which means it takes more time to figure things out and it requires additional add-ons/modules. 

With Hubspot email sequences & tracking features are already included, call recording with transcripts are built in, and building dashboards/reports is intuitive. You can reclaim your time spent on basic CRM admin tasks and focus on selling.

Oh - and you get to save money because Hubspot is more affordable (~60% savings for a team of 50) src:  https://www.hubspot.com/products/sales/salesforce-vs-hubspot
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
6
War Room Enthusiast
Love it! seems you are in sales after all!
KingofGIF
Politicker
9
AE
GET SCRATCHPAD!!! and do as fuzzy suggests, leverage trailhead. 
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
8
War Room Enthusiast
Will check out scratchpad for sure!
Ozz
Politicker
6
Account Executive
100% - such a amazing time saver. Their team is super responsive and helpful too. 
AlphaCharlie
Arsonist
7
Account executive
Here for the tips as well, It's been a while since I used SF and there are talks about using it again
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
6
War Room Enthusiast
I’m glad you find the post useful! 
TheDeplorable
Politicker
7
AE
Learn how to build reports. I am an SDR and my AEs really struggle with this
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
6
War Room Enthusiast
Will keep it in mind, going on YouTube now!
No_ty
Politicker
7
Sales Dir.
best CRM ever - make sure you complement it with a powerful dialer. My favorite: outreach 
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
6
War Room Enthusiast
I've never used it. what makes is your favorite?
CuriousFox
WR Officer
6
🦊
Follow your accounts that way if any transfers or changes are made you will see it in your Chatter feed.
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
6
War Room Enthusiast
Thanks Fox! Will keep it in mind, any other tricks up your sleeve?
paddy
WR Officer
6
Director of Business Development
Make sure your SF admin is on top of it and knows how to manage it properly. 
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
5
War Room Enthusiast
How can I make sure? I’m still learning, in between work 😅
bassinshaps
Politicker
6
Territory Sales Manager
Sync your quotes and use every feature you can
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
6
War Room Enthusiast
Will do, any in particular you’ve found useful?
bassinshaps
Politicker
6
Territory Sales Manager
The related tab under opportunities. You can fill it with all the shit you don’t want cluttering your desktop. Also keeps all the info about each deal together.
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
5
War Room Enthusiast
This is useful for sure! will start using it today! appreciate it! Loving the community, It adds so much value to our everyday!
No_ty
Politicker
6
Sales Dir.
backup and powerful dialer
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
6
War Room Enthusiast
Anyone you’d used and have success with?
CloudyWithAChanceOfQuota
Politicker
6
Corporate AE
pray everyone else updates the data and if not simply set your computer on fire 
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
6
War Room Enthusiast
ahhahhahaha I feel there is a story behind this!
CloudyWithAChanceOfQuota
Politicker
6
Corporate AE
oh believe me there is, my company salesforce has been the center of plenty of calls with my therapist 
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
6
War Room Enthusiast
do tell.... this sounds interesting!
Reformed.Rep
Good Citizen
6
Product Manager
#1's
- Learn the structure - how data in SF relates to itself, what info rolls up, what doesn't, what is tied to a person record, etc
- Figure out your permissions and make sure they work for you. If not, request changes, or update the fields you can to make sure you have the data and references you need.
- Updating accounts suck, but it's a long-term play. It's good info to have if you go back for a renewal or try to resell a Closed-Lost. Some software helps update these, but like above, make sure you're getting something adding value, and not going through the motions

#2's
- Learn how to make reports, and then add them to dashboards. This unlocks a whole other level:
=> I'd add my personal dashboard to a folder I opened every morning. It helped me scan to make sure nothing was on fire
=> This makes you a valuable internal resource
=> It opens up other career options and upward mobility. If you want to manage, you need to know SFDC. It also allows for transitions into maybe SE, Ops, M*rketing
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
6
War Room Enthusiast
That’s for all the inputs!! This comment was full of value!! Appreciate it!
Reformed.Rep
Good Citizen
6
Product Manager
That's the name of the game! Just remember to take it as it comes, and try not to get overwhelmed.

I have a rule I remind myself of - if it can be someone's career, it's probably not as easy as I think. And goodness knows how many people make money off the back of Salesforce!
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
6
War Room Enthusiast
That's a great tip, thanks! You can get overwhelmed bu this for sure, and I couldn't agree more. When it comes to your carrer, if something will trully impact it, it will not be easy, but for sure useful!
ATX
Good Citizen
6
ENT Sales / Risk Management
Integrate with ZoomInfo or LinkedIn Navigator for easy and up-to-date contact uploads. Within SFDC itself, here are a few reports that saves a lot of time: 

- Activity Report (Calls/Emails) 
- New Contacts (list of recently added contacts) 
- Lost Deal Report 
- Open opportunity report  
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
6
War Room Enthusiast
Will let my superiors know about this! Thanks for the tip!
EH20
Politicker
6
Manager
This is the best CRM!
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
5
War Room Enthusiast
I have learned to love it! 
Mr.Pickles
Arsonist
6
Sr. Customer Success Manager
We recently did and the main struggle is how to organize the leads. Make sure you have independent lists and array lists for the prospects you want to follow up. 
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
6
War Room Enthusiast
We went through this too, it was a hassle to say the least! Thanks for the tip!
Mr.Pickles
Arsonist
6
Sr. Customer Success Manager
Independent lists, that's how we kinda figured it out
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
5
War Room Enthusiast
We got to the same conclusion!  
marine7382
0
Salesforce Admin
Looks like I'm a few months late on this lol but have you tried organizing your leads with the Rating field? Or you could easily create a custom field (probably a picklist field I would presume) and add it to the page layout. Then you could create lists or reports based on pretty much anything (i.e. list of "Hot" leads, "Warm"/"Hot" leads not contacted or closed within the last 7 days, Big Deal Alerts, etc.). It's really only limited to your imagination.
HindsightHarry
Praised Answer
6
Account Executive
Date a Salesforce employee. Steal their knowledge. Pass it on to your children. Rinse and repeat.
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
5
War Room Enthusiast
Master of sales right here!
Sniper
Valued Contributor
6
Enterprise Account Executive
Be so dangerous and successful in the field to where your boss says "I will handle all of your Salesforce updates, because I need you in the field"
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
5
War Room Enthusiast
Oh yeah, that's the dream!
markedclosedwon
Big Shot
6
Account Executive
Don't hate but have you thought about: 

