Here is a quick tip for salespeople thinking of migrating from their ACT, or any other Contact Relationship Management system, to SalesForce.
ACT is a wonderful contact management system. But it’s horrible at managing accounts.
SalesForce, however, gives you unprecedented insight into your accounts and how they interact with each other. But you have to set it up that way.
Transferring information over from ACT, or any other CRM to SalesForce can be a challenge. No doubt you’ve spent a lot of time configuring and inputting the data for your current contact management system. Expect to expend some time and brain cycles up front to set up your Salesforce resources. Don’t pass this off lightly.
Salespeople, Interface with Your Tech People to Set Up Salesforce
My suggestion for all of you salespeople out there is to connect with whoever will be implementing the data transfer. Then, review the structure your accounts before they begin their work.
Give your technical person insight into how you want the accounts structured and how your accounts are related. Also, give them as much information as possible how you want to sell to and manage your accounts. They will use this information to structure your records before performing the task of importing the contact data.
When your tech people finally finished populating Salesforce, you will be in a better position to marketing into your accounts. You will understand where your greatest opportunities lie. And you will be able to create solutions that make sense for your entire account instead of one subsidiary.
You’ll also be in a better position to request help when managing your account. You’ll be able to decide who is on your team and what they need to do to penetrate a previously isolated subsidiary.
If you already have ACT data transferred into Salesforce, it will take a little more work. But it’s still doable and definitely worth it.
So polish up those human relations skills, show your IT person some love and get ready to grow those accounts.
