Community Archives - Page 6 of 31

Community, Community Spotlight, Events, Real Talk, To export
October 11, 2023

Andrea Tarrell Talks Marketing and AI Trends at the Qualified Pipeline Summit

Ambre Juryea-Amole

Sercante and Qualified both went big at Dreamforce 2023. And then they made it even more interesting by teaming up. Qualified joined Sercante at the Home for Marketers at Dreamforce, and Sercante joined Qualified for the Pipeline Summit at Dreamforce.

The result was a whole lot of sales + marketer happy vibes along with a live recording of Sercante Founder & CEO Andrea Tarell on the Qualified Pipeline Visionaries podcast.

Here’s a quick preview of the podcast recording along with all the info you need to listen for yourself. Or you can click here to watch the full podcast or listen using your favorite streaming service.

Tasty morsels Andrea Tarrell shared with Qualified at Dreamforce 2023

Andrea Tarrell met with Ian Faison at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art at the Qualified B2B Marketer’s Lounge on September 13, 2023. Here are the big things the pair talked about during the podcast session.

Key trend in automation: Conquering personalization and finding the right use cases for AI

When asked the question “What do you feel is next for marketing automation? What are the trends you see coming?” Andrea said:

“I still think personalization is a frontier that we haven’t quite conquered yet. You see some of the use cases on stage at Dreamforce about some of the ways big brands are using personalization, and I look at much of the market who’s still struggling to even do first name, company name, much less more sophisticated use cases than that.

But I think things like serving up the next best piece of content, the next big action for somebody to take, related products, I think there’s a lot of potential there that continues to be untapped. And I think this is also kinda going back to the AI piece that we were talking about. This is gonna be a big separation of humans in the robots.

I’ve been on the receiving end of a few emails lately that were very clearly written by AI. Yep. And it’s like they just scraped random facts off the internet to stuff a new email. It’s like, okay, that’s not personalization. Like, I know what press release you grabbed that from, and like that third fact is completely unrelated to my business.

So, that’s where I think the human element will still be preserved. Maybe we can get AI to make the first draft for us, but we still need people to make the magic happen.”

Maybe we can get AI to make the first draft for us, but we still need people to make the magic happen.

What are the main reasons people reach out to Sercante for guidance?

Ian asked the question “What is the burning desire customers come to Sercante with?”

Andrea listed these three things that are usually top of mind for customers when they contact us. Here they are:

Marketing ROI
“Being able to report on what they’re doing that’s actually contributing to revenue.”
Helping sales teams prioritize
“Marketing’s working really hard to generate leads, but how does sales know who’s qualified, and who should they call first?”

What’s next? AI, automation, industry trends, using generative AI for things like lead routing, segmentation, and content.
“What is the non-value part that we can start having the machine do for us so that humans have the role of finessing, spending time on the highest potential items, and really doing what they’d be best at?”

How a marketing-focused Salesforce consulting firm approaches its own marketing strategy

When Ian asked the question “How do you think about your marketing strategy and how you acquire customers?” Andrea listed three marketing strategy areas. They are:

Email marketing
Event marketing
Content marketing

She said, “We’ve created a huge culture around information sharing. One of our core values is generosity. It’s the idea that, if you’re getting something or achieving something, how do you share that with other people and bring other people along for the journey?”

How do you think about speed as a currency?

Andrea said, “Speed is huge. We know that as individual customers are bopping around online, looking for something, attention spans are so short. Like, what if you don’t find what you’re looking for? You don’t get the answer you need? You’re on to the next thing.

So, trying to help people find what they’re looking for is challenge number one. And then challenge number two is if they don’t get the answer, making sure that they get pushed to a human as quickly as possible.”

What is the Qualified Pipeline Summit Podcast?

Every quarter, Qualified brings together the best and brightest in B2B sales, marketing, and operations to share the tactics and strategies helping them drive growth in their business.

Learn more and watch all the episodes here.

