Chris Job – Senior Analyst, Global SaaS Support Services
Salesforce’s ’21 Spring major release is now available to all Salesforce customers. This one has plenty of features for every type of customer, cloud, and industry. These seasonal releases aim to keep your company in peak form – but they also can be overwhelmingly complex.
In this blog, I will highlight the top Spring ’21 features that have the potential to deliver outstanding improvements. If your Salesforce team struggles to keep up with the expanse of this never-ending innovation cycle, consider these top features first for a maximum return on investment.
1. Industry Features
Salesforce continues to pour some serious R&D into their Industry platform, and this release is massive due to the volume of new and dedicated industry solutions. We could write pages just on this part of the release but will keep it brief.
Three new Industry upgrades really stood out to us. Loyalty Management, featuring tools to build intelligent B2B and B2C loyalty programs, is now available across any vertical. More industry-specific solutions like Branch Management for Financial Services Cloud and Rebate Management for Manufacturing Cloud are also available now. Plan for more of these vertically-focused solutions in subsequent major releases.
2. Salesforce Surveys
Customer feedback plays an essential role in any strategic planning process. Companies that quickly and accurately collect valuable data and insights will pivot faster and crush the competition. Salesforce knows this and now offers a tool to provide valuable survey information through an integrated solution. Salesforce Surveys provides a new way to get the information you need and saves the results in account and contact records.
Implementing this feature will require a relatively high level of technical Salesforce experience. However, you can clone a well-designed survey so less technical resources can easily re-configure it to meet any survey need. You can schedule surveys, notify participants, view results, and automate activities in a survey lifecycle with defined flow actions. Target your survey participants at any stage in the journey using rules and Customer Lifecycle Maps.
Admins take note: This tool also works within your org. Do you want to increase user adoption? Curious about what new tools and features your team needs? Stop guessing about how satisfied your Salesforce users are and use survey data to drive your Salesforce roadmap.
3. Salesforce Meetings
Salesforce continues to deploy new features to capture every element in the sale process – and now video meetings are in the mix. Designed to work with existing video conferencing software (e.g., Zoom), Salesforce Meetings gives sales representatives the ability to engage with customers and prospects via video meetings within the Salesforce platform.
Because the meeting takes place within the Salesforce environment, Salesforce automatically stores meeting data (e.g., attendees, summaries, and next steps) in contact and account records. This new offering empowers sales representatives with customizable presentation formats and saves data entry steps to document important call information. Meeting Digest and Meeting Studio make this happen.
- Meeting Digest provides sales representatives with a summary of meeting attendees, actions, and goals in a single page view. This stores meeting data in all related records and on the activity timeline. Optimize the Digest with Einstein Activity Capture to automatically added to the activity timeline of related records.
- Meeting Studio solves the often clumsy video conference experience of switching between presentation content and presenters. By creating a custom viewing experience that shows both content and presenters, sales representatives no longer need to sweat the in-meeting logistics that can often derail a call when video conferencing facilitation goes bad.
4. High Velocity Sales
If you manage accounts with loads lots of opportunities that are frequently changed, and by different users, then pay attention to this feature. Now, designated users can advance opportunity stages on related records. High Velocity Sales provides a tool for managers to build sales workflows based on a unique cadence for consistent execution. Companies with team selling approaches will appreciate this upgrade.
5. Forecast Adjustments on Mobile
The pandemic is (hopefully) winding down and that means salespeople will be back on the road and meeting face to face. Sales users can now adjust their own forecast via a mobile device when in the field, which provides managers with up-to-date forecasts. Sales managers always appreciate enhanced pipeline reporting! I should mention that managers will still need to be at their desktop or laptop to change subordinate forecasts.
Conclusion
Despite the value of each major release, many companies are challenged to keep their Salesforce ecosystem up to date with the newest features. What’s often overlooked is how effective the latest Salesforce features are at keeping your company’s and your customer’s data secure and connected. Continuous innovation through Spinnaker Support’s managed services program ensures that your company maximizes your Salesforce investment and stays technologically current.
We help companies make the most out of these seasonal releases.
Spinnaker Support’s Salesforce team creates value for our customers in the following five ways:
- helping Salesforce teams and decision-makers manage a backlog of tasks,
- frequently releasing enhancements,
- fixing urgent bugs,
- shifting priorities as business needs change, and
- advising on long-term strategic Salesforce initiatives.
Contact us today to get the most out of your Salesforce investment!
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Forecast Adjustments on Mobile
