Salesforce Updates Sales Cloud for the New Era of Remote Selling

The recent pandemic has fundamentally altered work practices, particularly within sales teams. In response, Salesforce has unveiled a series of updates to its Sales Cloud platform this morning.

Introducing Salesforce Meetings

A key component of these updates is Salesforce Meetings, a sophisticated overlay designed for use with Zoom meetings. This tool provides sales representatives with real-time information and guidance during interactions with prospective clients in a virtual setting.

Bill Patterson, EVP and general manager of CRM applications at Salesforce, emphasized the company’s objective to enhance sales team performance in these evolving digital interactions.

The Shift to Digital Sales

“There’s widespread acknowledgement, extending beyond Salesforce, that the sales landscape has undergone a permanent transformation,” Patterson stated. “It’s become clear that we can achieve significant effectiveness regardless of physical location – whether in an office or remotely.”

Salesforce Meetings delivers a layer of contextual information, offering suggestions such as adjusting speaking pace or providing details about the current speaker.

Action Item Management and Follow-Up

Furthermore, the tool automatically compiles action items and generates a To Do list for all meeting participants, ensuring crucial tasks are not overlooked.

Leveraging Einstein AI

This functionality is powered by the Einstein intelligence layer, integrated throughout the Salesforce platform. Specifically, it utilizes a new capability called Einstein Conversation Insights.

This new tool is also being offered to developers as a feature, enabling them to create custom solutions leveraging its capabilities.

Customizable Information Levels

Sales professionals can adjust the confidence level of the information provided by the tool, tailoring it to their individual preferences and needs. This allows for a customized experience, ranging from detailed insights to minimal assistance.

Current and Future Integrations

Currently, Salesforce Meetings integrates seamlessly with Zoom, facilitated by close collaboration with the Zoom development team and the provision of necessary API and SDK tooling.

Plans are underway to expand compatibility to include WebEx and Microsoft Teams in the near future.

Pipeline Inspection: AI-Powered Sales Analysis

While development began before the pandemic, the urgency for features like Salesforce Meetings was accelerated by COVID-19. Alongside this, Salesforce also announced Pipeline Inspection, a feature utilizing AI to analyze the sales pipeline.

This tool identifies changes in deals over time, pinpointing those that would benefit most from coaching or managerial intervention to ensure successful closure.

Industry Perspective on CRM Evolution

Brent Leary, founder and principal analyst at CRM Essentials, highlighted the transformative impact of these features on the CRM landscape.

“What particularly stood out is the tight integration of video meetings and collaboration tools into the sales process,” Leary explained. “This is compelling because meeting interactions, which might previously have been lost, are now automatically captured within the CRM system.”

Availability

Salesforce Meetings is available for use today, while Pipeline Inspection is slated for release this summer.