Anyone here use Salesforce.com? - GoFuckYourself.com

TwinCities · 04-12-2014, 02:20 PM

I'm looking at a variety of CRM's trying to figure out what the best one might be. It looks like Salesforce.com is king of the hill. I hate they bill 12 months in advance though!

Anyone have experience with Salesforce?

Niktamer · 04-12-2014, 02:39 PM

We do, its good for large operation. Else you can find formidable & affordable tools that do the job. It really depend on the size of your staff / rolodex /targeted markets.

We like the very good customization options, they have strong apis, quick support and billing...

.

If you can make sure your teams use it, go for it.
You need to have leader or a strong strategy to make sure to implement it in the daily work culture.
If you can achieve that, sky is the limit.

AsianDivaGirlsWebDude · 04-12-2014, 02:47 PM

Just saw news that Salesforce is planning to lease a major portion of what will briefly be the tallest building in the Western US, the TransBay Tower, currently under construction in San Francisco (a taller tower is already underway in LA, and will open a few years after the Transbay, now Salesforce, Tower):

Quote:

Salesforce on Friday announced that it will lease half of the Transbay Tower in South of Market once its completed, which is expected in 2017.

"It is clearly something we have been planning for," Mayor Ed Lee said at a news conference Friday morning at 50 Fremont St., the site of Salesforce's current headquarters.

The cloud computing company also announced that it expects to hire up to 1,000 new employees in San Francisco in the next year. Salesforce currently employees about 4,000 people in The City, according to the company.

ADG

avalanche · 04-12-2014, 03:11 PM

It's an incredible platform with nearly endless potential. At first it can be daunting, but if you spend the time to learn it and use it, you will love it!

Naughty Webby · 04-12-2014, 03:13 PM

It's good for huge companies with a tech team to support it, customize it for their workflows and sales cycles, etc. They like to brag about all the fortune 500s that use it. More power to them.

But just because it's good for big companies doesn't mean it's good for everyone!!!

For a smaller co, 50 or less users, it's probably terrible. Go with some lighter weight and more flexible.

Salesforce also make it extremely hard to get your data out if you change your mind. You'll lose some data for sure if/when you leave.

avalanche · 04-12-2014, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Naughty Webby

It's good for huge companies with a tech team to support it, customize it for their workflows and sales cycles, etc. They like to brag about all the fortune 500s that use it. More power to them.

But just because it's good for big companies doesn't mean it's good for everyone!!!

For a smaller co, 50 or less users, it's probably terrible. Go with some lighter weight and more flexible.

Salesforce also make it extremely hard to get your data out if you change your mind. You'll lose some data for sure if/when you leave.

I would definitely agree that it's not for everyone and not for very small shops.

However, I was having this same conversation last week and we likened it to OpenX. To some it is bloated and to complex to use, but if you want something scalable and powerful it is close to, if not the best available.

I wouldn't agree that you can't get your data out of it. We run a mirror of our SalesForce system for safety offline. The data is there and if you have a skilled staff to do the export properly you can get it out. It's really no different than any other database, it depends how intricate you make it... the more intricate, the more difficult it will be to successfully remove and setup elsewhere.

But, lastly, this is all partially what we love about SalesForce, you can highly customize it however you wish, it's really a blank slate.

Naughty Webby · 04-12-2014, 04:17 PM

Yes, but it will draw resources towards it that might be better used elsewhere. And the "tweaking" is never done. It really depends on the needs, and the resources at hand.

For simple contact management, it is way overkill. For a simple sales cycle / drip program I again feel it is overkill.

If you've never actually moved out of salesforce, you might be surprised how difficult it is and how much data will be lost. I'd talk to Salesforce about this issue before committing to them.

TwinCities · 04-12-2014, 05:39 PM

Thanks for the feedback guys. It is only a couple of us that would use the CRM and I too was worried Salesfore was overkill and going to be overcomplicated. I still haven't ruled it out though because it seems like almost every 3rd party app/tool out there integrates with Salesforce.

I was actually looking at http://www.nutshell.com too which does allow for some integrations as well. Anyone with experience with Nutshell?

ajrocks · 04-12-2014, 10:44 PM

I worked with SF for a long time. It is a great software package but it does really need to be customized to work for an online non traditional sales market. It's not geared toward affiliate marketing at all. The sales funnel it uses as it's foundation just doesn't jig right out of the box.

