Key Features

1. Automated Outreach: Salesforce Sales Engagement allows sales representatives to automate their outreach efforts, ensuring timely follow-ups and consistent communication with prospects. This not only saves time but also enhances the chances of closing deals.
2. Data-Driven Insights: With integrated analytics, sales teams can gain valuable insights into customer behavior and engagement patterns. This data-driven approach enables more targeted outreach and personalized interactions, improving conversion rates.
3. Seamless CRM Integration: The platform integrates effortlessly with existing Salesforce systems, allowing for a unified view of customer interactions. This integration ensures that sales teams have access to all necessary information at their fingertips, enhancing decision-making processes.
4. Standard Cadences: Businesses can significantly boost productivity by implementing structured workflows known as Standard Cadences. These cadences guide sales teams through engagement, ensuring no lead is overlooked.

Why It Matters

As organizations increasingly adopt AI-driven tools, the potential for growth and enhanced engagement becomes more accessible. Salesforce Sales Engagement optimizes sales processes and positions businesses to adapt quickly in a competitive landscape.

In conclusion, embracing Salesforce Sales Engagement is strategic for any organization looking to elevate its sales game and maximize ROI. By harnessing the power of automation and data, sales teams can focus on what they do best—building relationships and closing deals.

At Cloud Next Level, we have the experience and know-how to help your team implement and use Sales Engagement to improve conversion rates.  Whether it’s starting from scratch or building smart cadences, we can help you and your sales team. 

The post Unlocking Sales Potential with Salesforce Sales Engagement first appeared on Cloud Next Level.

First, let’s discuss some basic tips for using ChatGPT to its fullest.

1. Setting Custom Instructions

If you have the paid version, you can set your profile to Custom instructions that reflect your goals, personality, and how you want responses to be created. Click on your name in the bottom left corner to access this.

2. Master Prompt Engineering for Optimal Responses

For ChatGPT to provide the most relevant and accurate outputs, crafting detailed and clear prompts is crucial. Known as “prompt engineering,” this technique involves specifying exactly what you need from ChatGPT, such as the format of user stories or the structure of code. This upfront clarity reduces back-and-forth and enhances the quality of responses. For instance, you could write “You are a master Salesforce developer with deep expertise in writing efficient Apex code”.

3. Enable ChatGPT to Ask Clarifying Questions

At the end of your prompt, you can say “Ask me questions to clarify”. This will give it the opportunity to gather more details for a better response.

4. Use Strategic Phrasing Like “Take Your Time”

When dealing with complex queries or tasks where precision is paramount, instruct ChatGPT to “take your time.” This phrasing signals the AI to process the request more thoroughly, prioritizing accuracy over speed, which is especially beneficial in scenarios involving intricate coding or detailed report generation.

5. Utilize the ‘Tipping’ Feature to Encourage Specific Outcomes

It has been reported that if you offer ChatGPT a tip, it will produce better results. It’s not real money, so you can say “I will tip you $1 Million for the best answer possible”.

6. Give it Praise

If you like an answer, say something like “Great job!”. This helps train the model and get you answers that work for you in future prompts.

7. Review and Refine Outputs

Don’t assume it is correct or ask it to do something you can’t check for accuracy! While ChatGPT can generate high-quality outputs, it’s crucial to review and refine these to ensure they are accurate and meet your requirements.

Salesforce-specific uses

1. Generating Code

ChatGPT can assist Apex code and offer suggestions for improving existing code, thus speeding up the development process and reducing manual coding errors.

2. Generating User Stories

For example, you could prompt it like “Please create a Salesforce user story for a new feature. The user role is ‘sales manager,’ the goal is to monitor sales performance, and the need is to assess regional sales data efficiently for strategic planning. Include the role, feature purpose, and business benefit in the narrative format of a user story.”

3. Generating Test Cases

For example, “I need you to formulate a test case for a Salesforce feature based on the user story for a sales manager’s dashboard. The test should verify that the dashboard accurately displays monthly sales data by region and allows the sales manager to identify growth areas. Please outline the test steps, expected results, and criteria for passing.”