Switching to Hubspot? Happy to refer you.
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
5
War Room Enthusiast
Sadly that's not my call. But why Hubspot? Sell me!
rushabhpatel
6
Director of Sales
it will not help you close. it is monitoring and auditing tool :)
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
5
War Room Enthusiast
Been using it for a while, finally got used to it, and you are right, it’s a great yo to monitor!
Marketingpet
Politicker
6
Partner Manager
A lot of trial and error. I’ve been selling out of it for 4 years and I still learn new things all the time. We use Slack so I would crowdsource ideas through there, or bring it up in my 1 on 1’s
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
5
War Room Enthusiast
We always have to AB test until we succeed! same comes with tools!
TheMatador19
Member
6
Head of Sales
ZoomInfo and Outreach are great add-ons.  Definitely learn how to create your own reports (very easy once you get it down).  Use Tasks to keep up with accounts/leads and don't get behind on them
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
5
War Room Enthusiast
I've been trying to convice the upper lvls that we need these! 
Theboyx
6
Sr SDR
Make sure your permissions are set to what you need to do in your role. Otherwise you’ll run into tons of issues down the line —Talk w your mgmt to gain some access privileges 
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
5
War Room Enthusiast
Thanks for the tip!
The.Machine
Politicker
5
Sales Development Lead
There are some great resources on YT for Salesforce. Even Udemy. 

Best to have someone on your team with certifications. That can be obtained from Trailhead. 
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
6
War Room Enthusiast
For sure, I’ve seen one or 2 YouTube videos! The certifications would be useful! Do you by any chance know much are they worth? Would love to certifícate myself!
whathaveyousoldtomorrow
Opinionated
5
sales
figure out what reports they are pull out of it and manage their expectations with those yard sticks - its completely different at every company (tons of customization). The only way to use it 'right' is to know what the leaders are looking at to get them to leave you alone. Everywhere we still have 'pipeline/forecast reviews' so you can read them salesforce. haha
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
6
War Room Enthusiast
Right now the managers aren’t even able to search for the calls the reps make. They have to go one by one, which is soo inefficient. Is there any extension or way around this that you know of? We are still familiarizing ourself with the tool and have much to lead!
Simo
Politicker
6
Director of Sales
The great thing about salesforce is you need to buy software that is even more expensive than salesforce to use salesforce.

Look into Outreach, Salesloft, or Groove for activity metric tracking and reporting 
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
6
War Room Enthusiast
This is true, but once you have the whole package it runs sooo good! I would even include Vonge to that list, but there are more!
marine7382
0
Salesforce Admin
The Salesforce Call Center feature might help.
JdiggityR
Executive
5
Enterprise Account Executive
Salesforce is a classic GIGO (Garbage In Garbage Out) system. Decide what you need to track and how you want to understand your customer/Account, then use it to keep that info. It can be overly complex and overthought, but it is still the best CRM around. +1 on learning to build reports, and becoming a trailblazer.
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
6
War Room Enthusiast
I agree it’s a mouth full at first! There is a lot of customization, which if done incorrectly it can be a total mess for sure!
Cooper
Good Citizen
5
Account Exec
If you have Salesforce try adding premier success, you will get exclusive enablement sessions, 121 support for some things and really helps you get the most from your Salesforce Org ;)
Cooper
Good Citizen
5
Account Exec
But Yeah, Trailhead is a brilliant resource, you also have the trailblazer community which is full of official guidance and get started guides as well as FAQs, there is also a million different tutorials on youtube. 
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
6
War Room Enthusiast
I have been very active on YouTube for sure! 
FightingFistDrangon
Politicker
3
Director of Sales
Dont use chrome either, it kills my battery.
Kinonez
Celebrated Contributor
2
War Room Enthusiast
Yeah and the Ram
Flippinghubs
Opinionated
1
Account Executive
dont use chrome either, it kills my battery 
MaximumRaizer
Politicker
1
Sales Manager
Leverage Trailhead and become a Trailblazer, take the test, get certified then make $120k a year to build easy ass reports that you can automate in the first 20 minutes of your day.
Blackwargreymon
Politicker
1
MDR
Here for the tips as well, It's been a while since I used SF and there are talks about using it again
Clashingsoulsspell
Politicker
1
ISR
Here for the tips as well, It's been a while since I used SF and there are talks about using it again
10

Using a CRM other than Salesforce in Technology Sales

Question
11
Have you used an CRM other than sales
47% I have only worked primarily with Salesforce
14% I have worked with other home grown CRMS
40% I have worked with other 3rd party CRMS
43 people voted
6

Do you use Scratchpad (or similar tools)?

Question
8
6

Is there a tool that can tell if a company is using Salesforce as their CRM?

Question
8