The digital age is causing rapid development in how businesses address their customer relations. Now, with a click of a button, a company can find out if their product has been well received by consumers.
Although likes and comments are important to a company’s growth, customer engagement can still make or break a brand. So, how do you get maximum engagement in an age where you have more data than actual customers?
This is why businesses in many industries use cloud service software such as Salesforce. If business careers and tech jobs are of interest to you, then keep reading our article to learn the skills you need to get a job using Salesforce. Our guide will fill you in on how you can study Salesforce using online courses, free resources, and books.
What Is Salesforce?
Salesforce is an American cloud computing software as a service (SaaS) program. It helps businesses stay connected with their customers, prospects, partners, and employees. The platform specializes in customer relationship management (CRM) and improving customer interactions.
This SaaS helps businesses improve their marketing, sales, commerce, and service techniques using data science and analytics. Salesforce’s CRM products are all centralized on one platform. So, both your company’s customer service and management teams will have access to the same customer data.
Salesforce’s CRM product is used by businesses of all sizes, but it is especially popular among mid-sized businesses. Besides its use in managing customers, it also helps companies increase their productivity and efficiency.
The fact that the software is stored and accessed on the cloud means you can use it from anywhere in the world.
Types of Salesforce Clouds and Their Uses
Salesforce refers to each of its features as an individual cloud. An optimal CRM product utilizes user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design to enhance business performance. A variety of Salesforce apps can be used in conjunction to create an effective CRM product. Below are the main types of Salesforce cloud solutions.
Sales Cloud
The sales cloud enhances a company’s sales process. It provides a business with all the information needed to successfully collaborate, close deals, and sell as a team.
This cloud includes features such as sales data, lead management sales forecasting, and account and contact management. These sales features are crucial for helping businesses succeed.
Additionally, the sales cloud has options to share customer experience data on company dashboards.
Service Cloud
This cloud is intended to help businesses offer world-class customer service. The main aim of this cloud is to ensure customer satisfaction.
This particular cloud includes a 24/7 call center and online response features that enable a customer service team to easily address customers’ comments and concerns.
Teams are provided with all the necessary data they need to ensure they can respond to customers quickly. This cloud also provides tools to increase employee productivity.
Marketing Cloud
The marketing cloud helps a company’s marketing team send the right content to the customer at the right time. The main purpose of this cloud is to turn prospective buyers into dedicated customers.
Some of the marketing features include email, text, and voicemail marketing, which can be used to create personalized content for each customer.
This cloud can also be used to build effective marketing campaigns. These campaigns can be broadcast on the Web, radio, magazine, or television to generate leads. The platform also has tools to improve a business’s social media marketing, marketing automation, and Web content management.
Community Cloud
Community interactions are an important extension of Salesforce. Salesforce offers Community Cloud features including branding, business integration, mobility, and personalization.
The community cloud brings customers, partners, employees, and prospective customers together to build a community that can boost business growth. For example, customers can communicate with each other by leaving reviews and comments online about a specific product. This feature helps businesses build trust among consumers.
Analytics Cloud
Data is a powerful asset for businesses. It is used to predict customer behavior and make personalized suggestions.
Analytics Cloud helps businesses make quicker and smarter decisions by analyzing large amounts of customer data. This cloud also features eCommerce solutions.
Businesses use this analyzed data to create unique online shopping experiences for their customers, which maximizes online sales.
Mobile App Cloud
Salesforce also offers a mobile app development cloud. These can be used to create both employee and customer-facing mobile apps. This app will then integrate a company’s data from the Web and mobile application.
Internet of Things (IoT) Cloud
The IoT cloud is used to store and process data that is shared by physical devices while they are connected to the Internet. The IoT cloud collects and combines data from your devices, websites, and applications to enable real-time responses.
Salesforce Skills
To excel as a Salesforce developer or administrator, you are expected to have technical and business management skills. You can choose to specialize in any of the cloud programs, but there are some basic overall skills you will need to succeed in Salesforce.
Business Skills
The main goal of Salesforce is to improve business performance, so you must have business analysis skills. You may want to take a business bootcamp or course to learn how to become a business analyst before you focus on Salesforce.
You can brush up on how to use data to enhance sales, learn general marketing techniques, and study cost-effective practices.
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Project management skills are also beneficial for Salesforce professionals. It is essential to be knowledgeable about the industry you work in and to possess the skills to efficiently manage projects.
CRM Skills
Salesforce requires CRM skills. Salesforce consultants need to know how to improve a business’s CRM using the program’s cloud. One way to work on these skills is by learning SaaS. Some core CRM skills include data management, user interaction management, security analysis, and actionable reporting.
Technical Skills
Technical skills are key to mastering Salesforce. The more technical aspects of the software include database management, security, and compliance.
You may want to learn APIs to start acquiring technical knowledge. Salesforce requires a combination of tech skills, and business, leadership, and project management skills to improve a company’s productivity.
Learning Salesforce
As a leading CRM product worldwide, Salesforce is a good product to learn if you want to put your skills in business and technology to use.
Salesforce is used across many industries including education, retail, and health care. With Salesforce, you can pursue a career as a sales cloud developer, administrator, consultant, business analyst, to name a few. You can learn this cloud-based software through books, online courses, videos, and other resources.
How Long Does It Take to Learn Salesforce?
It’s difficult to nail down the amount of time it takes to learn Salesforce. Some say it takes a couple of weeks, while it may take other people months to learn. It depends on your effort and your skill set when you start studying. The process will be quicker for those who already possess business and technical skills.
The type of learning resource you choose will also determine the time frame, but taking online courses and exploring Web resources is a good way to get started.
