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5 Myths about Salesforce

Posted on January 12, 2017 by John McKenzie

As Salesforce partners, Prolocity is always looking for ways to enhance customer experience. This week, Prolocity is debunking 5 myths about Salesforce.

Myth 1: Salesforce is only for tracking Sales

It’s no secret that Salesforce started as a Customer Relationship Manager for Sales staff. However, since its inception in 1999, Salesforce has evolved to a comprehensive platform that can manage any aspect of a business.

Myth 2: Salesforce can’t support the needs of my industry

A common misconception is that Salesforce is only good for Sales or Service Industries. However, this simply isn’t the case. Salesforce has expanded offerings to include focused industries such as: Financial Services, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Retail, Manufacturing, Communications, Media, Government, Automotive, Higher Education, and Nonprofit.

Myth 3: My business process is too unique for Salesforce

Its an understatement to say that no two businesses are ran the exact same way. Salesforce recognized the need for an adaptability early on and created a completely customizable platform. Taking it a step further, Salesforce created the AppExchange which lets you search for apps to further customize the platform to your needs.

Myth 4: You have to know a lot about technology to use Salesforce

When Salesforce started, one of the main goals was to let customers/users be able to edit their system. They recognized the skill needed to run most business software and decided to create something new. What used to take years to learn can now be learned in months.

Myth 5: It will require a lot of money to get started using Salesforce

Unlike other products, Salesforce targets all business sizes and is made to be scalable. They have several editions of the platform that start at only $25.00/per user/per month.

Prolocity’s cloud consultants deliver strategy, design, implementation, training, and optimization services to ensure that businesses are getting the most out of the technology. Their solutions leverage the world’s #1 cloud platform, Salesforce, to deliver best-in-class solutions and accelerate success! Prolocity Cloud Solutions serves the Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati area locally and also provides Salesforce implementation and Salesforce training services nationally through the use of cloud technology.

Salesforce Consultants Cincinnati

Ohio

Prolocity Technology Solutions, LLC
407 Vine Street, Suite 219
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

Salesforce Consultants Kentucky

Kentucky

Prolocity Technology Solutions, LLC
50 E. RiverCenter Blvd., Suite 414
Covington, Kentucky 41011

During the Season of Giving, Give Back with Pledge 1%

Posted on December 15, 2016 by John McKenzie

As Salesforce partners, Prolocity is always looking for ways to enhance the customer experience. This week, Prolocity is focusing on Pledge 1%. Pledge 1% is a movement encouraging companies to cultivate a culture of giving back. Several companies have already taken the pledge such as Salesforce and SPCA. Pledge 1% asks companies to donate 1% of equity, product, and/or time.

1% Equity

One of the ways you can donate through Pledge 1% is by pledging 1% of equity. Pledge 1% encourages companies to donate equity to any organization of their choosing. They make it as easy as filling out an allocation form that allows Pledge 1% to pass along 100% of the cash value of the equity or profit allocated to the nonprofit chosen. The allocation It can be changed at any time and Pledge 1% will provide ideas of nonprofits in your community. To provide an example, Salesforce uses 1% of founding stock to offer grants focused on technology innovation in nonprofits and development programs.

1% Product

Another way you can give back through Pledge 1% is by pledging 1% of product. Whether this means a physical product or service your company provides, the idea is to provide the product for free or at a deeply discounted rate to nonprofits. There are a multitude of ways that products can be donated. For example, Salesforce facilitates the donation of up to 10 licenses per company through their foundation to nonprofit organizations. This means that 10 users can use Salesforce for free, no strings attached. A simple application is all that is needed to get started in the program.

1% Time

The last way you can donate through Pledge 1% is by pledging 1% of time. By implementing and promoting a Volunteer Time Off (VTO) policy at your company, you can encourage employees to donate time giving back to the community. Several companies use a blended approach of offering both corporate and non-corporate volunteer days. This helps foster a giving culture by allowing employees to donate corporate time to support a cause they are passionate about. Some companies even offer programs that match employee volunteer efforts with corporate dollars. As an example, Salesforce employees are awarded 6 paid days of volunteer time to use over the course of a year.

Salesforce Consultants Cincinnati

Ohio

Prolocity Technology Solutions, LLC
407 Vine Street, Suite 219
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

Salesforce Consultants Kentucky

Kentucky

Prolocity Technology Solutions, LLC
50 E. RiverCenter Blvd., Suite 414
Covington, Kentucky 41011

If you had to summarize Salesforce in just one word, what would it be?