Cheekiest social ads ever and we’re here for it

We’re in love with these social graphics the Qualified team posted to promote the Pipeline Summit at Dreamforce. Sharing here cuz they’re friggin amazing.

Watch the Pipeline Visionaries Podcast – The AI Conversation: What Marketers Should Be Thinking About

Lucky for you, these were just a few highlights from the podcast episode. You can watch the full video here and get all the juicy details Andrea and Ian shared during their conversation.

And remember to reach out to Sercante when you’re ready to take your sales and marketing efforts further.

Career Development, Community, Community Spotlight, To export
September 28, 2023

Winner Spotlight: Sercante Dreamforce 2023 Ticket Giveaway

Ambre Juryea-Amole

Going to Dreamforce can completely change the course of someone’s career. Whether it’s while soaking in the session content and learning how to take on bigger responsibilities at work. Or through the parties where they meet new people and then stay in touch on Slack and LinkedIn. Or by leading sessions and getting a confidence boost that makes them reach for bigger goals.

That was the whole idea behind the 2023 Dreamforce ticket giveaway contest. We wanted to give that opportunity to one lucky person. And that’s exactly what we did.

After receiving an overwhelming response from the Salesforce community that included entries from people living in 19 countries, we were pleased to announce the winner of the contest.

Our 2023 Dreamforce ticket giveaway contest winner was Amanda Martini, digital marketing manager at ISSA.

Amanda got the full works for Dreamforce. She traveled from her home state of New York to San Francisco for the conference. Sercante covered the cost of her airfare as well as her hotel stay and coveted Dreamforce conference pass. She was also the official queen of The Home for Marketers at Dreamforce, which is where the Sercante team hosted events all week.

Trip Reflection from Dreamforce Ticket Giveaway Winner, Amanda Martini

We asked Amanda to tell us about her trip in her own words. Here’s what she had to say about the whole thing.

Dreamforce Ticket Giveaway Winner Amanda Martini with Sercante Founder & CEO Andrea Tarrell

“Winning the Dreamforce ticket giveaway was an absolute honor. Working for a smaller organization, it can be difficult to budget for larger conferences, as pricing can often be an issue. Winning the ticket, and therefore being able to experience Dreamforce in person, has given me so much.

Our organization is what I would call ‘Salesforce lite’ for the moment, but being surrounded by so many people who live and breathe the ecosystem really rejuvenated me; not only for my role but for where our organization can go when we are fully on the system.”

Amanda’s Dreamforce Takeaways

“One of my big takeaways, that I am sharing with everyone in our organization, is simply to jump right into the ecosystem and immerse yourself.

There are so many resources and so many like minded people who are more than willing to share their knowledge, to troubleshoot, to just chat about anything Salesforce related. Becoming a part of that community, while not a requirement for using a piece of technology, does seem like it benefits the user and the company a great deal.

I think seeing that firsthand was one of the more surprising things that I experienced. When you’re on the periphery, you SEE the interaction and you know the big names, but being surrounded by it was really something else. It makes you want to get more involved.”

Finding your people is a great feeling

“For a while now, I’ve felt like I am on an island as I am the person most involved in the Salesforce ecosystem due to my daily use of Pardot, with the rest of the organization still to get onto our Salesforce instance.

Attending Dreamforce allowed me to see that you’re only as alone as you allow yourself to be. The community is vast, and really quite welcoming. Even just one week removed from the event, I have RSVP’d for two Trailblazer community group sessions to keep my learning and understanding going. They’re virtual, but that doesn’t matter! It’s just as valuable to listen to other folks ask their questions (until you’re ready to ask your own!).”

Attending Dreamforce allowed me to see that you’re only as alone as you allow yourself to be.

All questions are good questions

“I also got a really good piece of advice: I tend to be a self-deprecating person, always prefacing a question by acknowledging it might be stupid. But I was told to stop that!

As the admin/leader for my system in my organization, I have to be confident with what I present. If I don’t seem to trust myself, my stakeholders are not necessarily going to trust or listen to what I am suggesting. And in the end, I’m the one that really knows what’s best for my system. I need to own my place in this space and project confidence (even if there’s still that little voice inside that says you’re gonna sound stupid). Fake it ‘til you make it really does work most of the time.”

