Sitecore for the Salesforce Team

Websites are traditionally "owned" by the marketing team but sales revenue can potentially explode if marketing concedes some ground to the sales team. "Sacrilege, not in my lifetime" I hear marketers say but relax, it's only a few minor concessions.

The Case

For ten years, FuseIT has been introducing innovative features that let sales reps leverage Sitecore analytics and personalization through Salesforce. Core to this is S4S, a "bi-partisan" integration beneficial to both sales and marketing. Liz Spranzani SVP of Technology at Verndale described these advanced features in a recent article describing S4S “… as an alternative to Sitecore Connect for Salesforce CRM, although to compare the two is like comparing apples to … maybe an apple orchard.”

So why is FuseIT’s Sitecore to Salesforce integration such a useful tool, why is it an apple orchard? Because it surfaces key sales intelligence and creates a whole new communication channel to the prospect. Consider an example:

1. Kim arrives on the website for the first time and starts exploring
2. Sitecore tracks her behavior and stores her browsing analytics
3. She submits a web form expressing interest in Product A
4. S4S populates a Salesforce lead with the form data and Kim's analytics
5. In Salesforce, Dave reviews the lead record to prepare for a sales call
6. Dave sees that Kim has visited several pages including looking at Product B, an advanced version of Product A
7. Dave phones Kim. He pastes a URL into a custom field in Kim's Salesforce record. The URL is to a hidden page showing monthly payments for Product B
8. Dave tells Kim to click on a link on the website page footer. The link opens the payment schedule
9. Kim is excited and places an order for Product B
10. Dave sets values in Salesforce that S4S pushes to the Sitecore personalization engine
11. If Kim returns to the website she will experience friendlier targeted content and Dave will get a notification she has returned

Passing Sitecore visitor analytics to Salesforce provides the reps with real intelligence they can actually use. During sales calls, reps can populate links on the website directly from Salesforce so they can take prospects on a journey - similar to delivering a presentation. Showing local, hidden, or external web pages means the discussion can be visually augmented, showing the likes of:

• Product detail pages
• FAQ’s and support information
• Specifications, warranties, legal documents
• Pages on other websites
• A calendar to discuss appointment times
• A map to discuss locations, journey times, and parking

Of course, these features even work when the website visitor is completely anonymous.

The Concessions

So does the marketing team need to relinquish to achieve these benefits? Very little, and potentially no visual changes to normal website visitors. The key requirements are:

1. S4S with the Personalization and S4S Now modules (installed in Sitecore and Salesforce)
2. Some potentially hidden Sitecore landing pages that help the sales team get prospects over the line
3. For Sitecore personalization, various content versions as required. Some Sitecore rules are needed to render the required content based on xDB facet values (which are set from Salesforce) 

The Conclusion

By viewing the sales funnel holistically and softening the demarcation boundaries between the sales and marketing teams, we can strengthen the sales pipeline and deliver greater returns to the business as a whole.

For high-value product sales, or where businesses speak to their prospects, customers, or partners, S4S provides powerful (and unique) features to augment these conversations. If you want to learn more about how we integrate Sitecore with Salesforce, please contact us for more information.