Posted on October 21, 2016 by John McKenzie

As Salesforce partners, Prolocity is always looking for ways to enhance customer experience. This week, Prolocity asked their staff what word they would use to summarize Salesforce. The responses were overwhelmingly positive and highlight the benefits of Salesforce.

If you had to summarize Salesforce in just one word, what would it be? I asked several colleagues this question. While they had trouble narrowing it down to just one word, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Here are a few highlights of the descriptions used.

Game-Changing

Game-changing – the word that came up most when I asked colleagues to summarize Salesforce. Even Salesforce competitors can’t argue with this one. Thinking back to 1998, the year before Salesforce was founded, it was the era of floppy disks and memory sticks. Businesses had to rely on local networks and needed dedicated IT staff for troubleshooting. While this was an ok to run a business, it could have been better. Salesforce recognized this and decided to change the game. They removed the need for local networks by creating a platform that can be run wherever internet is available. Salesforce also changed the game for IT staff. Instead of spending time getting a network up-and-running again or managing downtimes, IT staff can focus on improving their business’ technology. Businesses can reduce interruption thanks to Salesforce.

Scalable

Another word that came up a lot when I asked colleagues to summarize Salesforce was scalable. This one comes as no shock. Before Salesforce, entrepreneurs had to estimate their growth capacity as an upfront cost. Servers and software had to be purchased to meet the current and future business needs. If for some reason a business grew faster than anticipated, they would have to upgrade their system for an additional cost. Salesforce recognized this as a problem and wanted to create something more scalable. The current platform allows business’ to run everything in one place whether they have 1 or 1,000 employees. This allows companies the ability to startup with minimal costs and allow them to focus funds elsewhere. The Salesforce company is built for growth itself; they have a sophisticated monitoring system that allows them to anticipate growth and add expansions as needed

Innovative

The last word that my colleagues used to summarize Salesforce was innovative. This is another word that would be hard to argue. Salesforce is constantly changing and making improvements to better themselves and the business world. They innovate internally by filling gaps such as the women’s equal pay movement. Externally, they innovate by improving the platform and services they offer. Salesforce innovation efforts have caught the attention of others as they have been named one of the Most Innovative Companies by Forbes 6 years in a row.

Salesforce Consultants Cincinnati

Ohio

Prolocity Technology Solutions, LLC
407 Vine Street, Suite 219
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

Salesforce Consultants Kentucky

Kentucky

Prolocity Technology Solutions, LLC
50 E. RiverCenter Blvd., Suite 414
Covington, Kentucky 41011

Run Your Business from Your Phone with the Salesforce1 Mobile App

Posted on September 15, 2016 by John McKenzie

As cloud computing consultants, Prolocity is always looking for ways to enhance customer experience. This week, Prolocity is focusing on the Salesforce1 mobile app. The Salesforce1 mobile app allows you to run your business virtually. The Salesforce1 mobile app allows you to stay connected by managing your day, managing your sales, and accessing your information.

Manage Your Day

The Salesforce1 mobile app keeps you connected by helping you manage your day. With the ability to view your scheduled events, you can access a daily summary within seconds. The Salesforce1 mobile app directly links to contacts and accounts to keep you organized and provide a high ease-of-use. The app includes a notes feature that allows you to jot down items immediately after meeting.

Manage Your Sales

The Salesforce1 mobile app allows you to close deals faster by managing your sales from your phone. Opportunity creation, approvals, and sales tasks can be updated without having to log on to a computer. This flexibility lets you move faster as information can be communicated faster to the rest of your company. The Salesforce1 mobile app helps you stay in the loop on your account updates by sending notifications straight to your phone.

Access Your Information

The Salesforce1 mobile app brings your Salesforce information to you front and center no matter you go. You can get a picture of how your business is doing with live updates and feed changes. The app increases accessibility by displaying your custom list views, custom objects, and apps on your phone. Not only does this allow you to work faster, but it allows you to work smarter. The Salesforce1 mobile app gives you the ability to review metrics and make informed decisions even when on-the-go.

Prolocity’s cloud consultants deliver strategy, design, implementation, training, and optimization services to ensure that businesses are getting the most out of the technology. Their solutions leverage the world’s #1 cloud platform, Salesforce, to deliver best-in-class solutions and accelerate success! Prolocity Cloud Solutions serves Northern Kentucky/Greater Cincinnati and provides Salesforce implementation and Salesforce training services nationally through the use of cloud technology.