Using a CRM is a smart move on your part but you might need to look at investing some money into customization. Don't bother wasting your time with the free ware stuff; It's not worth investing your time into.

TwinCities · 04-14-2014, 04:42 PM

Bump for more feedback.

NETbilling · 04-14-2014, 06:48 PM

It was overkill for us so we switched to Zoho

AdultKing · 04-14-2014, 10:40 PM

I recommend Daylite for smaller operations.

teomaxxx · 04-14-2014, 10:50 PM

I am short CRM.

corvette · 04-14-2014, 10:51 PM

we use sf, it was tough to implement, but now that its setup, it is overkill, but looking at other products a few months back we considered before the yearly contract renewed, it seemed one of the most cost-effective solutions, then when you consider the cost of implementing the new system in, we decided to stick with sf

Robin · 04-14-2014, 11:37 PM

Salesforce is a great platform with a huge potential. However as many people said already it needs quite a lot of customization. For this you would require a dedicated tech support.
Besides all this is very easy to work with, helps you be more organized and put together good business strategies.
Easy to track all the actions of the people from the company that are using it. I wouln't recommend it for small businesses though

BareBacked · 04-15-2014, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by avalanche

I would definitely agree that it's not for everyone and not for very small shops.

However, I was having this same conversation last week and we likened it to OpenX. To some it is bloated and to complex to use, but if you want something scalable and powerful it is close to, if not the best available.

I wouldn't agree that you can't get your data out of it. We run a mirror of our SalesForce system for safety offline. The data is there and if you have a skilled staff to do the export properly you can get it out. It's really no different than any other database, it depends how intricate you make it... the more intricate, the more difficult it will be to successfully remove and setup elsewhere.

But, lastly, this is all partially what we love about SalesForce, you can highly customize it however you wish, it's really a blank slate.

How many employees do you have using it?

SykkBoy · 04-15-2014, 12:19 PM

Like Mitch, we made the switch to Zoho for much of the same reason.

iwiiiiiiiiii · 04-15-2014, 12:23 PM

It depend what you want to do with your CRM. Salesforce is overkill for small business, I tested some opensource ones like openerp, it's cool, my wife uses capsule crm in google apps it does what she needs. There is also vtiger or the open source of sugarcrm. So really it depends on the features you're looking for.

TwinCities · 04-15-2014, 04:07 PM

It seems like the consensus is largely that it's overkill for small business. I was looking at http://www.pipedrive.com too which seems to have some great reviews.

ilnjscb · 04-15-2014, 04:58 PM

It depends on your business. All CRMs are complex if you want them to really add value.

04-12-2014, 02:20 PM	#1
TwinCities Confirmed User Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 492	Anyone here use Salesforce.com? I'm looking at a variety of CRM's trying to figure out what the best one might be. It looks like Salesforce.com is king of the hill. I hate they bill 12 months in advance though! Anyone have experience with Salesforce?

04-12-2014, 02:39 PM	#2
Niktamer Lord of the Leads Industry Role: Join Date: May 2005 Location: Canada Posts: 3,021	We do, its good for large operation. Else you can find formidable & affordable tools that do the job. It really depend on the size of your staff / rolodex /targeted markets. We like the very good customization options, they have strong apis, quick support and billing... . If you can make sure your teams use it, go for it. You need to have leader or a strong strategy to make sure to implement it in the daily work culture. If you can achieve that, sky is the limit. __________________ Last edited by Niktamer; 04-12-2014 at 02:42 PM..

04-12-2014, 03:11 PM	#4
avalanche Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: SoCal Posts: 1,922	It's an incredible platform with nearly endless potential. At first it can be daunting, but if you spend the time to learn it and use it, you will love it! __________________ Avalanche CherryPimps - Daily Pornstars, LIVE and more!

04-12-2014, 10:44 PM	#9
ajrocks Confirmed User Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: On Uranus Posts: 4,526	I worked with SF for a long time. It is a great software package but it does really need to be customized to work for an online non traditional sales market. It's not geared toward affiliate marketing at all. The sales funnel it uses as it's foundation just doesn't jig right out of the box. Using a CRM is a smart move on your part but you might need to look at investing some money into customization. Don't bother wasting your time with the free ware stuff; It's not worth investing your time into. __________________ SEO Strategy - Digital Strategy - Cannabis Lead Generation Skype aj.durden1

04-14-2014, 06:48 PM	#11
NETbilling Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Huntington Beach, CA Posts: 8,580	It was overkill for us so we switched to Zoho __________________ Mitch Farber CEO - NETbilling, Inc. Email / Phone: 888-357-8166 / 661-252-2456 Transaction processing & 24/7 call center services with exceptional rates and flexibility, since 1998!

