The Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud is a digital sales platform that is a component of Customer 360, a comprehensive suite of customer relationship management (CRM) solutions launched by the California-based software company. The product offers diverse capabilities, such as buyer and sales engagement, team collaboration, sales enablement, sales analytics, and performance management. Explore more about one of the leading CRM software platforms globally in this in-depth Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud review.
What's new in Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud?
Our team at Research.com condensed the several enhancements that Salesforce implemented recently on its sales software in this Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud review. For sales engagement, users can now effortlessly regulate the timing of cadence steps. Users can also manage the timing of cadence task assignments, view cadence usage data, and search and manage items in the To Do List. Moreover, Einstein Conversation Insights provides users with more languages and voice-recording integrations, such as RingCentral and Amazon Connect. Additional capabilities include advanced reporting and the speaker-separation feature that assists in generating transcripts and call insights.
Moreover, while creating this Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud review, our team discovered that the software firm has beefed up its revenue-intelligence features with the new Sales Rep Command Center, aiming to equip your agents with essential data. Meanwhile, the Einstein Account Management helps you determine potential sales, and Revenue Insights gives you digestible data on the stages of the sales cycle as well as the issues and gaps encountered.
New Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud features also empower your sales team with collaborative forecasts that provide detailed in-app charts. Representatives are also supported through a knowledge base that informs and reminds them about products and processes from customer acquisition to customer retention. Moreover, the digital sales solution allows you to establish, assign, and manage programs to supply your team with key resources to improve employee productivity through efficient time management and organization.
How does Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud support data security and compliance?
Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud integrates robust data security and compliance features, ensuring that organizations can manage customer information securely while adhering to industry regulations. Data security and compliance are critical for companies managing sensitive customer data, especially for those in regulated industries like finance, healthcare, and government.
Data Encryption: Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud employs encryption protocols to protect data at rest and in transit. This ensures that sensitive information, such as customer data and sales interactions, is safeguarded from unauthorized access. Data encryption also helps businesses comply with regulations requiring the secure handling of personal and sensitive information.
Access Control and Permissions: Salesforce allows for role-based access control, enabling administrators to set up permissions and limit access based on roles within the organization. This granularity ensures that only authorized personnel can view or manipulate specific data, helping to prevent data breaches and maintain compliance with internal policies.
Compliance with Industry Standards: Salesforce is certified with numerous industry standards, including GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC, ensuring that it meets global compliance standards for data protection. By following these standards, Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud helps organizations avoid legal and financial risks associated with non-compliance.
Audit Trails and Activity Monitoring: The platform provides comprehensive audit trails, logging user actions within the CRM system. This feature is crucial for monitoring data access and usage, supporting compliance with regulations requiring activity tracking. These logs help organizations detect and respond to suspicious activities, enhancing security and accountability.
Data Residency and Backup: Salesforce offers data residency options, allowing companies to store data in specific geographic locations to meet regional compliance requirements. Automatic data backups and disaster recovery protocols are also in place, ensuring that customer information is protected and recoverable in the event of an incident.
How does Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud improve customer support?
Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud doesn't solely enhance sales processes; it also indirectly supports customer service teams by ensuring a seamless transition from sales to post-sales support. By providing a unified platform for managing customer data, the tool enables businesses to store and retrieve accurate customer information quickly, aiding in efficient and personalized customer interactions.
Integrating customer data across departments not only improves internal collaboration but also reduces response times for customer inquiries. Salesforce’s robust reporting and analytics further empower companies to identify bottlenecks in service delivery and continually optimize support protocols. For organizations actively searching for complementary customer-focused tools, leveraging high-quality customer support software tools alongside Salesforce can pave the way for superior customer satisfaction.
This holistic approach helps businesses align their sales strategies with their customer service goals, ensuring a consistent and customer-centric experience throughout the entire lifecycle.
How does Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud integrate with your existing HR system?
Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud can be seamlessly integrated with other essential business platforms, including modern HR system solutions. Its robust API and flexible data connectors enable bidirectional data sharing that aligns sales performance metrics with HR processes such as recruitment, onboarding, and employee development. This interoperability provides a holistic view of team effectiveness while streamlining key HR indicators alongside sales analytics. By consolidating relevant data into unified dashboards, organizations can implement targeted training programs and optimize workforce planning, ultimately promoting interdepartmental efficiency and strategic alignment.
