Setting The Table For Success: A Salesforce Data Configuration Parable

What to Expect When Switching Systems

When you go shopping for Thanksgiving, the process is, operationally, no different than grocery shopping: you need food. But your uncle’s nut allergy, your mother’s aversion to instant mashed potatoes and your brother’s propensity toward eating his weight in deviled eggs change how you shop.

In this regard, transferring data to Salesforce is similar to your family Thanksgiving. Moving the data from one system to a new, more polished, platform is essentially the same process. But your company has unique needs, the equivalent of finecky relatives.

Hurdles to Data Configuration

You’re likely switching to Salesforce to make use of the cloud-based solutions that will enable you to keep pace in a competitive, fast-moving economy. However, variables like the quantity and quality of your company’s existing data can make transitioning difficult.

With so many people within your company relying on up-to-date data, making the transfer as seamless as possible is key. Data is used in every aspect of operations, whether it is analytics to understand who is closing sales or having important documents at the fingertips of the right people.

Knowing the path to chart out when performing data configuration can be difficult. Companies with lots of moving parts add another layer of complexity. So, depending on what your data looks like, it may need to be “cleaned” before transferring. Cleaning data — i.e., ensuring data is set up properly to gel with Salesforce — is necessary to make the most of Salesforce’s features.

For instance, parameters for what constitutes a “lead,” an “opportunity” or a “client” may differ greatly in Salesforce from how your company had previously defined them. Teasing out those differences can sometimes require recategorizing customers or, in some instances, creating new designations for them. But in doing so, your company will be better poised for success.

Independent of engendering confidence in customers by using the latest tools, giving your company a facelift by transitioning to Salesforce pays dividends with concrete results.

The Benefits of a Successful Transition

Salesforce’s suite of software ensures every leg of your company is moving in the same direction. Every employee will be on the same page because they will be confident they are using the most up-to-date information. Once you have transitioned and had your data “cleaned,” redundancies in your customer data are nonexistent, which is another huge benefit. Eliminating redundancies tightens operations, giving employees less dead data to wade through to get to the relevant customer information. There are other benefits too, ones that improve the experience of employees and customers simultaneously.

As already mentioned, many people don’t realise that Salesforce breaks leads and customers into categories. Doing this allows your company to see the more granular details of differences between leads, opportunities and customers and handle interactions with them in a more specialized way. Customers can get more attention that is more customized to their needs.

For marketing, creating journeys tailored to individual customers depends on the data your company has on that customer.  Crafting individualized customer journeys is an invaluable boon to your company — part of  giving the customer a bespoke experience. After all, you want your data to work for you, allowing you to make the most of the possibilities for your business.

How an Experienced Partner Helps

Understanding where your company is heading and its scalability is part of charting a path, an area where an experienced partner is an asset. Just because you know your destination, doesn’t mean you understand which path gets you there best. A savvy guide like Accelerize360 can equip you with the right information — what essentials to pack in your rucksack, the best places to pause to drink in the sweeping vistas, which fork in the road cuts out extraneous hiking — to make your journey pleasant.

Knowledgeable experts can make sure you not only reach your destination but reach it in the way that is congruent with your goals. Buttoning up the details of how customers are delineated is paramount. When transferring your data, you need to make sure it is structured in a way that jibes with what you envision for your company. Basically, which data is important and how you plan to use that data.

So, don’t just go to the grocery store with a vague idea of what to get. Make a list. Know everybody’s food allergies. Understand the preferences of those coming to your house for the holiday. In other words, get your data in lock-step. It makes the process a whole lot easier. The table is set. Your guests — i.e., your customers — will thank you.