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Convincing Your Boss It’s Time to Switch to Salesforce

Convincing Your Boss It’s Time to Switch to Salesforce

As a Salesforce ISV and Consulting partner, we at CloudMyBiz have seen all sorts of complex situations and struggles when it comes to creating a case for switching to Salesforce. After all, making the switch to Salesforce isn’t always a quick and easy decision. Often, the person championing the idea of adopting Salesforce isn’t the person who has final say in the matter.

While Salesforce has innumerable benefits of adoption, it may not always be the right place or time to make the switch. To make that determination, we always recommend you do a thorough business analysis to come up with a solid case for making the switch.

So, to convince your boss (or yourself if you are the boss) that it’s a good idea to switch your company over to the Salesforce CRM, we recommend starting here:

 

1) Start with the basics. Take a minute to refresh yourself on what Salesforce is and what it does:

https://www.edureka.co/blog/what-is-salesforce/

2) Then do some digging into benefits of Salesforce:

8 advantages of CRM Salesforce

3) And the benefits of Salesforce Automation:

https://cloudmybiz.com/the-benefits-of-salesforce-automation/

4) Finally, take a deep look at building your case:

https://www.salesforceben.com/how-to-create-a-persuasive-business-case-for-investing-in-salesforce/

 

If you go through all of those, you should have all the pieces of information at your disposal and ready to thoroughly build the argument that making the switch to Salesforce is in the best interests of your company.

Now you just have to pluck up the courage to bring this all to your boss, and see your hard work pay off!

 

-Ryan and the CloudMyBiz Team

 


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Need custom development or consulting to enhance the Salesforce you already have?

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6 Tips for Increasing Salesforce User Adoption

6 Tips for Increasing Salesforce User Adoption

Just because you and your team have, or are going to, implement Salesforce, doesn’t mean all of your business problems will be instantly fixed. At the end of the day, user adoption is absolutely critical to establishing a working business process on a powerful CRM like Salesforce. It doesn’t matter how much you spent on custom development or if you have the latest plugins and integrations. If your team isn’t using them or isn’t using them properly, you business will suffer.

So with that in mind, here are six of our top recommendations, taken from various points in the Saleforce implementation and usage cycle to help ensure quality user adoption and ultimately, the success of your business.

meeting, presentation, salesforce, planning, office

1. Establish leadership, the project team and empower enthusiasts.

Before the project really gets underway, it is always best to have your teams set and ready to go. Make sure every department is represented among the leadership and project team. Consider how much leadership needs to be involved in the day-to-day, and establish a rhythm and routine.

Next, identify prospective users who are enthusiastic about the Salesforce initiative. These users can be your “Champions” group, and serve as a communication conduit to and from the remainder of the team, relaying messages, sharing success stories and reporting back questions or issues.

2. Celebrate!

Share Salesforce successes big and small, and communicate them outward each time a milestone is reached. At launch, think about celebrating, thanking or rewarding your early adopters and champions. From emails to banners to TV screens, get creative so that people internally can’t help but be aware of the growth and changes, and want to get in on the action.

3. One size doesn’t fit all

It might be helpful for management to take stock of where different groups of people are, and tailor responses and training accordingly.

  • Able and Willing – These people are already Salesforce power users.
  • Willing but Unable – They’re willing to use the Salesforce, they’re just not able (or not able to fully use it). Focus on solving the issues that are stopping them and encourage them to work through it.
  • Able but Unwilling – Often a key group to address. Make expectations clear and continue moving forward while offering them plenty o opportunity to get on board
  • Unwilling and Unable – Hopefully there aren’t many of these folks. These people will require a lot of work, and generally, complete unwillingness might be an indicator of a larger problem.

4. Go in Phases

The more complex the system, the more there will be for your team to learn and adapt to. Don’t overwhelm them by doing it all at once. Set up your new CRM adoption plan into phases to make it easily digestible. Focus on small steps and achievable goals so that everyone can see, smell and taste the growth that you are achieving.