Key Insights
Comprehensive Feature Set: Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud offers a wide range of capabilities, including sales engagement, team collaboration, sales enablement, sales analytics, and performance management, making it a versatile tool for various sales-related tasks.
Recent Enhancements: The platform has introduced new features such as timing control for cadence steps, expanded language support in Einstein Conversation Insights, and advanced reporting capabilities. These updates aim to improve user experience and efficiency.
Revenue Intelligence: Salesforce has bolstered its revenue-intelligence features with tools like the Sales Rep Command Center, Einstein Account Management, and Revenue Insights, providing detailed data on sales cycles and identifying potential gaps and opportunities.
Collaboration and Productivity: The integration of Slack through the Slack Sales Elevate add-on enhances team collaboration and real-time communication. This feature also leverages AI to provide timely notifications and sales performance insights.
Scalability: While highly beneficial for large enterprises due to its comprehensive features and scalability, the platform can become expensive as the user base grows, making it less suitable for small businesses.
Customization and Integration: The platform's user interface is highly customizable, and it integrates seamlessly with various third-party applications, enhancing its flexibility and adaptability to different business needs.
Automation and AI: Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud automates many administrative tasks and uses AI to provide actionable insights, thereby freeing up sales teams to focus more on customer engagement and closing deals.
How Much Does SalesForce CRM Sales Cloud Cost?
Salesforce CRM: Top Sales Engagement Platforms
5 / 5
Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud pricing plans are based on the features included in the five packages available in the United States (US). Notably, the software company provides customers with a free trial plan that allows users to access data, workflows, reports, dashboards, tutorials, and webinars. The following pricing plans are billed annually:
Starter – $25 per user/month
Simplified Setup and Onboarding
Lead, Account, Contact, and Opportunity Management
Email Integration and Automated Activity Capture
Professional – $80 per user/month
Customizable Reports and Dashboards
Forecast Management
Quoting and Contracting
Enterprise – $165 per user/month
Everything in Professional
Advanced Pipeline Management and Deal Insights
Territory Management and Planning
Unlimited – $330 per user/month
All Features in Enterprise
Advanced Automation and Sales Engagement
Predictive and Generative AI
Unlimited+ – $500 per user/month
All Features in Unlimited
Performance Management, Enablement and Team Collaboration with Slack
Connect Salesforce and External Data with Data Cloud and Revenue Intelligence
What Sets Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud Apart
Salesforce’s Sales Cloud boasts positive ratings and reviews, but business leaders must still take the time to understand Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud pros and cons. Doing your research and trials prevents you from investing in tools and resources that are unfit for your organization. Explore the following advantages and disadvantages to get you started:
Pros of Using SalesForce CRM Sales Cloud
Sales Cloud tools are each designed for specific functions, from lead generation to the first transaction to customer support to the next purchase.
The platform enables managers to monitor team members and their performance.
Dashboards of reports and insights provide agents with detailed customer information.
Automation helps agents refocus on interacting with, selling to, and assisting customers, with the help of customer support software.
Users are given a complete view of project progress.
The user interface is customizable.
Cons of Using SalesForce CRM Sales Cloud
Sales Cloud can become expensive as your user base grows.
Implementation of the platform may require consistent agent training due to software updates, corroborated by customer feedback and other Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud review articles.
Mobile options have limited customization.
The elaborate Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud pricing model may make the platform unsuitable for small businesses.
SalesForce CRM Sales Cloud Core Features
Salesforce CRM: Top Sales Engagement Platforms
5 / 5
Salesforce Sales Cloud is a platform that was designed to streamline your sales operations and, ultimately, increase your revenues. It comprises a wide range of digital sales tools—from team productivity to artificial intelligence (AI) to sales engagement. Read through several key features listed in our Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud review to get a glimpse of the capabilities that Sales Cloud offers:
Sales Automation. Salesforce lets you easily organize and automatically integrate your emails and engagement activities on a centralized platform. It takes automation even further by doing some of the intricate work for your team based on workflows and processes.
Sales Engagement. The unified platform also enables you to seamlessly communicate with potential and current customers no matter their preferred digital channel. It helps your agents progress interactions with sales engagement cadences. It also simplifies responses through email templates as well as administrative functions through automation.