Salesforce Consultants Cincinnati

Ohio

Prolocity Technology Solutions, LLC
407 Vine Street, Suite 219
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

Salesforce Consultants Kentucky

Kentucky

Prolocity Technology Solutions, LLC
50 E. RiverCenter Blvd., Suite 414
Covington, Kentucky 41011

Are you lacking these 3 key Salesforce features?

Posted on September 9, 2016 by John McKenzie

As cloud computing consultants, Prolocity is always looking for ways to enhance customer experience. This week, Prolocity is focusing to focus on 3 key Salesforce features your business should be using. The abilities of Salesforce are notably impressive, but if you aren’t using these 3 key Salesforce features, you could be missing out on useful capabilities of the platform.

Key 1: Web-to-Lead

The first key Salesforce feature you should be using is Web-to-Lead. Web-to-lead allows a lead to be created from a form submitted through a company web page. Imagine the following scenario: A visitor submits an inquiry through the Contact Us page that generates an email to your company. Whomever received the email uploads the lead into Salesforce. While this isn’t a bad process, it certainly isn’t scalable. Web-to-lead introduces a better way. By using web-to-lead, extra functionality is added that can automatically create a lead in Salesforce once a form is submitted. Additionally, web-to-lead can also redirect the visitor to another web page with a “Thank you” or “Next Steps” message. This functionality not only improves process flow, but can improve the customer experience.

Key 2: Email Integration

The second key Salesforce feature you should be using is Email Integration. Email integration can be synced to Salesforce from Gmail or Microsoft Outlook. Synchronization between Salesforce and email removes the need to flip-flop between two screens and saves time. Time spent looking up, copying, and pasting the contact is eliminated by sending emails straight from Salesforce. Another bonus with this key Salesforce feature is that branded email templates can be built and used from Salesforce.

Key 3: File Sync and Share

The third key Salesforce feature you should be using is File Sync and Share. File sync and share allows users to share and collaborate on files in real time on any device. Users can be notified when a new version is uploaded, maintain sharing settings, and use drag-and-drop technology with this key Salesforce feature. Not only does this improve efficiency, it can also improve the time it takes to find files. File sync and share puts all files in one location and uses filters to drill down and find the file you are looking for.

Prolocity’s cloud consultants deliver strategy, design, implementation, training, and optimization services to ensure that businesses are getting the most out of the technology. Their solutions leverage the world’s #1 cloud platform, Salesforce, to deliver best-in-class solutions and accelerate success! Prolocity Cloud Solutions serves the Northern Kentucky/Greater Cincinnati area locally and also provides Salesforce implementation and Salesforce training services nationally through the use of cloud technology.

Salesforce Consultants Cincinnati

Ohio

Prolocity Technology Solutions, LLC
407 Vine Street, Suite 219
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

Salesforce Consultants Kentucky

Kentucky

Prolocity Technology Solutions, LLC
50 E. RiverCenter Blvd., Suite 414
Covington, Kentucky 41011

Increase Your Data Quality & Work Faster With GridBuddy

Posted on March 3, 2016 by John McKenzie

As cloud computing consultants, Prolocity is always looking for ways to enhance customer experience. One of the ways Prolocity accomplishes this is through the use of apps. Over the next several weeks, we will be highlighting apps Prolocity either uses internally or has implemented for actual customers.

The app in the spotlight this week is the Salesforce native app GridBuddy. GridBuddy allows users to get the most from their Salesforce data by bringing all relevant information into one workspace. Available on the Salesforce AppExchange, GridBuddy increases productivity, provides higher user adoption, and improves Salesforce data quality.

Increase Productivity

The first way GridBuddy allows users to get the most from Salesforce is through increased productivity. GridBuddy enables users to create views that display relevant data in one workspace. This allows users to better utilize Salesforce as all the information they use is front and center. GridBuddy provides multi-object filters that can easily narrow data down to the exact records needed. All GridBuddy grids and views are fully customizable so you can edit or create views in no time. With GridBuddy, users no longer have to click around Salesforce to access or update the information they need. They can now spend more time actually doing their job.

Higher User Adoption

The next way GridBuddy allows users to get the most from Salesforce is through higher user adoption. GridBuddy provides a data view similar to spreadsheets. Since users are used to spreadsheets, the familiar look and feel provides users a tool that takes minimal training to learn. With this ease-of-use, users are more likely to switch over, support, and adapt to a Salesforce implementation. The only change they will likely notice is that it is even easier to use the #1 Customer Relationship Manager after adding GridBuddy. If you are looking for a way to get a better ROI through higher user adoption, GridBuddy is the solution.