Go see Salesforce releases in action

“Honestly, all of the sessions I managed to attend were so informative. And while I pay attention to release notes and the releases, I felt like having that information right at my fingertips, so to speak, really hit home the ways Salesforce is heading into the future and the ways in which my organization can utilize that future.

Seeing demos of the new releases at work was so helpful and it got me immediately thinking about ways that our marketing managers (MMs) will be able to have their hands in the systems more, and how to help us work smarter.

As a department that “reports to” many stakeholders as well as our members, it’s important that our MMs have the tools to help them work more efficiently. Being able to check in with technologies that we don’t use but I’ve wondered about was an incredible opportunity as well. From the conversations I had at Dreamforce, I now have a better understanding of how to help our organization increase efficiency.

I learned I have a lot of work to do going into 2024 to get our Pardot instance cleaned up and ready for the new year and when we’re truly connected with our Salesforce org in production. But I am looking forward to that challenge because I’ve felt there was work to do, Dreamforce just reinforced what needs to be done. It’s all for the good of the organization.

Dreamforce also has had me looking at our marketing and tech stack and asking the hard questions: Are we using the correct technology? Are we using it correctly or to the best of its ability? Stay tuned!”

Final thoughts about the Dreamforce ticket giveaway

“As for the coolest thing that happened to me… there were so many, but I have to say that learning last minute about the first-ever Dreamforce Comedy Hour was a dream come true.

Seth Meyers is MY FAVORITE and to have the opportunity to see him perform in person… pretty much took the cake. Of course, the entire event was at the top of the list of the coolest things that has EVER happened to me, but Seth takes a close second place.”

Thank you so much to everyone who entered the Sercante 2023 Dreamforce Ticket Giveaway Contest and to Amanda for sharing her thoughts about the experience. Stay tuned next year to see what we have in store for Dreamforce 2024.

Community, Events, Industry News, To export
September 28, 2023

Recap: The Big Things Marketers Did at Dreamforce ‘23

Ambre Juryea-Amole

I’ve been to Dreamforce twice. Once as an attendee. Another time as a Campfire speaker. And both times as a marketer.

Going to Dreamforce as a marketer is probably a different experience than, say, attending as an IT professional. I got so excited at Dreamforce whenever I saw a session geared toward marketers. Or when I randomly met other marketing people.

That’s actually how I found out about Sercante. I was watching my colleague present a session and saw that the next person presenting had a marketing-focused session. So, I stuck around to watch the presentation. The next presenter happened to be Sercante Founder & CEO Andrea Tarrell, and the rest is history.

The Sercante Home for Marketers at Dreamforce

Being a marketer herself, Andrea knows what it’s like to be a marketer at Salesforce conferences. So, she created the Sercante Home for Marketers with that idea in mind. The goal was to build a space where marketers could go and find their people at Dreamforce while supplementing all the things they’re learning at Dreamforce with even more marketing insights and strategies. And it has been super successful.

Now in its second year, The Home for Marketers welcomed more than 2,700 people across 16 events in 2023. Visitors represented a range of marketing hats, which included marketing managers, CMOs, marketing operations professionals, content marketers, and marketing consultants, among others.

Here’s a few things that went on there:

Event Marketers Panel | read about it
EDU Panel | read about it
Salesforce Career Show Podcast | listen
Welcome Bash Party | see photos
Dreamforce Party: An Intergalactic Night | see photos
Visit from our Dreamforce ticket giveaway winner | read about it

Dreamforce 2023 Session Highlights

It’s awesome that all the marketers at Dreamforce had a place to hang out in between sessions and find their people. After all of the marketers filled up on grub and made new friends, they went down to Moscone to catch a few sessions.

Here are a few that our friends were there to see:

The Future of Trusted AI with Marc Benioff and Sam Altman

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff had a candid conversation with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman about the future of business and how AI is affecting it.

