Whatever your personal opinion of the wide-reaching range of Salesforce may be, you can be sure that the way Salesforce managed to move the entire software industry to the Cloud was nothing short of revolutionary. That too since it was done in such a short span of time. But the answer to the question of how Salesforce managed to stand out from the rest lies in two aspects. First of all, all measures were taken to make sure that the product was exceptional and taken seriously right from the start, even if there was little to no enthusiasm with regard to how good the product appeared to be at that particular time.
Secondly, how Salesforce put its faith in the Cloud, especially at a time when it was virtually unheard of, is also something to be noted. Getting users excited about the Cloud and its products was the first and most vital step that needed to be taken. This, by itself, leads to the rise of various cloud products as well. Being the cloud leader, the Salesforce CRM works wonderfully to build better and more up-to-date products that were tailor-made to the needs of the users. With all this, one thing is for sure. And that is the fact that a great deal can be learned from the growth of Salesforce, especially if you are looking towards building your own product. Here are three key takeaways:-
How to Improve a Current Tool or Process
Secondly, the removal of any features that add more difficulty for your users is also key. By asking the right questions and evaluating how relevant they are to your product as of now, you will be able to create those features that are nothing but a benefit to your customers across the board.
Ways to Make Yourself More Valuable as Competition Increases
Having dealt with that, the release of certain free tools will automatically bring your product right in front of a wide audience. That way, they will be able to test it out and figure out its value for themselves.
The Meaning of Your Brand and How That Impacts Your ProductsÂ
With a well-defined brand, you can stand out from the rest of the competition and it will inform users on what to expect from the company. Key aspects like creating a spreadsheet to categorize value and the focus on qualitative answers from an NPS survey would be the ideal way to go about it.
At the end of the day, the overall journey of Salesforce tells us one thing. And that is the fact that one or two single tactics won’t do the trick in the long run, even if they happen to be good tactics. One needs to work on the different ways of executing said tactic just so that the emergence of a great strategy is guaranteed. That is the main point that marketers across the board need to keep in mind. Growth hacks and minor shortcuts towards this sort of success may work in the short term, but what is needed to make the likes of Salesforce a reality is a clearcut vision and a list of ways to make that vision a reality.
One of the main aspects that set Salesforce aside was the fact that they were always keen to project themselves as a lot more than just another CRM platform. The aspect of CRM did indeed give them the much-needed push into the market, but finding new ways to execute on cloud products is ultimately what made them successful over the course of a decade-and-a-half.