Salesforce Guide for New Users: How to Navigate the Ecosystem

Salesforce is the world’s leading customer relationship management (CRM) platform, empowering businesses to manage customer relationships effectively. By centralizing crucial information, refining processes, and boosting efficiency, Salesforce has earned its position as the go-to CRM solution.

In this Salesforce guide, we’ll introduce you to the key features and show you how to navigate them effectively.

 

Getting Started: Your Salesforce Home Page

Salesforce Home Page

Once you log into Salesforce, you’ll land on your personalized Home Page. This page serves as the hub for your day-to-day activities, providing access to critical links, news, reports, and your activity calendar.

The best part? Your Home Page is fully customizable to suit your business needs. Want to track the yearly performance of your sales team? You can create a report, design a graph, and embed it directly on your Home Page. Instantly, your team can visualize how the business is performing.

Your Home Page also provides a snapshot of your day, with sections for “Upcoming Events” and “Today’s Tasks.” Additionally, you can easily reach the last records you have been assigned to or the Deals you have been working on, to keep a close track of everything, helping you stay organized and focused.

Exploring the Navigation Bar

The navigation bar in Lightning Experience

At the top of your screen, the Navigation Bar provides quick access to essential records and functions. Common tabs include:

  • Home: Your central hub.
  • Leads: Potential customers in the nurturing stage.
  • Accounts: Information about companies you work with.
  • Contacts: Details of individuals you interact with.
  • Opportunities: Data on business deals.

You can add more tabs based on your business processes, ensuring that the most critical information is always within reach.

Using the App Launcher

App Launcher

Your Salesforce platform can have, according to the purchased licences, several Apps that you can access through App Launcher.

Imagine you have your Sales team, your Service Team and your Marketing team all working in Salesforce. It makes perfect sense for each team to have a personalised App, with access to critical information for them. But several company members need access to all Apps, like your CEO. That is what the App Launcher is made for, to search and switch between different Apps according to what you need to see.

Managing Records in Salesforce

Each tab in Salesforce gives you the ability to view, create, and manage records tailored to your business needs. For example:

  • Leads: Manage names, contact details, and statuses (e.g., Contacted, Qualified).
  • Accounts: Track name, type, industry, address, and VAT number.
  • Contacts: Log names, phone numbers, and email addresses for each contact of your account.
  • Opportunities: Monitor deal names, close dates, and stages (e.g., Qualification, Negotiation, Closed Won).

Customizable fields ensure that your Salesforce setup captures the data most relevant to your business.

Automating Processes

Automation is a cornerstone of Salesforce. It streamlines workflows, saves time, and ensures data consistency. For example:

  • Automatic Updates: Keep related records synchronized.
  • Repetitive Tasks: Automate mundane processes to focus on customer needs.
  • Validations: Maintain data quality with automated checks.

Leveraging Reports and Dashboards

Salesforce Dashboard

Salesforce’s reporting tools enable you to analyze and visualize your business performance. Having the possibility to quickly check your company’s performance this quarter (with “Closed Won” Opportunities) or what volume business is expected next quarter (Forecasting based on “Close Date” of the Opportunity), verify that your customers are mainly from industry XYZ, making it a possibility to adapt processes to approach more of these markets, congratulate your top seller by analyzing volume business/per seller – reports can show you all this data and more.

It’s even possible to compile these reports into a visually engaging format on a dashboard tailored to each team and present it in your Home Page, where they will see what is important for them.

Organizing Tasks with Activities

The activity composer and its activity tabs

The Activities feature helps you manage and prioritize your tasks. Whether scheduling a customer call, planning a meeting, or logging email exchanges, Salesforce keeps everything organized in one place. Automation can further enhance this process, saving time and boosting productivity.

Enhancing Collaboration with Chatter

Chatter page

Chatter fosters seamless communication among Salesforce users. Post updates, create polls, and share critical information without leaving the platform. It’s an invaluable tool for improving teamwork and decision-making.

Accessing Salesforce On-the-Go

Salesforce Mobile App

All these powerful features are available on the Salesforce Mobile App, ensuring you’re always connected. Whether reviewing dashboards, checking account details, or tracking deals, you can stay productive even when you’re on the move.

Start Your Salesforce Journey

This Salesforce guide offers just a glimpse into the ecosystem. For a deeper dive, register on Trailhead – Salesforce’s free learning platform – where you can explore these features in detail and discover why Salesforce remains the #1 CRM in the world.

Ready to unlock the full potential of Salesforce? Kompetenza is here to help. Contact us today to learn more about implementing the platform in your business.

Happy Salesforce journey!

 

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