The biggest takeaway from the conversation was the idea that in the coming years, every new product will incorporate AI in some way. It may even become unthinkable to use technology that doesn’t use AI to complete tasks. The pair also talked about the process OpenAI went through to develop ChatGPT and the direction the company is taking to make sure it continues to be a revolutionary product moving forward.

Watch the replay here.

Marketing Keynote: Marketing in Generation AI

The Marketing Keynote at Dreamforce ’23, titled “Marketing in Generation AI,” unveiled innovations from the Marketing Cloud engineering teams. Salesforce Marketing Cloud GM Steve Hammond emphasized efficiency and the role of AI in scaling personalization. The session introduced prompt engineering and grounding, emphasizing that AI’s effectiveness depends on data quality.

Watch the replay here.

Winter ‘24 Marketing Cloud Release Highlights

This was a big one for all the marketers who attended Dreamforce 2023. That’s because it highlighted all the major enhancements coming to Marketing Cloud this winter.

Sercante Salesforce Product Director Heather Rinke had the honor of co-presenting the Marketing Cloud Release Highlights session with two members of the Salesforce product team: Ruth Bolster, product marketing manager, and Whitni Freeman, lead solution engineer.

Read the recap here.

Empowering Nonprofits in Times of Change with Data + AI + CRM + Trust

This session introduced Einstein, Salesforce’s proprietary AI, for Nonprofit Cloud, promising nonprofits the ability to leverage predictive and generative AI to enhance donor engagement and data management. It focused on how these tools can simplify the creation of annual reports, segment and standardize donor data, and craft compelling donation appeals.

Overall, the combination of Einstein for Nonprofit Cloud and Data Cloud is seen as a potential game-changer, offering nonprofits automation and insights to better communicate with donors and fulfill their core missions.

Read the recap here.

Biggest Dreamforce 2023 Takeaway: AI is the Future of Business

As we saw in the sessions highlighted in this blog post, AI truly is infiltrating all aspects of business. And Salesforce is investing deeply in the tools.

Have any other big takeaways from the conference? Tell us about them in the comments. And make sure to sign up for MarDreamin’ 2023, a marketing-focused Salesforce community conference held virtually in November, to keep the AI conversation going.

Analytics & Reporting, Data Management, Industry News, Pro Tips, Strategy
September 28, 2023

Dreamforce 2023 Recap: Salesforce Leans in to AI + Data Cloud as the Future of Nonprofit Success

Abbey Freund

At 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday 9/13, the second full day of Dreamforce, I was sitting in front of my computer curious and a little anxious. I was using my usual evening streaming service catch up hour to tune into the live Salesforce+ broadcast of Dreamforce session, Empowering Nonprofits in Times of Change with Data + AI + CRM + Trust.

As a former boots-on-the-ground nonprofit employee and current consultant primarily working with nonprofit clients, I am acutely aware of the ever-increasing demands on nonprofits. I understand and empathize with the daunting task nonprofits face to tell their story and convey their impact in novel ways and through a multichannel approach.

I also am acutely aware that nonprofits are frequently hindered by low ROI on donor dollars due to the immense staff effort needed to cultivate donations. I was especially eager to hear what Salesforce has to say about the future of nonprofits on their platform and how they might help solve some of these big issues for the sector.

graphic from empowering nonprofits in times of change dreamforce session

A Year of Change for Nonprofits on Salesforce

This has been a year of big changes for nonprofits and Salesforce. A few headlines were the sunset of Elevate and the rollout of the new Nonprofit Cloud platform.

This session added a few more items to the list of highlights, namely the announcement of Einstein, Salesforce’s proprietary AI, for Nonprofit Cloud*. This promises to allow nonprofits to tap into predictive and generative AI to go further and dive deeper with their donor data, with their programmatic metrics and outcomes, and with their tenacious and often time-strapped staff.

Having the ability to leverage data more robustly than ever before is further extended by the offerings of Data Cloud — Salesforce’s data management and harmonization tool. At the core of Salesforce’s Einstein for Nonprofit Cloud + Data Cloud message, they vow to help you do more with less.

