Last year, I attended my first Dreamforce—a spectacular conference that brings thousands of people within the Salesforce ecosystem to San Francisco each year. In between the epic events and action-packed sessions, it was the introduction of Einstein in the main keynote that kept me wondering how artificial intelligence will influence CRM.
From speech recognition to even purchase predictions from our favorite retailers, these cognitive technologies are only the tip of the iceberg. With so many possibilities out there, it is fitting that Salesforce has stepped up to the plate with its own version of artificial intelligence that interacts with end users directly in Salesforce. In order to understand how A.I. would power up Sales Cloud, I decided to dig deeper into the features that are available now:
#1 Predict and Prioritize
A lead marks the beginning of future customer interactions. Sales teams usually have a limited window to convert leads into customers. Sales users may be able to prioritize on their own, but with the Lead Scoring feature, leads are automatically scored based on a set of predictive factors. Salesforce Einstein will pick up conversion patterns over time, so with a larger dataset, users can expect to see more reliable scores. I see tremendous business value in this feature as it will transform lead pursuits to be more data-driven. With lead scores, Einstein arms sales users with the knowledge and tools to go out and be successful.
#2 Leverage External Information Internally
In this day and age, it is expected that organizations conduct some background research before engaging with a future customer, partner, distributor, etc. The Accounts Insights feature provides real-time news on their Salesforce accounts from trustworthy sources all within the Einstein component. Users will be able to see if their accounts are expanding through M&A activity as well as other key developments that they can share via Chatter and email. I see this feature being an integral part of data integrity since it keeps users in the loop and more focused as they are pursuing ongoing business opportunities with existing accounts.
#3 Position Sales for Success
Salesforce Einstein guides users from creation to the close of the deal quicker and more efficiently than before. With Opportunity Insights, users are able to access a list of Opportunities on a spectrum—some Opportunities that are likely to close and some Opportunities not likely to close soon. There are also a set of recommended actions for closing the deal depending on the data within the record. These insights are based on historical data, customer interactions, and current sales cycles. This feature empowers sales users with the best actions to take moving forward as they close more and more deals.
#4 Eliminate Manual Processes
Salesforce Einstein works seamlessly with your email and calendar as well through Automated Activity Capture and Recommended Follow-ups. These features eliminate tedious data entry so that users can focus on sales. Through Recommended Follow-ups, users get reminders on which customers they will need to follow-up with as well as what tasks they still have to complete. Automated Activity Capture takes the legwork out of adding emails and calendar events directly to Salesforce. I can only imagine how these capabilities will expand to help users chronicle daily interactions in the future.
Overall, I am quite impressed with the introductory Salesforce Einstein features for Sales Cloud. There are many ways to build upon this solid foundation of platform services and I look forward to future releases. I encourage readers to explore other features of Salesforce Einstein and how it can be integrated within your own Salesforce environment by exploring some of the recommended Salesforce Einstein for Sales links and resources below:
