What is salesforce? 

Salesforce is one of the 1st global companies to successfully employ cloud-based CRM software and build various applications for businesses to better connect to their customers and give them critical insights into their services through analytics and apps. 

Salesforce makes easy-to-use cloud applications that help you stay connected with your customers, prospects, partners, etc.

It started in 1999 as Software as a Service (SaaS) CRM company.

“Salesforce is The #1 CRM(Customer Relationship Management) platform that enables businesses to sell, service & market.

From Fortune 500 companies to startups, everyone seems to be hopping on the Salesforce train.

Salesforce’s CRM essentially focuses on assisting companies with customer retention, keeping their customers happy, seeking out and executive customer acquisition, providing companies insights into their consumers, and much more. 

What is CRM?

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. CRM system helps manage customer data. It supports organizations build customer relationships and streamline processes to increase sales, improve customer service, and increase profitability.

It supports sales management, addresses actionable insights, integrates with social media, plus helps team communication.

CRM enables you to focus on your organization’s relationships with individual people, whether customers, colleagues, or suppliers. It is not just for sales. Some of the most significant gains in productivity can come from moving beyond CRM as a sales & marketing tool and planting it in your business – from HR to customer services and supply-chain management.

Why Should We Learn Salesforce?

Salesforce started as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company providing a CRM platform on the cloud.

Along with SaaS, Salesforce provides a platform where its clients can create their own applications. This is called Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS). Although most of Salesforce’s revenue comes through PaaS, SaaS is also used by many Fortune 500 companies.

Why is CRM Important?

CRM system can provide you with a clear overview of your customers. You can observe everything in one place — a simple, customizable dashboard that can tell you a customer’s history with you in a well-defined way.

You know that you need a strategy for the future if your business is going to last.

You’ll already have targets relating to sales, business objectives, and profitability. But getting up-to-date, reliable information on your progress towards your goals can be tricky. 

Translating many data streams from sales teams, customer service, marketers & our favorite social media can be an overwhelming task.

Here CRM helps make a go-to dashboard that is simple yet informative, making it easy for you to glide through your data.

What are the Benefits of CRM?

Introducing a CRM platform has many benefits which have been shown to produce real results – including immediate improvements to the bottom line. 

CRM applications have a proven track record of increasing:

  • Sales by up to 37%
  • Sales Productivity by up to 44%
  • Forecast accuracy by 48%

(Source)

The Role of Salesforce, CRM & the Cloud Computing Revolution

The most significant recent development in CRM systems has been the move to cloud computing.

Salesforce is the #1 to implement a cloud-based CRM software successfully. As a cloud-based service, Salesforce profits on the benefit of data storage & ease of accessibility from anywhere to represent a consumer base. 

Cloud-based software allows businesses to track live data, community reviews, and manage analytics from anywhere and continually update speed and accuracy.

Salesforce hosts many different cloud platforms that let businesses communicate with their customers in various capacities. 

Also, Salesforce has been implementing artificial intelligence (AI) into their Einstein platform, which helps interpret the analytics workflow and deliver more precise forecasting, among other advantages. 

According to Salesforce, businesses that use the software notice increases in various areas, including an average 27% rise in sales revenues, a 32% jump in lead conversion, a 34% increase in customer satisfaction, and a 56% faster deployment. 

Cloud-based CRM offers:

  • More agile deployment
  • Automatic software updates
  • Cost-effectiveness and scalability
  • The ability to work from anywhere, on any device
  • Enhanced collaboration

Is a Salesforce certification worth it?

Salesforce is the most widely used CRM SaaS platform. Salesforce certification is an excellent way to go ahead by demonstrating your skills on one of the hottest CRM platforms. 

There’s a good demand for certified professionals who can run Salesforce’s software effectively, as it is one of the largest providers of cloud-based CRM systems.

According to burning glass, Jobs that ask Salesforce skills pay on average more than $70,000 per year, with Salesforce developers demanding $100,000 on average, according to Burning Glass.

How to pick your Salesforce role?