5. Move Basic Tasks and Processes onto Salesforce

The idea is that it will become easier for people to do their jobs by using the system, and if they choose to not adopt, their jobs will be more difficult by default. Some examples include:

  • Align Salesforce configuration and functionality with the business processes.
  • Use third-party applications (ex. electronic signature) to increase efficiency.
  • Use Chatter to communicate with the team on deal updates, internal news and important events.
  • Conduct performance reviews and team meetings using the information in reports and dashboards.

6. Wash, Rinse, Repeat

Remember that user adoption is never static. It can always be increasing or decreasing. Set regular review periods, ex. 3 mo, 6 mo, 12 mo, and analyze how well your team is doing and what could be improved upon. Then make sure to follow through with fixing any issues.

If you are using a phased approach, try and establish measurable goals for each, and use them to help you know when it’s time to start the next phase. Plus, you can use your quantitative and qualitative data from the first phase to guide your way forward in Phase 2.

 

-Ryan and the CloudMyBiz Team

 


 

Want to get started with Salesforce?

Need custom development or consulting to enhance the Salesforce you already have?

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Pardot Snippets – Coming Soon to Save Marketers Time

Pardot Snippets – Coming Soon to Save Marketers Time

When writing marketing emails, it can be pretty common to re-use certain details and bits of content not only throughout the email, but across various emails within a certain campaign. The more emails you are creating, the more you will use these pieces of content, and the more time you will spend on it. This can be a drain on your time, and pose a risk of error as tedious content needs to be created over and over.

To help avoid these issues, Pardot is introducing Snippets. Pardot Snippets are basically merge tags that are specific to a certain campaign, rather than the prospect account.

For example, say you have a campaign letting customers know about a new software product you are offering, you can create Snippets of relevant content, such as, “Release Date” “Product Name” “Product Details” and “Call to Action”. This way, you only have to type these bits of info once, and then use the Snippet tag in each email campaign to insert the exact same content, every time!

Even more powerful, is that the Snippets are saved, and can be modified at a later date. Using the same example as above, say a new product is being released a few months later. The email templates have already been created, using the Snippets. Now all you need to do is go in and update the snippet content to reflect the new product details, and just like that, you have a whole new set of marketing emails ready to go!

Click here to learn more!

-Ryan and the CloudMyBiz Team

 


 

Want to get started with Salesforce? 

Need custom development or consulting to enhance the Salesforce you already have?

 

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Creating a Vision for Your Salesforce Business

Creating a Vision for Your Salesforce Business

As a certified Salesforce Partner and cloud consultant, at CloudMyBiz we are in the business of revamping and improving the system that our clients run their business on. However, it sometimes happens that clients come to us wanting to improve without really thinking about what all that means. You can’t always improve your business if you don’t look at what is working and what doesn’t, and then be willing to let go of what doesn’t work. 

The folks at Salesforce know this better than anyone, as the CRM platform is specifically designed to be the single, lifetime solution that a business can be built on. Salesforce is so much more than just a Sales tool. With all of the various integrations, products and platforms, such as Pardot for B2B marketing or Einstein for AI analytics, you can do it all on Salesforce.

With all of that in mind, it bears repeating that if you are going to make the switch and investment in Salesforce, you may want to spend a bit of time thinking about how to adjust your practices for the better. After all, if you are getting a clean start on a new system, why would you want to import over all of your bad habits and ineffective practices?

The following blog post on the Salesforce Admin site, gives a quick and easy breakdown of the process: Build the Vision, Shape the Environment, Deliver the Results. While this article is aimed at Salesforce Admins, the general principles apply to anyone looking to improve their business process. Of course, if you would like to work with a Salesforce consultant to give you a more detailed vision of what you life could be with Salesforce (or how your could improve your current Salesforce) feel free to drop us a line and we would be happy to talk to you!

Click here to read the blog post!

-Ryan and the CloudMyBiz Team

 


 

Want to get started with Salesforce? 

Need custom development or consulting to enhance the Salesforce you already have?