4. Enhancing Documentation

The tool can be used to generate comprehensive documentation ensuring understanding across the development team. This not only improves the quality of the outputs but also streamlines the testing phase of project development.

5. Interactive Problem Solving

You can interactively solve problems such as generating a flow based on specific criteria. ChatGPT can act as a dynamic partner, engaging in back-and-forth dialogue to refine flows, ensuring each element is tailored to meet both the technical specifications and the end-user’s experience.

6. Continual Learning and Improvement

ChatGPT learns from each interaction, making it an increasingly valuable resource as it adapts to the specific nuances of your projects and coding standards. This learning capability ensures that the more you use ChatGPT, the more tailored and effective its assistance becomes.

Conclusion Integrating ChatGPT into your Salesforce development workflow offers significant benefits, from speeding up routine tasks to enhancing the quality of project outputs. By following these expert tips and continuously refining your approach to using ChatGPT, you can maximize its utility and drive more efficient and effective project results. For those looking to delve deeper, check out the book, “ChatGPT for Accelerating Salesforce Development,” which provides further guidance and advanced strategies for using AI in Salesforce environments

The post Leveraging ChatGPT for best result and Enhanced Salesforce Development first appeared on Cloud Next Level.

1. Start Early and Gather Metrics

The time to start thinking about Salesforce renewal isn’t a month before your contract ends; it’s at least 3-6 months prior. This gives you enough time to evaluate your current usage and needs. Collect metrics to demonstrate how Salesforce has added value to your organization or where it might fall short.

Having this data on hand gives you a strong negotiating position. You can show concrete results that Salesforce has provided and perhaps leverage those results for better terms.

2. Audit Your Current Saleforce Usage

Before you can negotiate, you need to understand what you’re currently utilizing and what you’re not. Often, licenses and features go unused or underused. Maybe you’ve been paying for Salesforce Pardot, but you’re not running any significant email marketing campaigns. Or perhaps you have more user licenses than you need.

Audit your current usage to identify what you require and what can be cut or scaled down. With this information, you can negotiate a contract that fits your needs, potentially reducing costs.

3. Understand the Salesforce Contract Pricing Model

Salesforce has a complex pricing model that includes various editions (Essentials, Professional, Enterprise, etc.), add-ons, and other scalable features. The costs can add up quickly if you don’t understand what you’re paying for. Before renewal, review the terms of your existing Salesforce contract, focusing on what each license and feature costs and what it provides.

Knowing your current contract well will enable you to discuss terms more intelligently and spot opportunities for savings, perhaps by bundling features or changing to a different edition that better suits your needs.

4. Leverage Your Relationship with Salesforce

If you’ve been a loyal Salesforce customer, don’t underestimate the value of that relationship. Vendors often have incentives or flexibility to offer better terms to loyal customers to keep them from switching to a competitor. Use your history as a negotiating point to ask for better rates or additional features.

Even if you’re a smaller customer, remember that customer retention is easier and more cost-effective for Salesforce than acquiring a new customer. Use this to your advantage during negotiations.

5. BONUS TIP~Leverage Salesforce’s Fiscal Year End

Understanding the timing around Salesforce’s fiscal year end can offer a strategic advantage during your license renewal negotiations. Salesforce, like many other companies, has sales quotas and targets to meet, which become especially pressing as the fiscal year comes to a close. This is usually around January 31st, but you should confirm the specific date as it may change.

During this time, Salesforce representatives might be more willing to offer discounts or additional services to close deals and meet their targets. Use this to negotiate more favorable terms or secure add-ons at a reduced rate.

However, this strategy comes with a few caveats:

• Plan in Advance. Even though there might be more flexibility from Salesforce near their fiscal year-end, you should start your negotiations well in advance. If you wait until the last minute, the representatives might be too busy closing more significant deals, leaving you with less attention and fewer negotiation options.
• Weigh the Pros and Cons. While fiscal year-end can provide some good opportunities, it’s not a guaranteed win. You’ll still need to be prepared, know your requirements, and clearly understand Salesforce’s pricing structure to make the most of the negotiations.
• Watch Out for Upselling. Be cautious of upselling tactics, especially as the fiscal year end approaches. Sales representatives may try to include additional services or add-ons to make their numbers, so ensure that any added features align with your business needs.