Improve Salesforce Data Quality

The last way GridBuddy allows users to get the most from Salesforce is through improved Salesforce data quality. GridBuddy allows users to act on multiple records at once. Similar to editing a spreadsheet, GridBuddy lets you create and edit records on a singular or batch basis. By allowing for mass data updates across many fields and objects, your data can be cleaner faster. Users no longer have to update information in several places or open records one-at-a-time. GridBuddy provides the ability to update once and be done. Think of everything you can do with better quality data.

Prolocity’s cloud consultants deliver strategy, design, implementation, training, and optimization services to ensure that businesses are getting the most out of the technology. Their solutions leverage the world’s #1 cloud platform, Salesforce, to deliver best-in-class solutions and accelerate success! Prolocity Cloud Solutions serves the Northern Kentucky/Greater Cincinnati area locally and also provides Salesforce implementation and Salesforce training services nationally through the use of cloud technology.

Salesforce Consultants Cincinnati

Ohio

Prolocity Technology Solutions, LLC
407 Vine Street, Suite 219
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

Salesforce Consultants Kentucky

Kentucky

Prolocity Technology Solutions, LLC
50 E. RiverCenter Blvd., Suite 414
Covington, Kentucky 41011

Streamline Your Sales Process with Salesforce Lightning Sales Path

Posted on January 28, 2016 by John McKenzie

Salesforce Lightning creates an enhanced sales experience with the roll out of Sales Path. Sales Path brings two features to Salesforce that were previously only available on Salesforce1: top-level visibility and a customizable sales process. When utilized, these features provide a clear picture of opportunity advancement and simplify the daunting task of managing your pipeline.

Top-Level Visibility

Sales Path provides top-level visibility by creating a visual path of each opportunity. Sales Path breaks every opportunity into individual stages. Each stage provides a summary of the applicable fields, activities, and account information. This allows the user to focus on the actions needed to move the deal along. Additionally, several tools are available that provide assistance without navigating to another screen. These tools include the ability to access notes, attachments, call logs, and emails on the same screen.

Customizable Sales Process

Sales Path also provides a customizable sales process. The customizable sales process allows you to regulate the order and content of stages used to close deals. Each opportunity will go through the same Sales Path to create consistency across the board. The ability to customize doesn’t stop there. Sales Path also allows you to add guidance per stage to give your sales reps tips and tricks for moving to the next stage.

Whether you have one sales process or several, Sales Path has you covered. Not only can you customize Sales Path to fit your needs, but you can create additional Sales Paths to accommodate different sales processes as needed. There is even capability to have one Sales Path per each opportunity record for even more flexibility. This allows for greater user adoption as the process can be clearly defined and easy to use.

Salesforce Consultants Cincinnati

Ohio

Prolocity Technology Solutions, LLC
407 Vine Street, Suite 219
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

Salesforce Consultants Kentucky

Kentucky

Prolocity Technology Solutions, LLC
50 E. RiverCenter Blvd., Suite 414
Covington, Kentucky 41011

Salesforce Lightning Enhances the CRM Experience

Posted on October 29, 2015 by John McKenzie

Salesforce Lightning Enhances the CRM Experience

The release of Salesforce Winter ‘16 introduces new enhancements to cloud technology. Perhaps the most anticipated enhancement is Salesforce Lightning. Salesforce Lightning provides built-in best practices that are accessible on any device. The Lightning best practices reinvent Salesforce with a modern user interface, proactive sales intelligence, and a customizable Salesforce platform.

Modern User Interface

The new user interface delivers a modern approach and puts the most important information front and center. Three new features were added that display upon login: quarterly performance, account insights, and assistant. Quarterly performance integrates data from Salesforce to provide a quick snapshot of your company’s performance for the quarter. Account insights displays relevant articles about your top accounts to foster deeper customer relationships. Assistant shows items that need attention such as open tasks, new leads, or opportunities with no action.

Proactive Sales Intelligence

Proactive sales intelligence takes data analytics a step further with new tools and functionality. The new feature Pipeline arranges all opportunities on one page. This allows for better visibility and provides a high-level overview without running any reports. Proactive Sales Intelligence makes updating the opportunity status easier than ever with drag and drop technology. The Salesforce automation allows you to change an opportunity status simply by clicking it and moving it to the next stage.