 

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Key Benefits of an Automated Loan Management System

Key Benefits of an Automated Loan Management System

One of the characteristics of modern technology is that just about everything that can be automated, is being automated. From shopping to restaurants to CRM’s, automation is one of the most common changes to come to any business. And the various branches of alternative lending, funding and fintech are no exception. 

An automated loan management system has a number of significant advantages over legacy lending systems. Using a modern cloud platform, these systems provide superior customer experiences, improved decisioning accuracy, and eliminate paper documents. It streamlines the entire process of originating, underwriting, and servicing Alternative Loans and Merchant Cash Advances, or whatever funding vertical you work in. 

Replacing manual steps with automation, transforming paper into digital format, and gathering performance data on all aspects of your lending practice lets you:

  • Provide a better user experience to improve the speed and accuracy of loan applications
  • Process a larger number of loan applications with existing resources
  • Eliminate sources of human error for faster, better-quality evaluation decisions  
  • Establish predictable, repeatable, and auditable processes that support compliance
  • Reduce delays and costs associated with paper processes
  • Analyze process and loan performance with the goal of continually improving efficiency and profitability

Unlike legacy solutions, that are often a hodge-podge of outdated and unconnected systems, each handling only a single element in the funding process, modern, automated loan management solutions helps firms attract and close more deals, accelerate the underwriting process, generate more pricing options, reduce errors, and ensure greater consistency. These funders also earn a more professional reputation among borrowers, brokers, and syndication partners.

Key Benefits of Automated Loan Management Systems:

1. Better Loan Processes and Results

For each origination, loan officers collect a large number of documents and data points, including face-to-face interactions, email, fax, text, or documents uploaded through a site. They all need to be added to the system, carefully tracked and thoroughly reviewed against information on the loan application and from third-party sources. Technology can identically process every document, and easily integrate 3rd party data sources to provide a faster, more reliable and more accurate process. 

Automation also decreases the manual work associated with notifications. Every application, and often the various stages requires a response or notification. A quality system helps lenders create a variety of notification templates, specify triggers for when they are sent, and then populated with loan-specific information before sending the notification. 

2. Improved Speed to Completion

Using intelligent technology options, such as smart content recognition, and automated data population, document review and verification times can be drastically reduced, which speeds up processing and shortens origination time frames. 

Automation improves applicant evaluation and loan decisioning. It eliminates repetitive manual steps that are best executed digitally and allows human expertise to be applied where it works best. Some examples include:

  • Integration with credit data sources and services such as LexisNexis or Experian lets lenders automatically and quickly verify applicant information.
  • No lost or misplaced documents. Paper documents converted to digital images are immediately and securely accessible by the underwriter, so they can review applicant materials more quickly.
  • The combination of decision rules and integration with credit data sources and services lets lenders automatically calculate optimum loan structures and terms.
  • Decision rules provide predictable, repeatable processes that remove the variations associated with human decisions and demonstrate compliance with lending regulations.

3. Better Tracking and Transparency

With just a couple of clicks, automated loan management solutions can prepare a comprehensive view of all documents that have been received, verified or flagged for follow-up, and where the application is in the approval process. In contrast, documents collected and tracked through manual efforts may not be available on various systems, paper-based checklists or a loan officer’s email account.

In addition, advanced reporting options in a CRM give managers essential data on conversion rates, lead sources and more!

4. Scalability and Growth

A better loan management system also greatly reduces training demands and risk, helping lenders quickly and more affordably scale to meet peak seasons. That translates to lower risk of quality degradation and lenders can save on overhead costs associated with ongoing training.

The more you eliminate manual processes and streamline your business, the more volume one person can handle. This means that with your current team, you could dramatically increase your deal volume. Further, adding more resources lets you increase your deal flow just that much more!

Because cloud based CRM’s can be implemented and used anywhere, you eliminate all sorts of restrictions, such as geography or only being able to login from a certain machine. Since the process and data is also shared amongst the team, adding new team members becomes faster and more intuitive, helping you onboard without slowing down the train!

 

-Ryan and the CloudMyBiz Team

 


Want to get started with Salesforce? 

Need custom development or consulting to enhance the Salesforce you already have?

 

Contact us