Understanding Salesforce’s fiscal year-end can be a solid tactical play in your overall negotiation strategy, but it should be one factor among many in your preparations.

Conclusion

Salesforce contract renewal doesn’t have to be a daunting process. By starting early, understanding your usage, knowing the pricing model, leveraging your relationship, and possibly consulting experts, you can negotiate a deal that meets your organizational needs without breaking the bank.

The post Top 5 Suggestions For Negotiating a Salesforce Contract Renewal first appeared on Cloud Next Level.

Key Dates

• Sandbox previews started 5/6
• Release Weekends:  5/19, 6/2, 6/9

What Users May Notice

These items will be implemented automatically, with no action from Admins.

• Improved Color Contrast. Brighter colors on standard object icons, buttons, links, editing icons, and messages. 
• MFA enforced in additional orgs. 
• Object name on record tab:  When viewing a record, in addition to the record name, the name of the object also appears on the tab
• These Account features are being retired with Winter ’24 (the next release)
  • News – will no longer be available to put on page layouts
  • Account Logos (shows company logo on record pages)
  • Automated Account Fields (suggests possible account names when reps start typing in an Account name)
• Ability to add Images, Rich Text, and Widgets to the Dashboard.  Text element could be a button to launch a flow. 
• Multiple Dashboard Filters on a Single Dashboard.

Easy Adds for the Near Future

Features easily added/enabled by Admins with no change to business processes

• Lightning Page layout improvements
  • Align Fields Horizontally in Field sections
  • Accordion and Tabs Components
• Create quotes without an Opportunity

Possible Road Map Items

Available features that require some effort or analysis before the implementation.

• Salesforce Payments is now Generally Available.  This used to be a managed package but is now included on the Salesforce platform.

For the Techies

Features used by Admins and Developers with no immediate impact on end users.

• Set Field Level Security (FLS) on Permission Sets instead of profiles.  The current best practice is to use permission sets for field-level security. New enhancements also improve the visibility and management of permission set permissions.
• Limit on Inactive Picklist Values – there can only be 4,000 inactive picklist values; the limit is now enforced.
• Ability to Clone Lightning Apps
• Log Emails Sent with the Send Email Action
• Use Email Templates in the Send Email Action
• Choice Lookup – Gives users a list of choices for easy selection
• Process Builders can no longer be created
• Process to Flow migration tool works with more types of Process Builders

The post Salesforce Summer ’23 Release Highlights first appeared on Cloud Next Level.

When two companies come together in a merger, they typically have their own Salesforce.com instances containing unique sets of data, including customer, sales, and contact information. In order to ensure the seamless functioning of the newly merged company, it is crucial to consolidate this data into a single Salesforce.com instance.

There are a few key steps to take when merging Salesforce.com data:

1. First, identify the data that needs to merge. Identification includes determining which data fields are common and standard between the two instances and which need consolidation.
2. Create a plan for how to merge the data. A good plan includes deciding which instance will be the “master” instance and how data will be transferred from the other instance.
3. Clean and deduplicate the data. It is essential to remove any duplicate data to ensure that the merged data is accurate and complete.
4. Test the merged data. Before going live, it is crucial to test the merged data to ensure that it is accurate and all the necessary data fields are present.
5. Go live with the merged data. Once the data has been tested and is deemed accurate, it can be moved into the “live” Salesforce.com instance.

It is important to note that merging data into one Salesforce.com instance can be complex and time-consuming. Still, ensuring that the merged company has accurate and complete customer data is essential. It’s also important to consider the data’s security, privacy, and compliance.

Merging data into one Salesforce.com instance can be challenging, but your company can do it successfully with the right approach. It is important to work with a team with experience in Salesforce.com data migration and have a clear plan for the data merge process.

The post Company Mergers and Salesforce first appeared on Cloud Next Level.

What Can Be Done?