* Currently, the Einstein AI features advertised in the session Empowering Nonprofits in Times of Change with Data + AI + CRM + Trust are only available as a part of the Nonprofit Cloud curated solution package.

Einstein for Nonprofit Cloud + Data Cloud Promise to Make Annual Reports Easier and Better than Ever

I am going to use the example of building an annual report (a thought that may give former or current nonprofit employees shudders of anxiety) to illustrate the key promises of Einstein for Nonprofit Cloud + Data Cloud.

First let’s start with a short overview of what an annual report is from a nonprofit standpoint. An annual report usually serves as a physically manifested summation of the prior year for a nonprofit. They typically contain programmatic impact data (frequently with fancy charts), thank yous and recognitions of various groups from the highest dollar donors to volunteers, financial data for the year, and a call to action. They are intended to be compelling, illustrate transparency, and highlight mission, vision and outcomes. They are also an absolute BEAST to create.

Here are some of the ways Einstein for Nonprofit Cloud + Data Cloud can help nonprofits complete the daunting task of creating an annual report:

Compiling Programmatic Data and Communicating Meaning

Einstein for Nonprofit Cloud offers the ability to summarize programmatic data over a specific amount of time with consideration to the intended audience. In the case of an annual report this would look like a summary of your programmatic data for the prior year, intended for an external audience.

Einstein for Nonprofit Cloud also allows you to choose if this summary should be long form (more detailed) or short form (less detailed) increasing flexibility to help you meet the needs of your specific annual report requirements with less manual work.

Segmenting and Standardizing People Data for Acknowledgement Lists

Data Cloud shines in its potential ability to solve the problem of disjointed data for Nonprofits. We all know the pain of manually sleuthing through and deduplicating your database and external systems of that one historical volunteer record for one of your major donors who is also an event attendee and auction lot buyer. This hypothetical generous philanthropist could have upwards of 4 records in your Salesforce CRM and connected systems! Data Cloud to the rescue!

Through the power of the unified profile you can see all of that disorganized and disconnected data in one place. This is especially helpful in the annual report example as it allows you to be absolutely sure you are thanking and acknowledging your kind supporters for ALL the ways they support, financial contributions, event support, volunteerism through a single 360 view.

Crafting a Compelling Donation Appeal

Admit it or not, a key function of an annual report is to compel folks to donate. Einstein for Nonprofit Cloud + Data Cloud have your back in your daunting donor segmentation and compelling storytelling efforts.

Through use of the 360 Constituent view made possible by Data Cloud, you can use Einstein for Nonprofit Cloud to segment your donors and its predictive AI capabilities to draw conclusions based on historical data.

You could put together a segment of those donors identified as having high propensity to give, high affinity for your organization and high capacity and really hit them in the feels with your call to action. Generative AI can then help you craft an irresistible donation appeal and from there the dollars are sure to roll in to support your important work.

Einstein for Nonprofit Cloud + Data Cloud: Getting Nonprofits Closer to their Core Missions

Overall, I am cautiously optimistic that, together, Einstein for Nonprofit Cloud + Data Cloud have the potential to improve the way nonprofits communicate with their donors and the public. By automating time-consuming tasks and providing insights that were previously unavailable, or extremely time or resource-intensive to procure, these tools can help nonprofits focus on their core mission of making a difference in the world.

I encourage nonprofit leadership to explore and invest in these powerful tools. I think they can help support and extend the capabilities and impact of a nonprofit’s greatest strength, its team.

Need help navigating these new announcements and ever growing suite of Salesforce products? Sercante is here to guide you through and help you achieve your nonprofit’s mission by leveraging the power of the Salesforce platform. Reach out!

Community, Events, Industry News, Strategy
September 26, 2023

Top Takeaways from the Panel: Modern-Day Trends in Higher Education

Christina Anderson

Today’s trailblazers in the higher education industry are facing trends and challenges that they have not had to before. Navigating a recent global pandemic, the rise of artificial intelligence, marketing to Gen Z, and shifting enrollment levels.