04-12-2014, 03:13 PM	#5
Naughty Webby Registered User Industry Role: Join Date: May 2013 Posts: 79	It's good for huge companies with a tech team to support it, customize it for their workflows and sales cycles, etc. They like to brag about all the fortune 500s that use it. More power to them. But just because it's good for big companies doesn't mean it's good for everyone!!! For a smaller co, 50 or less users, it's probably terrible. Go with some lighter weight and more flexible. Salesforce also make it extremely hard to get your data out if you change your mind. You'll lose some data for sure if/when you leave.

04-12-2014, 04:17 PM	#7
Naughty Webby Registered User Industry Role: Join Date: May 2013 Posts: 79	Yes, but it will draw resources towards it that might be better used elsewhere. And the "tweaking" is never done. It really depends on the needs, and the resources at hand. For simple contact management, it is way overkill. For a simple sales cycle / drip program I again feel it is overkill. If you've never actually moved out of salesforce, you might be surprised how difficult it is and how much data will be lost. I'd talk to Salesforce about this issue before committing to them.

04-12-2014, 05:39 PM	#8
TwinCities Confirmed User Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 492	Thanks for the feedback guys. It is only a couple of us that would use the CRM and I too was worried Salesfore was overkill and going to be overcomplicated. I still haven't ruled it out though because it seems like almost every 3rd party app/tool out there integrates with Salesforce. I was actually looking at http://www.nutshell.com too which does allow for some integrations as well. Anyone with experience with Nutshell?

04-14-2014, 04:42 PM	#10
TwinCities Confirmed User Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 492	Bump for more feedback.

04-14-2014, 10:40 PM	#12
AdultKing Raise Your Weapon Industry Role: Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Outback Australia Posts: 15,601	I recommend Daylite for smaller operations.

04-14-2014, 10:50 PM	#13
teomaxxx Confirmed User Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 2,734	I am short CRM. Last edited by teomaxxx; 04-14-2014 at 10:52 PM..

04-14-2014, 10:51 PM	#14
corvette Confirmed User Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: scottsdale Posts: 7,880	we use sf, it was tough to implement, but now that its setup, it is overkill, but looking at other products a few months back we considered before the yearly contract renewed, it seemed one of the most cost-effective solutions, then when you consider the cost of implementing the new system in, we decided to stick with sf __________________ If you need a good company for check writing services, then check out checkissuing, and for webhosting, check out Phoenix NAP

04-14-2014, 11:37 PM	#15
Robin Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Budapest Posts: 261	Salesforce is a great platform with a huge potential. However as many people said already it needs quite a lot of customization. For this you would require a dedicated tech support. Besides all this is very easy to work with, helps you be more organized and put together good business strategies. Easy to track all the actions of the people from the company that are using it. I wouln't recommend it for small businesses though __________________ Ovidiu aka Robin Business Development Manager www.affiliates.auroraglobal.com Skype: irip77

04-15-2014, 12:19 PM	#17
SykkBoy Jesus loves bacon Industry Role: Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Sin City, Motherfucker Posts: 19,969	Like Mitch, we made the switch to Zoho for much of the same reason. __________________ Support my new movie “The Second Coming”

04-15-2014, 12:23 PM	#18
iwiiiiiiiiii Outside The Box Geek Industry Role: Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: MTL/Canada Posts: 550	It depend what you want to do with your CRM. Salesforce is overkill for small business, I tested some opensource ones like openerp, it's cool, my wife uses capsule crm in google apps it does what she needs. There is also vtiger or the open source of sugarcrm. So really it depends on the features you're looking for. __________________ The second time the dog bites you, it's not his fault.

04-15-2014, 04:07 PM	#19
TwinCities Confirmed User Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 492	It seems like the consensus is largely that it's overkill for small business. I was looking at http://www.pipedrive.com too which seems to have some great reviews.

04-15-2014, 04:58 PM	#20
ilnjscb Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 8,824	It depends on your business. All CRMs are complex if you want them to really add value.