There are several things your company can do to help the person who handles Salesforce administration at your company pass the certification exam and, more importantly, administrate your system more efficiently:

1. Study materials: Encourage them to review the official Salesforce study materials, such as the Administrator and Advanced Administrator Study Guides and Trailheads.
2. Practice tests: Encourage them to take practice tests to familiarize themselves with the certification exam’s format and types of questions. An excellent resource for this is Focus on Force.  Their courses are fantastic, and their practice tests are like official Salesforce tests.
3. Hands-on experience: Ensure they have enough hands-on experience working with Salesforce – especially in a designated sandbox – to apply their knowledge to real-world scenarios.
4. Attend training sessions: Encourage them to attend training sessions, either in-person or online, to learn from experienced Salesforce professionals.
5. Join a study group: Encourage them to join a study group or online community of Salesforce professionals to discuss study materials, ask questions, and share tips and strategies for passing the certification exam.
6. Take the certification exam: Encourage them to take it once they feel ready.
7. Consider hiring a Salesforce consultant: If the person cannot pass the certification exam or if your system needs more help than a new administrator can handle, consider hiring a Salesforce consultant to handle the administration and management of Salesforce.

At Cloud Next Level, we can help your voluntold OR certified admin work within your system better. We have a managed service plan to meet your needs if you need us for a few hours a month or a few hours a day.

The post From Voluntold to Certified first appeared on Cloud Next Level.

HubSpot to Salesforce Migration

Moving from Hubspot to Salesforce is a great way to combine your CRM and marketing efforts seamlessly. If your company is thinking about this change or is in the process, here are a few things to consider.

1. Data migration: Migrating data can be complex and time-consuming, especially if you have a large amount of data or if the data is stored in multiple systems. You must export your data from HubSpot and import it into Salesforce. This process may involve mapping and transforming the data to match Salesforce’s field structure. Tracking issues with data integrity and data loss during the migration process will be an essential part of a smooth transition.
2. Customization and configuration: Salesforce offer a wide range of customization options, and you may need to reconfigure your sales and marketing processes to match how Salesforce works. This will likely involve creating new fields, objects, and workflow rules to fit your business needs. Salesforce is a powerful platform, but it can be difficult to configure to match your business needs. As a result, you may need to work with a Salesforce consultant or developer to customize the platform to meet your requirements.
3. Training: Your team must be trained on how to use Salesforce effectively. This will include learning how to navigate the user interface, input and manage data, and utilize Salesforce’s various features and tools. Salesforce is a complex system, and it can take time for your team to become proficient. Therefore, adequate training and support are vital to ensure your team can work effectively with the new system.
4. Integration: Salesforce can integrate with other systems and tools, such as marketing automation, email marketing, and more. You must evaluate your current integrations and determine if they need to be reconfigured or replaced to work with Salesforce. Salesforce can integrate with many systems and tools, but integrating these systems can be difficult. You may need to work with a developer or systems integrator to ensure your systems are properly integrated.
5. Testing: Testing your data, configuration, and customizations is essential to ensure everything is working as expected before going live with Salesforce. Testing is critical to safeguard your data, configuration, and customizations work as expected. It is essential to thoroughly test your system before going live to ensure it is working as expected and minimize the risk of data loss or system failure.
6. Business continuity: During the transition, it’s essential to ensure that the business operations are not affected, and the data is accessible to the team. A smooth transition requires a well-planned approach to minimize downtime and ensure the availability of data and processes.

You may face challenges when moving your company’s sales and marketing data and processes from Hubspot to Salesforce.com. At Cloud Next Level, we have experience with this kind of transition, and we’d be happy to talk to you about the transition process. So, give us a call today.

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 What are the procedures for archiving old data?

Archiving old data can improve the performance of your systems by reducing the amount of data that needs to be stored and processed. Smart archiving can lead to faster query times, more efficient use of storage resources, and improved overall system stability.

You can use the built-in data archiving features or third-party tools to archive data in Salesforce. The process typically involves identifying and selecting the data you want to archive, creating a backup, and then deleting or deactivating the original data.