Customizable Platform

Salesforce Lightning provides additional customization. Both Sales Path and Dashboards benefit from the advanced functionality. In Sales Path, each stage of the deal can be standardized according to your needs. Not only does this provide consistency, but it also allows quick and easy onboarding of new reps. New features were added to show recent activity related to the opportunity, show relevant files, and allow you to take notes on the same page as the opportunity. In Dashboards, there is a new capability that allows you to create up to nine columns instead of the previous three.
Prolocity’s cloud consultants deliver strategy, design, implementation, training, and optimization services to ensure that businesses are getting the most out of the technology. Their solutions leverage the world’s #1 cloud platform, Salesforce, to deliver best-in-class solutions and accelerate success!

Salesforce Consultants Cincinnati

Ohio

Prolocity Technology Solutions, LLC
407 Vine Street, Suite 219
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

Salesforce Consultants Kentucky

Kentucky

Prolocity Technology Solutions, LLC
50 E. RiverCenter Blvd., Suite 414
Covington, Kentucky 41011

Pardot for Salesforce: B2B Marketing Solution

Posted on May 26, 2015 by Matt Farano

Pardot for Salesforce is a B2B Marketing Solution that bridges the gap between marketing and sales to drive better quality leads, to help qualify those leads through lead nurturing, and then score all those activities so sales teams can prioritize the leads they are working with. Pardot’s features include CRM integration, email marketing, lead nurturing, lead scoring and grading, social posting, and ROI reporting/analytics.

With Pardot, your sales team is empowered with their own marketing machine to accelerate sales. The marketing team can push out campaigns and increase brand awareness, and the handoff to a sales rep to pick up hot leads is seamless. This is a huge differentiator for a sales team, because it drastically improves your response time. A sales rep can engage with a prospect the moment they become active! You can manage your qualified leads from anywhere, anytime with the Salesforce1 mobile app.

Pardot categorizes your leads based on the prospect’s activity score, so sales reps can focus their time where it matters most. It also allows you to send and track all one-to-one communications using pre-created templates & content, and then report on which of those templates proved to be the most effective. Say goodbye to writing emails from scratch every time you communicate with a prospect!

By combining the #1 CRM in the world, Salesforce, with the incredible marketing power of Pardot, your sales and marketing teams will be able to work together like never before.

Salesforce Consultants Cincinnati

Ohio

Prolocity Technology Solutions, LLC
407 Vine Street, Suite 219
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

Salesforce Consultants Kentucky

Kentucky

Prolocity Technology Solutions, LLC
50 E. RiverCenter Blvd., Suite 414
Covington, Kentucky 41011

Find Highly Qualified Leads, Faster, With Data.com

Posted on May 13, 2015 by Matt Farano

With Data.com, businesses can quickly find highly qualified leads, faster. We all know that one of the most critical success factors in a business is lead generation/qualification. In many cases, it can be the key differentiator that a business needs to gain a competitive advantage.

Recently we decided to improve some of our own internal processes and procedures. At the top of the list, we needed to streamline our lead generation & qualification processes. Since we are a Salesforce partner, the choice was obvious. We may be a bit biased, but we believe that Data.com is the best tool on the market for prospecting and targeting new accounts. Data.com allows you to find decision makers faster and access accurate and complete B2B contacts and company profiles. Here are a few of the things that Prolocity has experienced, since moving to Data.com

Fresh, Accurate Leads.

One of the top reasons for CRM failure…yep you guessed it, bad data. Salesforce combines the power of Dunn & Bradstreet’s accurate account data with Jigsaw’s robust functionality & contact information, so you can feel confident that you are working with the most accurate data out there.

Real-time Clean.

Data.com can deliver insight right into your Salesforce workflow. One of the most powerful features of Data.com is the Clean feature. At the top of your lead, account, & contact records in Salesforce, there is a “Clean” button that will check your record for any missing or updated data. Automated data cleansing empowers our reps to sell faster and sell smarter, with the most up-to-date information available.

Accelerated Sales Activity.

Working with data you can trust means less time running around looking for what you need and less chance for human error. Data.com helps your sales team to improve productivity & increase win rates. Now you can spend more time selling, and less time searching for your next opportunity.

Salesforce Consultants Cincinnati

Ohio

Prolocity Technology Solutions, LLC
407 Vine Street, Suite 219
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

Salesforce Consultants Kentucky

Kentucky

Prolocity Technology Solutions, LLC
50 E. RiverCenter Blvd., Suite 414
Covington, Kentucky 41011