Dreamforce 2023 – Out of the Home for Marketers Vault

To help trailblazers gain insights into how to deal with these modern-day higher education trends and challenges in the digital age, we held an event at the Home for Marketers during Dreamforce with industry thought leaders. The top takeaways from their panel discussion are below.

Panel: Modern Day Trends in Higher Education

education panel at Dreamforce Home for Marketers

Moderator: Adam Berry, Senior Account Director, Sercante

Panelists (from left to right in photo):

Clark Burk, Chief Client Officer, Red Van Workshop
Jordyn Jaffer, Senior Salesforce Solution Engineer, Serante
Michelle Bates, Assistant Vice President for IT, CRM and Data Analytics, Purdue for Life Foundation
Brent Wege, VP Sales, Engagement Solutions, Salesforce

Data Silos Are Still a Major Challenge for Higher Education Institutions

Across universities there are different owners of separate subsets of data making it difficult for teams to collaborate, share insights about their constituents, and have an overall view of the organization’s performance.

Each panelist emphasized that if universities are going to provide that personalized 1:1 experience that so many of their diversified audience, in particular Gen Z, is desiring then they are going to have to make breaking down their data siloes a priority.

Centers of Excellence Are Being Leveraged to Increase Adoption

As more higher education teams are acquiring systems to their tech stack for a digital transformation many roles and responsibilities are changing. Team members are having to learn new platforms and think through their data in a different manner and getting them to adjust to the change can be difficult.

The panel shared how they have seen teams use Centers of Excellence where education and training on the technology systems are provided to empower users to be more efficient on the platforms.

Assigning champions such as administrators or power users in each department can be helpful as they support and help team members in their day-to-day to navigate and leverage the technology to achieve their goals.

It was noted that some teams may not be able to form an organized Center of Excellence in their institution, but making sure training is provided and identifying the champions in each department can be a huge first step towards increasing adoption.

Personalization is a Must in Higher Education

As people are experiencing personalized engagements across their retail, entertainment and content consumption journeys, they expect the same out of their alma mater or the university they are attending or applying for.

Now more than ever it is critical for higher education teams to have access to all the data touchpoints that happen throughout the prospect, student, and alumni journey. Without accurate data, personalizations will not seem as relevant or authentic.

As digital natives, Gen Z can easily spot inauthentic marketing, and, according to 2021 Forrester Technographics data, “nearly a third of Gen Z say that they unfollow, hide, or block brands on social media — at least weekly.” This means that universities need to make sure the customized communication and engagements they are crafting accurately align to each stage of the individual’s journey to provide an authentic experience.

For example, if you are starting a fundraising campaign and want to target alumni, using the clubs and organizations they were a part of during their time as a student to share where they are now and where they hope to be is a great way to make your communication to that individual relevant. Having access to this data and managing it in a way that makes it easy to execute personalizations like this is key.

University Teams Are Navigating Their Journey With Artificial Intelligence

Some higher education organizations are already using AI in their day-to-day with chatbots and smart searching in their IT knowledgebase. The biggest concern here is trust and security. Like many, trailblazers in higher education want to ensure that constituent data is secure when leveraging AI-powered tools to ensure a high level of trust.

There are so many exciting new developments happening such as conversations around how AI could track student performance and predict when they are trending towards an at-risk status to alert advisors, so they can better guide students and be more proactive to battle against dropout rates.

However, these developments will only truly be able to be taken advantage of if all departments are accurately capturing data and have it architected in a way to be centralized and easily accessible across the organization.

A Word of Advice for Your Digital Strategy

A lasting piece of advice from our panelists was don’t just throw technology at your challenges. Consider how you are going to use it to truly deepen relationships with your audience, how it will better help you to manage your data, and who will be the champion for that system.

There may already be solutions that you have access to that can provide a solution, so have a strategy in place for how it will be used and managed before purchasing new technology.