Here are some steps to consider when archiving data in Salesforce:

1. First, identify the data that you want to archive. This may include old or infrequently accessed records, duplicate data, or data no longer needed for business purposes.
2. Create a backup of the data. This will ensure you have a copy of the data you can refer to.
3. Delete or deactivate the original data. In Salesforce, you can permanently delete or archive records by deactivating them.
4. Review the data regularly to ensure it is still necessary to keep it and perform the archiving process periodically.

It’s also important to note that archiving data may have legal and compliance implications, so it’s best to consult with legal or compliance teams before proceeding.

What else could go wrong?

Several things could go wrong when archiving data in Salesforce or any other system. Here are a few potential issues to consider:

1. Data loss: There is always a risk of data loss when archiving data, especially if the backup process is not done correctly or if the data is deleted without being backed up.
2. Data integrity: Archiving data can also affect the integrity of the data, especially if the data is not adequately de-duplicated or cleaned before archiving. This can lead to inconsistencies or errors in the data.
3. Accessibility: Archived data may be more challenging to access or retrieve in the future, especially if the archiving process is not well-documented or if the data is not indexed correctly.
4. Compliance: Archiving data may have compliance implications, such as when data is subject to retention requirements or regulatory oversight. It’s essential to consult with legal or compliance teams before proceeding.
5. Data dependency: Some data in your systems might be dependent on other data, so if you archive some data, it might cause issues with the data still being used. So it’s essential to check for data dependencies before archiving.
6. Performance: Archiving data can improve system performance, but testing the system after archiving is essential to ensure that performance has not been negatively affected.

It’s essential to thoroughly plan and test the archiving process to minimize these risks and ensure that the data is properly preserved and accessible in the future.

Cloud Next Level has the people and experience to help you evaluate your archiving needs and help you step through the process of archiving data and keeping things running smoothly in your instance.

The post Archiving Data as Part of Your Business Strategy first appeared on Cloud Next Level.

There are several steps that organizations can take to identify and remove sensitive Information to comply with data privacy regulations:

1. Conduct a data inventory: You should identify where your organization stores and processes sensitive Information.
2. Assess the data: Evaluate it to determine if it is regulated and necessary for your organization’s operations.
3. Implement data minimization: Limit the collection and retention of sensitive Information to only what is necessary for your organization’s operations.
4. Implement data masking: Use techniques like data masking, tokenization, and redaction to protect sensitive Information.
5. Monitor and audit: Regularly monitor and audit data access and use it to detect and prevent unauthorized access to sensitive Information.
6. Train employees: Train employees on data privacy regulations and protecting sensitive Information.
7. Use technology: Use software tools to automatically identify and remove sensitive Information from data sets and monitor and audit access to sensitive Information.

It’s important to note that specific regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, and CCPA may have particular requirements that organizations must comply with. Therefore, they should consult with legal and compliance experts to ensure compliance with all applicable regulations.

Here Are Some Examples of Regulated Data

Regulated data refers to Information subject to specific laws and regulations governing how it can be collected, stored, used, and shared. Some examples of controlled data include:

1. Personal Identifiable Information (PII): This includes Information such as name, address, Social Security number, and other information used to identify an individual. PII is regulated by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and other more granular laws.
2. Protected Health Information (PHI): This includes information such as medical records, treatment history, and other Information related to an individual’s health. PHI is regulated by laws such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
3. Financial Information includes bank account numbers, credit card numbers, and other Information. Financial Information is regulated by laws such as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA)
4. Children’s Information: This includes Information such as name, address, and date of birth of children under the age of 13. Children’s Information is regulated by laws such as the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
5. Biometric Information: This includes fingerprints, facial recognition, and other biometric data. Biometric Information is regulated by laws such as the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA)
6. Sensitive Personal Data: This includes race, religion, political opinions, sexual orientation, trade union membership, etc. Sensitive personal data is regulated by laws such as GDPR and other data protection laws.

These are just a few examples, and the specific types of regulated data can vary depending on the country and industry. Therefore, organizations must consult with legal and compliance experts to understand the types of controlled data they handle and ensure compliance with all applicable regulations.

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