Sales Team Productivity. Slack Sales Elevate, a Salesforce add-on for the instant messaging tool Slack, aims to assist your agents through AI capabilities and templates to bring their focus back to selling. It also notifies your entire team of your sales performance in real-time. Moreover, the digital tool provides key sales data that you can check against key performance indicator (KPI) dashboards to ensure team progress.
Benefits of using SalesForce CRM Sales Cloud
Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud reviews reveal the positive reception of its digital sales tools among global organizations that have already adopted them into their sales processes. In our team’s review, we demonstrate the different benefits of this comprehensive platform.
Automated Sales Tasks
Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud automates administrative tasks, such as centralizing emails and engagement activities, prioritizing deals, and approving contracts. Reducing manual clerical duties can reallocate your time, financial resources, and human resources toward customer engagement.
Collaborative and Organized Selling
The Slack Sales Elevate add-on unifies your agents, systems, and Sales Cloud data to ensure that everyone on the team is on the same page. Managers can monitor individual and team performance and measure progress against KPIs. Moreover, your team can utilize quality templates and receive real-time Sales Cloud notifications in Slack.
Optimized Product-to-Order Process
Sales Cloud enables you to provide your team with a standard product catalog and price book, among other elements. Generating quotations is also simplified with structured product, pricing, and discount setups. Moreover, contract iterations are simplified and automated.
What business types use SalesForce CRM Sales Cloud?
Considering that Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud is a complete suite of digital sales solutions, its features may be adaptable to diverse sales processes in different industries. These industries include automotive, communications, consumer goods, education, energy and utilities, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, media, nonprofits, government, retail, and technology. Notably, while small businesses may decide to subscribe to the platform, the team at Research.com that worked on this Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud review found that the platform may be ideal for large organizations or those with over 1,000 employees.
Zoho CRM offers extensive customization options that enable businesses to adapt fields, page layouts, workflows, and automation rules to their specific needs, thereby enhancing lead management and streamlining the sales process from initial contact to deal closure. Its comprehensive suite supports sales, marketing, and customer support through features like detailed reporting, analytics, and an intuitive interface that facilitates easy navigation. The platform integrates AI-powered tools such as the Zia assistant, which provides predictive sales insights and helps personalize customer interactions using real-time behavioral data. Moreover, Zoho CRM’s competitive pricing—including a free tier for smaller teams—and its mobile and third-party app integrations make it a versatile choice for organizations aiming to improve collaboration and decision-making across diverse work environments.
2
HubSpot Sales
5 / 5
HubSpot Sales stands out as a comprehensive tool that consolidates contact and deal management into one streamlined platform, allowing sales teams to efficiently track leads and tailor communications with precision. By automating routine tasks like follow-up emails and lead nurturing, it frees up sales professionals to concentrate on more strategic efforts while reducing the risk of overlooking important steps. Its powerful analytics provide detailed insights through customizable dashboards, helping businesses measure performance, anticipate revenue, and refine their sales tactics. Furthermore, the platform’s seamless integration with marketing and customer service enhances collaboration across departments, offering a complete perspective on each customer’s journey.
ConnectWise PSA is presented as a professional services automation solution engineered to streamline service delivery for organizations of varying sizes. This software offers a unified platform designed to support essential business operations, aiming to reduce administrative burdens while promoting operational efficiency. With its dynamic and adaptable design, ConnectWise PSA aspires to simplify complex workflows and optimize service management. For prospective users exploring professional services automation tools, this solution presents a noteworthy option that emphasizes ease of use and integrated process management.
Toast is a restaurant POS solution designed to streamline operations by integrating various aspects of service management into a single, efficient platform. Its intuitive design and multifaceted functionality work together to support restaurant workflows, from order management to payment processing, ensuring that every transaction is smooth and every customer interaction is optimized. With its flexible features, Toast positions itself as a robust contender in the restaurant technology space, appealing to businesses looking to enhance both operational flow and guest satisfaction.
Pipedrive stands out as a versatile CRM solution designed to simplify and optimize sales workflows by automating routine tasks like lead distribution, follow-up scheduling, and deal tracking. Its high level of customization allows businesses to shape sales pipelines and data fields to suit their specific needs, accommodating a wide range of industries and company sizes. By consolidating customer information and communications through integrations with common email and calendar tools, Pipedrive enhances team collaboration and reduces the hassle of juggling multiple platforms. Furthermore, the platform’s clear visual pipeline offers sales teams an intuitive way to oversee deal progress and quickly spot any obstacles in the sales process.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is SalesForce CRM Sales Cloud?
Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud is a digital sales platform that is part of Salesforce's Customer 360 suite. It offers various tools for sales engagement, team collaboration, sales enablement, sales analytics, and performance management.
What are the recent enhancements in SalesForce CRM Sales Cloud?
Recent enhancements include timing control for cadence steps, expanded language support in Einstein Conversation Insights, advanced reporting, and new revenue-intelligence features like the Sales Rep Command Center and Einstein Account Management.
How much does SalesForce CRM Sales Cloud cost?
Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud offers five pricing plans: Starter ($25 per user/month), Professional ($80 per user/month), Enterprise ($165 per user/month), Unlimited ($330 per user/month), and Unlimited+ ($500 per user/month). All plans are billed annually.
What sets SalesForce CRM Sales Cloud apart from other CRM platforms?
Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud stands out due to its comprehensive feature set, recent enhancements, strong revenue intelligence tools, integration with Slack for enhanced collaboration, and extensive customization and integration capabilities.
What are the pros and cons of using SalesForce CRM Sales Cloud?
Pros include comprehensive tools for sales processes, detailed customer information dashboards, automation of administrative tasks, strong integration capabilities, and a customizable user interface. Cons include high costs as the user base grows, the need for consistent training due to software updates, limited mobile customization, and a complex pricing model that may not suit small businesses.
What core features does SalesForce CRM Sales Cloud offer?
Core features include sales automation, sales engagement, sales team productivity tools (including Slack integration), collaborative forecasts, and a standardized product-to-order process. These features aim to streamline sales operations and increase revenues.
What types of businesses use SalesForce CRM Sales Cloud?
Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud is adaptable to various industries, including automotive, communications, consumer goods, education, energy and utilities, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, media, nonprofits, government, retail, and technology. It is particularly suitable for large enterprises with over 1,000 employees.
What are some alternatives to SalesForce CRM Sales Cloud?
Alternatives include Hubspot Sales Hub, Freshsales, Salesloft, Zoho CRM, and Nutshell. Each offers different features and pricing plans that may better suit certain business needs.
Is SalesForce CRM Sales Cloud suitable For small businesses?
While Salesforce CRM Sales Cloud offers a robust set of features, its high costs and complexity may make it less suitable for small businesses. Smaller organizations may benefit more from alternatives like Hubspot Sales Hub or Zoho CRM, which offer more cost-effective solutions.
What benefits does SalesForce CRM Sales Cloud offer to sales teams?
Benefits include automated sales tasks, collaborative and organized selling through Slack integration, optimized product-to-order processes, and enhanced team productivity and performance monitoring. The platform's AI capabilities also provide actionable insights to support sales activities.
In evaluating SaaS software, a comprehensive and structured methodology
ensures a fair and accurate comparison across key metrics.
This approach focuses on the most critical aspects that affect user
experience, functionality, and business value.
The following metrics—general features, cost, customer service, integrations,
and mobile support—are evaluated to provide a holistic
view of each software solution’s strengths and weaknesses. These metrics
are selected based on their direct impact on software
usability, scalability, and long-term effectiveness for businesses.
General Features (40%)
This metric evaluates the core functionalities and tools the software offers.
It involves assessing the comprehensiveness of
the features, their relevance to the target users, and the ease of use.
This is important because robust and well-designed
features determine the software’s overall utility
and efficiency in solving user problems.
Cost (15%)
Cost analysis focuses on pricing models, value for money, and scalability.
It’s crucial to evaluate whether the software’s
features justify its price, considering different plans for small and
large organizations. This is vital for businesses to
ensure they invest in cost-effective solutions that fit their budget.
Customer Service (15%)
This evaluates the responsiveness, quality, and availability of customer
support, including channels like chat, email,
or phone. Good customer service is essential for troubleshooting and
ensuring smooth software usage, which reduces downtime
and frustration for users.
Integrations (15%)
This examines how well the software integrates with third-party tools
(e.g., CRM, payment systems, collaboration apps).
Seamless integrations are key for creating a unified workflow and
enhancing productivity by connecting multiple systems,
which is crucial for operational efficiency.
Mobile Support (15%)
Mobile support assesses the software’s functionality and performance on
mobile devices, including apps and mobile web versions.
With increasing remote work and on-the-go usage, strong mobile
support is critical to ensure users can access and utilize
the software effectively, regardless of location.