Companies continue to make new investments in Salesforce as they realize the need for a system which not only unifies business processes, but allows for a seamless and data-rich experience when engaging with their customers.
If you are an executive sponsor of a company who has just invested in Salesforce, you might already be doing some number crunching to justify your investment from the very beginning.
Let’s put out the good news for you, you’re already in the right direction for becoming a data-driven organization!
Now that you have a Salesforce solution in place, your key decisions will be based on precise, quantifiable, and accurate data. Let’s be honest, implementing Salesforce is a costly investment, but the ROI is equally humongous. If you have doubts, why not check how Salesforce has worked for your industry peers and how it impacted their top-line?
There are several factors which contribute to achieving a strong ROI in terms of profit gains. For starters, we recommend you get your Salesforce implementation done right the first time. Hiring an expert Salesforce implementation partner will help you accomplish just that. Whether it‘s identifying what your new platform needs to do and how to bring about a cost effective solution for your business requirements, an implementation partner can play a pivotal role in getting maximum returns from your Salesforce investment.
Now what parameters do you use to measure your company’s Salesforce ROI? Before beginning you need to first recall your ‘why aspect’ which we have discussed in our blog ‘How to stay on top of your implementation plan’. Capturing baseline metrics before the implementation process will help you analyze your Salesforce ROI in the most effective manner post implementation.
You can start off by boiling down all quantitative benefits gathered from performance metrics across each department and then move to measuring qualitative benefits (which cannot be quantified),such as user adoption and customer happiness. Salesforce ROI is a genius mix of both,. So be mindful that even if you witness an increase in profit in the beginning, it will not last if there is no consistency in customer experience.
Performance Metrics by Departments
Sales
| Metrics | Description |
| Profit margin improvement | Is there an increase in profit margin? |
| Revenue improvement | Is there an increase in top-line revenue? |
| Win rate improvement | How many opportunities have converted to sale? |
| Opportunity size | Is there an increase in the average deal amount? |
| Sales cycle time | Is there a decrease in the average length of opportunity cycle? |
| Sales productivity | Is there an improvement in the amount of time spent on productive activities? |
| Reporting time | Is there a reduction in time spent on creating reports? |
| Forecast accuracy/ revenue visibility | What is the accuracy level of forecasts vs. actual revenues? |
| Sales content management | Is there an Improvement in publishing, managing and presenting sales content? |
Marketing
| Metrics | Description |
| Marketing campaign effectiveness | Is there an increase in the amount of pipeline generated through campaigns? |
| Lead volume | Is there an increase in total volume of inbound leads? |
| Lead conversion rate | Is there an increase in number of leads converted to sales opportunities? |
| Cost per lead | Is there a decrease in cost per lead? |
Service and Support
| Metrics | Description |
| First call resolution rate | Is there an increase in the number of cases successfully resolved in the first call? |
| Self-service case | Is there an increase in the number of cases deflected to self service customer portal? |
| Case resolution time | Is there a decrease in the amount of time taken to process a case? |
| Service/support cost reduction | Is there a decrease in overall cost of service/ support organization? |
| Customer retention | How better is the customer retention now?Is there a decrease in time taken for initial response? |
| Customer satisfaction | Is there an increase in overall customer satisfaction rate? |
| Customer responsiveness | Is there an increase in overall customer responsiveness? |
| New agent on-boarding time | Is there a decrease in training new agent? |
IT
| Metrics | Description |
| IT Costs( Support/admin, development, integration, infrastructure management, user training, upgrades) | What are the overall costs associated with IT? |
| Coding productivity | Is there an improvement in coding productivity? |
User Adoption Metrics
Although ROI is often measured in terms of numbers, the truth is, it is also based on indirect benefits like user adoption and the team’s accomplishments after enabling Salesforce. One of the largest impacts on Salesforce ROI is employee adoption. Bear in mind, Salesforce might be the magic elixir that powers up your entire business process, but at the end of the day, it’s only as good as the people who use it regularly. So as a company, you need to exercise due diligence while analyzing the impact of user adoption. The below mentioned metrics cannot be calculated on a balance sheet, but it is definitely an exercise worth pursuing.
- Improved data metrics and data quality
- Improved focus on business instead of technology
- Improved use of mobile devices to access work
- Support for organizational change
- Enhanced business Image
The Happiness Metrics
It is a given that most ROI reporting will be inclined to hardcore numbers like the increase in conversion rates, reduction in sales cycle, a growth in average deal sizes and so on. But it might also be a grave mistake to overlook how happy and comfortable your CRM users are with the brand new technology you have equipped them with. Your Salesforce ROI reporting will be incomplete if you fail to measure how your CRM users, most importantly your sales reps, feel.
One of the top reasons why user satisfaction metrics do not make its way to most ROI reports is its qualitative nature. However, the truth is that even the smallest hurdles that your sales reps and other CRM users face in accomplishing their day to day tasks can eventually snowball into an unshakable aversion to actively using the CRM.
Start with impromptu surveys – Is our CRM any good? OR The new CRM makes my job easier – Yes or No. A simple “go no-go” approach would be a good starting point. This way you will stay abreast on the user experience without having to deal with complex reporting mechanisms.
Wrapping Up
When measuring Salesforce ROI, you can determine profit by calculating your sales growth over a period of time against your overhead costs such as subscription, hardware cost, training etc. But do make sure you have solid data lined up to show the impact. Also as discussed earlier, Salesforce ROI is a combination of both profits gained and enhanced customer experience. So it won’t be a wise choice to measure the ROI in the first week of implementation!
When you have all these data in place, use this online tool to calculate your expected ROI out of Salesforce.
Like what you read? Why not read our ultimate Salesforce Implementation Guide?
Or if you are curious to find out more about how our Salesforce implementation services can help propel your business, let’s get in a 1:1 consultation straight away!