When it comes to Salesforce, you can choose from a wide variety of job functions as shown below:

1. What is Salesforce Administrator Role?  This certification has been created to certify your potential to effectively configure as well as manage sales and service cloud applications. The credentials are further classified into two levels: 

  • Salesforce Certified Administrator – The certificate authenticates the professional’s skills to customize Salesforce, manage users, configure the platform, and explore innovative methods to maximize the benefits from the current features and capabilities of the Salesforce platform.

Related Blog: Salesforce Admin Preparation Tips

  • Salesforce Certified Advanced Administrator – This is the second level Admin certification and specifically meant for professionals with experience, assessing their ability to use Salesforce’s advanced administration capabilities, such as proficiency in dashboards, preparing advanced reports, and automation processes.

2. What is Salesforce Architect Role? – Salesforce offers three levels of certifications for architects:

  • Salesforce Certified Application Architect – You need to possess advanced knowledge of native Salesforce features and functionalities. Also, you should be able to model a role hierarchy, data model, and the appropriate sharing mechanisms.
  • Salesforce Certified System Architect – The credential involves the evaluation of skills in system testing, governance, and integration with other external systems within the organization.
  • Salesforce Certified Technical Architect – This one needs you to invest a considerable amount of time, effort, and money into earning this credential, besides extensive experience, huge technical know-how, and presentation skills.

3. What is Salesforce Developer’s Role? This certification testifies a developer’s skill in performing extreme customization of CRM applications. Again, it’s categorized into 3 levels:

  • Salesforce Certified Commerce Cloud Digital Developer – Here, the candidate would be evaluated for their skill and relevant knowledge in using the Commerce Cloud Digital Platform to develop an eCommerce solution for the clients.
  • Salesforce Certified Platform Developer 1 – Ideal for the more experienced developers, gaining this credential is proof to your employer that you have what it takes to build custom declarative and programmatic applications on the force .com platform.

Related Blog: Salesforce PD1 Preparation Guide

  • Salesforce Certified Platform Developer II – This test is meant to validate one’s advanced knowledge in the field of data modeling as well as coding capabilities of the force .c platform. A developer’s skills to create complex business logic and interfaces using the said platform are put to test as part of this credential.

4. What is Salesforce Marketers Role?

 This is designed for professionals who can demonstrate exemplary email marketing practices. The certification would assist you to improve your marketing potential using the Cloud application.

Related Blog: Salesforce Marketing Cloud Preparation Guide

5. What is a Salesforce Consultant role? 

This course has been created for Implementation Experts who are involved in the design and application of solutions in their particular area of expertise. There are a total of 9 levels of certifications offered for consultants in this field. 

salesforce certifications

Related Blog: Preparation Guide for Salesforce Marketing Cloud

How many certifications are there in Salesforce?

Administrators

Architects

Consultants

Related Blog: Salesforce Service Cloud Preparation Guide

Developers

Related Blog: Salesforce JavaScript Developer Preparation Guide

Marketers

Confused about how to choose your next certification? 

We backed you up!

Reviewnprep came up with a Career Journyey tool that helps you decide which certification is best suited for you and that too in straightforward steps.

You need to follow the below steps to make the most of the career-journey feature:

Step 1: Select your difficulty level

Step 2: Select the available roles applicable or your area of interest

You can check the tool for Salesforce certification here

Career journey tool for your learning path:

salesforce career journey

Who is ReviewNprep, and how is it helping you in your Salesforce journey?

Review N Prep came into existence from our struggles to get the right answers when preparing for certifications in our areas of interest.

There is a lot of information scattered on the internet, and with so many resources, it became hard to navigate and read through it all. 

We have a dedicated community of certified professionals focused on helping out beginners as well as working professionals.

This group of individuals have gone through their own certification journeys and are working with us to help us keep the reviews and our website genuine, authentic, and always fresh.

Our mission is to help fellow future ‘certificants’ make optimal use of their time and resources. We spend quality time reaching out to our reviewers and ensuring that the reviews are always helpful. 

Our Preparation Journeys are contributed by certified Salesforce professionals aka community members to help each other – You can be a part of it as well!

Have questions? Participate in Salesforce discussions on our Forums. Click hczere.

For all the Salesforce Practice exams, Real Exam like questions, Timed Quiz, Detailed Explanations and support on answers, check out our Marketplace.