Welcome to the Apprivo Seven Reasons series. For the next few weeks, I’ll hone in on a specific Apprivo product and provide 7 reasons why it delivers unrivaled Salesforce enhancements and business results. Why 7? Because I’m feeling lucky.

Our topic today—Apprivo Dynamic Record Allocator.

#7 You can accelerate record allocation

When it comes to automating record assignment, many businesses put all their attention on front-end allocation rules. But most don’t consider what actions to take if records are not acted on by the assignee or how to allocate between different types of users. With Apprivo Dynamic Record Allocator, these … Continue Reading

Welcome to part 3 of the Apprivo Seven Reasons series. For the next few weeks, I’ll hone in on a specific Apprivo product and provide 7 reasons why it delivers unrivaled Salesforce enhancements and business results. Why 7? Because my laptop battery will die before I get to 10.

Our topic today—Apprivo Portal Publisher

#7 You can keep content so fresh and so clean (clean)

Salesforce Portals can’t realize their full potential if they’re filled with out-of-date information. Apprivo Portal Publisher gives you the tools to make sure your content is always fresh.

#6 You can do it all by yourself

… Continue Reading

Welcome to the Apprivo Seven Reasons series. For the next few weeks, I’ll hone in on a specific Apprivo product and provide 7 reasons why it delivers unrivaled Salesforce enhancements and business results. Why 7? Because top 10 lists are so last year.

Our topic today—Apprivo Dynamic Public Groups.

#7 You can share without the scare

While sharing information with your employees, partners, and customers is an important Salesforce capability, you can’t risk sharing the wrong information with the wrong people. With Apprivo Dynamic Public Groups, you won’t have to.

#6 You can manage without the…head bandage…

Manual Public Group management can … Continue Reading

Building customer and partner portals in-house is a lot like that model airplane project you started with Dad—it seemed like a good idea at the time, but was ultimately a lot more work and less fun than either of you expected.

A recent IDC study, which you can read in full here, found that participants experienced five key benefits when building custom enterprise applications on the Force.com platform, compared to traditional in-house development. Continue Reading

In a tough economy, gaining new customers can be a daunting task. For a lot of businesses, it may be next to impossible. That’s why keeping the customers you have—and keeping them satisfied—is now more important than ever.

A recent report from Forrester details the importance of customer service in a down economy. In the report, senior analyst Natalie Petouhoff accurately identifies four ways customer service impacts revenue:

1.    A good customer experience boosts repurchase probability and long-term loyalty
2.    Poor service leads a customer to defect
3.    A lackluster interaction may lead to lost opportunities
4.    Bad experiences also result in hidden … Continue Reading

Quiz time. You want to minimize channel conflict and improve sales alignment. What’s the best way to do that?

If you answered “Named Accounts,” then you’re absolutely right.

But named accounts aren’t a native feature of Salesforce. That means, in order to use named accounts, you’ll have to develop distinct lead assignment rules for every desired account. Even with a medium volume of accounts, this process will quickly become unmanageable.

Quiz time, part two. Is there an easier, more manageable way to apply a named accounts approach to Salesforce?

If you said “Yes,” well, don’t be too proud of yourself—it was a 50/50 shot.

With … Continue Reading

Recently I was in a sales cycle with a prospect that had already made the decision to use Salesforce for their 20 sales people, but was unsure about which version of Salesforce they needed based on their business requirements.

They were trying to decide between the Professional and Enterprise Editions. They felt that their needs were basic and were therefore inclined towards the Professional Edition. At a high level they needed:
•    Basic lead and opportunity management
•    Account and contact management
•    Reporting and dashboards

They asked me as the implementation partner which factors they should consider in their selection.

My advice was to approach … Continue Reading

When designing a deal registration system on Salesforce, is it best to use the lead or opportunity object? The answer is: it depends. There are a number of factors to consider when determining which object to use. Consequently, this seemingly simple question has generated a lot of confusion and debate.

To help guide your decision, we’ve indentified the top five factors to consider when determining whether leads or opportunities offer a better starting point for your deal registration system.

Who Approves Deal Registrations?

The question of who approves deal registrations impacts the decision of whether to use leads or opportunities. Let’s … Continue Reading