How to Learn Salesforce: Step-by-Step
- Learn business and technology basics. The first step is to acquire a background in business and technology. You can take a course in business management to get started.
- Learn the basics of Salesforce administration. Enroll in Salesforce training courses. You must first learn all about Salesforce administrative duties. You can then take courses in other Salesforce careers.
- Practice. Practice what you have learned until you feel you have mastered it. If you don’t want to pay for the Salesforce software, there is a free version you can use to get hands-on experience.
- Earn certifications. Once you are confident with what you’ve learned, take a certification exam. Certifications are essential for job eligibility.
- Apply for jobs. Now, it is time to apply for Salesforce jobs that pique your interest. There are many job categories you can choose from, based on your certifications.
The Best Salesforce Courses, Books, and Other Resources
Learning anything new has become a lot easier due to the Internet. There are a plethora of resources available to help you acquire new skills that will lead to a successful career, such as Salesforce.
You can enroll in online courses, watch video tutorials, read a book, or view additional Salesforce resources online. Below is a list of the best classes on Salesforce.
Best Online Salesforce Courses and Training
Many people turn to the Web for learning opportunities. There are plenty of online tools and resources you can use to learn Salesforce.
Beginning Salesforce Administration
- Provider: PluralSight
- Prerequisites: None
- Time: Self-Paced
- Cost: $29 per month / $179 per year
This introductory course by PluralSight covers the essentials of Salesforce administration. In it, you will learn admin basics, such as how to set up and configure a business.
You will also learn how to manage users and products, and ensure the best security practices. This is a great course to get started on your Salesforce journey. Pluralsight also offers a free trial if you do not want to pay for the course at first.
Learning Salesforce
- Provider: LinkedIn Learning
- Prerequisites: None
- Time: Self-paced
- Cost: $29.99 per month / $299.88 per year
LinkedIn learning offers great resources for learning technical and software skills. In this concise beginners’ course, you will learn customization with Salesforce, the differences between leads and opportunities, and how to set up an account team.
It also covers how to convert leads into opportunities and run reports. LinkedIn learning also offers a free one-month trial.
Salesforce Trailhead 2020- Admin Beginner- Starting Point
- Provider: Udemy
- Prerequisites: None
- Time: 11 hours
- Cost: $9.99
Udemy offers many great Salesforce courses, so we have included another. This on-demand video course is offered in conjunction with Trailhead. It will teach you basic navigation of the platform, as well as data modeling, and data management.
This in-depth beginner course will also teach you how to customize the mobile app cloud. You will earn a certification at the end of the course.
Best Free Online Salesforce Resources
It’s always a good feeling to learn a skill for free. Luckily, we have found two fantastic free online resources you can use to learn Salesforce.
Salesforce
- Provider: YouTube
- Prerequisites: None
- Cost: Free
- Time: Self-paced
The Salesforce YouTube channel is a treasure trove of useful videos that cover all aspects of the CRM software. These are broken down into specific Salesforce video channels based on particular skills so you can choose your area of specialization. These courses are useful for all experience levels.
Salesforce Platform Basics
- Provider: Trailhead
- Prerequisites: None
- Cost: Free
- Time: 50 minutes
Trailhead offers free Salesforce modules you can use to study the basics and learn how to customize cloud features.
The courses also come with quizzes that will add points to your account if you answer questions correctly. These will also prepare you for certification exams.
Best Salesforce Books
We are well aware that some people prefer learning through books. So, below are some of the best Salesforce books you browse as you get started with the software.
Salesforce for Beginners: A step-by-step guide to creating, managing, and automating sales and marketing processes. Sharif Shaalan
As the name states, this book is a beginner’s guide to using CRM products with Salesforce cloud features. Shaalan will teach you the basics of Salesforce administration, how to use it to set up mobile apps, and how to leverage the cloud to increase business productivity.
Getting Started with Salesforce Einstein Analytics: A Beginner’s Guide to Building Interactive Dashboards. Johan Yu
For those interested in learning analytics with Salesforce, this book is for you. It teaches the basics of the Einstein analytics platform, how to manage datasets, and Salesforce Analytics Query Language. The book also details how to import data from Salesforce to Einstein analytics.
Beginning Salesforce Developer. Michael Wicherski
This book will teach you how to customize Salesforce’s developer tools to maximize productivity and how to create basic Apex triggers. This book is a good choice if you are interested in becoming a Salesforce developer.
Salesforce Certifications
Certifications are very important when applying for jobs, as they are the only way to prove your skill set. You can earn specific Salesforce certifications according to the professional role you want to pursue. Below are some of the main certifications you can shoot for to prove your Salesforce skills.
Administrator Certification
This Salesforce administrator certification will test your knowledge in customizing, managing users, and maximizing the cloud features.
Architect Certification
This certification will showcase your skills as a technical architect, domain specialist, or domain architect. You will need to prove your knowledge of application architecture and integration.
Developer Certification
The developer certification will test your design and software building skills. You will be required to know how to customize programs for optimal business use.
Marketer Certification
This certification proves your Salesforce marketing skills. You must know how to design and implement marketing content, such as email and text campaigns.
Consultant Certification
The consultant certification will prove your Salesforce consulting skills. You must know how to match a business’s needs with Salesforce cloud features to improve the company’s efficiency.
Should You Learn Salesforce?
Salesforce products offer efficient solutions to modern-day business problems. If you want to keep up with evolving business markets, You should learn Salesforce.
Besides helping your resume stand out, learning this commerce cloud software will equip you with practical technical skills. You can use this knowledge in everyday business transactions to keep customers happy. Start learning this skill today with some of the resources mentioned in this article.
About us: Career Karma is a platform designed to help job seekers find, research, and connect with job training programs to advance their careers. Learn about the CK publication.