Reach out to the team at Sercante for help making the right decisions when you’re ready to shake things up with your digital marketing strategy.

Getting Started, Industry News, Setup & Admin
September 20, 2023

Salesforce Starter: The Perfect Solution for Small Businesses

Jason Ventura

Are you a small business owner who is interested in using Salesforce for your business all the way up until you saw the pricing? If so, Salesforce Starter was created just for you!

I know what you’re thinking: Salesforce is a big, expensive CRM platform. But Salesforce Starter is different. It’s a low-cost, lightweight version of Salesforce that’s designed specifically for small businesses. Coming in at $25 USD per month/per user, it’s a downright smoking deal to be honest.

There’s even a 30-day free trial to test it out and see if it’s right for you and your team!

Salesforce Starter Capabilities

Here’s a quick rundown of some of the stuff you can do with Salesforce Starter RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX!

Track your leads and customers
Manage your sales pipeline
Automate your marketing campaigns
Manage customer cases
Write knowledge articles for your support reps

Ease of Use is key to Salesforce Starter

What do I mean by that? I mean, it literally guides you through accessing objects (types of records) based on a picklist (dropdown) menu right after you log in (via your homepage)!

Also featured on the home page are premade dashboard components that display your leads, contacts, opportunities, tasks, and any recommended actions! You can also see any recent records.

If your team’s focus is centered around Sales (Revenue), Marketing (Hello, Sercante) or Service (Support), choose those in the Quick Look picklist and your options change.

Salesforce Starter for Sales

First up is Sales, the lifeblood of your business. If Sales is your focus, then Salesforce is built for you! Choosing Sales as your focus brings up Contacts (people), Leads (prospects), Opportunities (deals), To Do list (Tasks) along with Tutorials and Setup.

Salesforce Starter for Marketing

Selecting Marketing as your focus gives you the option to import your Contacts (people), create Campaigns (think email or direct mail campaigns), and has links directly to tutorials and setup.

Salesforce Starter for Service

Choosing Service opens up access to Cases (customer support requests), Connecting Support Channels (think email or web forms), Knowledge (think help articles), Reports (probably the most important part of Salesforce!), along with links to tutorials and setup.

Clicking on any of these will take you directly to a list of records of that type (List View) that you have in your organization, and allow you to view, edit, or delete them as you desire.

Connect Salesforce Starter to email accounts for Einstein Activity Insights

Salesforce Starter even prompts you to connect your Microsoft or Google email accounts so you can sync your calendars and get Einstein Activity Insights (AI recommendations) on your incoming emails.

The data science and machine learning from Einstein is built to analyze external new sources and your account data to help build a data model that provides relevant updates to help you win more deals. Sounds like a win-win!

Go for all three

One last thought here, you aren’t limited to one or the other, you have access to Sales, Service, AND Marketing!

OK Jason, that’s great. But what if we grow out of Salesforce Starter?

Salesforce Starter is built on the same foundation as Salesforce Professional, Enterprise, and Unlimited. So as your CRM needs grow, Salesforce can grow with you. All you have to do is contact your Account Executive (AE) to upgrade your edition and I’m pretty sure they just hit a magic button* and BOOM you’ve upgraded!

(*This is unverified, but I imagine that they have a big red upgrade button they smack when a client wants to upgrade followed by a confetti explosion and 30-second dance party.)

Alright, I’m kind of convinced. Where do I start?

Well any good SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) has a trial and that’s where you begin with the Salesforce Starter package.

Sign up for 30-day Salesforce Starter trial

Click this link and you’ll head over to the Salesforce Starter site, where you can sign up for your own 30-day trial, check out a demo, or read some customer stories.

Then, what’s next?

If you want to know more about how it works, I would recommend taking a look at the Salesforce Starter Quick Look Module on Trailhead.

If you’re not familiar with Trailhead, it’s where all of us Salesforce nerds go to learn about our favorite CRM in a fun, gameified way! It’s free to sign up, and use and can lead to some awesome new skills.

Please feel free to leave any questions in the comments below.