Salesforce Sales Cloud Reviews

“Pipeline and analytics”

Pros

Working with this platform in a larger business setting, I saw how well it handled strong sales and service needs inside one connected system. I was only one member of a much bigger team but the ability to track a deep prospect pipeline and use the available tools to capture, retrieve, act on and update records throughout a long sales cycle made me noticeably more effective and efficient with client time. It really leans into its sales, marketing and analytics features and overall those capabilities lived up to expectations. The drill-down options in the analytics dashboards were especially helpful. On top of that, being able to connect email conversations with prospects and quickly look back at the most recent interaction was extremely important.

Cons

One area that felt dated was the built-in messaging and communication tools which seemed archaic and were almost always bypassed in favor of the instant messaging and posting platforms our team already preferred. The layout of the data entry screens also felt strangely spaced and arranged so the flow for capturing information was not ideal. That said, the platform clearly offered strong workflow automation and flexible custom field setup. I also don't think my company invested enough time in figuring out the best way to use the system. Because of that, I'd strongly recommend defining your processes and standards well in advance so you can get the most out of it.

“Costly and overly technical”

Pros

There is great functionality here but really only if your team has a developer or someone who is extremely tech-savvy. Compared with Pardot, it doesn't offer much of an advantage.

Cons

This feels like a legacy platform, expensive, complicated and difficult to learn or use to its full potential. Similar to Pardot, you basically need a developer or an implementation partner to build your campaigns properly since a lot of it comes down to coding.

“Sales and marketing value”

Pros

Getting this set up was very easy and having a cloud-based version included is a big plus. For most small and midsize companies and even some larger businesses, it covers pretty much all sales and marketing needs. It delivers a lot for the price so the overall value feels excellent. Customer support has also been outstanding.

Cons

Because the platform is so feature-rich and powerful, there is a bit of a learning curve at first. Aside from that, it offers nearly endless possibilities for a sales team.

“Reporting and dashboards”

Pros

Pulling data together from multiple sources is incredibly easy and that alone has been saving me hours every single day. The scalability is a huge plus and being able to share custom reports or borrow ones built by other users adds a lot of value. The dashboard is also really useful when I need a quick snapshot of everything.

Cons

Project management and move management tools feel a bit awkward. It takes going through too many different screens to follow the full life cycle of a record which can be frustrating.

“CRM with rich integrations”

Pros

When it comes to managing a customer base, this feels like the complete package. It's the best CRM I've used and I really appreciated how much data it could pull in from third-party SaaS tools like Tableau.

Cons

One downside is that it requires a lot of clicking. I understand that some of this can be adjusted by our admin but it still feels like it's missing useful shortcuts.

“Built-in ad safeguards”

Pros

One thing that really helped was how it tightened up our ad operations workflow while putting guardrails in place during campaign setup. A task would only show up in our queue once a lot of required conditions were satisfied which from a process perspective kept everything disciplined and buttoned up. It also helped prevent us from taking on too much whenever those constraints were not met.

Cons

Honestly, I don't have many complaints. If anything, there are just so many tools available in the platform that it's hard to find enough time to learn and use everything. More training around pulling truly insightful and meaningful data would probably make it even better.

“Versatile and widely used”

Pros

Working with SF regularly has made me appreciate just how adaptable it is and that versatility along with how widely it's used is probably what I value most.

Cons

It's a massive product but the part that frustrates me is reporting. It can be tricky to really get the hang of and it still feels limited at times. A lot of the time, it's actually simpler to export the data and manipulate or present it in a third-party tool like Excel. That said, I assume they're mostly focused on their core strengths.

“Disconnected leadership issues”

Pros

It fits in nicely with the broader CRM which is one part that works well for us.

Cons

As an SME, we're rolling it out across every part of the core business so this is a major long-term investment for us. Because of that, we expected that when problems came up, a global CRM leader would have proper systems in place to support customers instead of acting like our concerns aren't being heard. We've spent a huge amount of time on calls, emails and then more follow-up calls and emails trying to get attention. The account managers themselves are good people but they don't seem to have the ability to escalate issues quickly to management and they also appear to be insufficiently trained on the Marketing Cloud offering. Overall, it feels like our case just disappears inside a large company with a disconnected hierarchy, almost like dealing with a government department from the 1980s.

“Strong automation but tricky email setup”

Pros

The reporting is powerful and there's a lot of flexibility when it comes to customizing fields, triggers and how those fields depend on each other. The API, integrations and APEX classes add even more depth and Process Builder is a really nice way to automate repetitive tasks.

Cons

At the same time, its long history has made the platform very difficult to use even with the new version experience. The email integration is also poorly handled, they push Pardot for email features that come built into other CRMs and you still can't customize sender or reply-to addresses in automated emails or integrate properly with Apple Mail. Compared with something like HubSpot, that makes everyday use more frustrating. On top of that, the Customer Success team struggled to schedule a proper Pardot demo, repeatedly sending invites to the wrong person and in the wrong timezone and they also gave misleading details about our subscription renewal date and pricing.

“Cloud CRM platform”

Pros

Whether it's a standard business need or something highly specific, this platform covers a lot right out of the box with its point-and-click tools and when that's not enough, force.com makes it possible to build custom applications. It supports marketing, sales, service and field service clouds so it can handle a wide range of business operations in one place. It's also one of the fastest-growing and most powerful CRM platforms out there and being cloud-based is a huge plus. Pricing is tied to the number of user licenses which makes it practical and it does an excellent job of automating business processes.

Cons

After working in the IT industry, I honestly haven't come across any real drawbacks. The development support is so extensive that if a client or business requirement can't be managed through the standard features, it can usually still be built on the same platform.

“Flexible tools and smart integration”

Pros

Right away, the range of tools, reporting options and the account/contact hierarchy stood out to me. Being able to add fields and customize things made it even better and the entire suite of IT Cloud products works really well together.

Cons

One downside is how much the system depends on users entering information correctly. If that doesn't happen, opportunities can show up as "won" even when the revenue never actually came through or the order wasn't really completed. The automated email logic can be a little complicated too which can end up creating loops of system notices.

“CRM with standout features”

Pros

Honestly, I haven't come across another CRM on the market that matches how powerful this one is. Some clients have even seen their sales increase tenfold after making it part of their daily workflow. From contact management and lead tracking to opportunity handling and mobile access, it really shows a deep understanding of what a CRM should do. The Trailhead program is also a big plus since it helps users, admins and developers build their skills quickly in a friendly and completely free environment.

Cons

On the development side some of the more advanced features can feel pretty intimidating especially for developers working with clients who have very specific requirements tied to the new version module. Aside from that, its core and intermediate features already cover most of what the average client needs and then some.

“Highly customizable and reliable”

Pros

One of the best things about it is how customizable it is. We can tailor it to match almost exactly what we need it to do and set up validation rules so things don't fall through the cracks.

Cons

As you build it out, you can run into errors that are sometimes hard to trace back to the source. That said, that's pretty much part of the trade-off when you have more advanced requirements.

“great tool”

Pros

Having all the important customer and client information in one fully integrated platform has been incredibly valuable. The amount of integrations this system supports is impressive and it opens up a level of feature and field customization I honestly did not expect. It does not feel like a closed-off system at all but more like a framework you can build out and tailor in whatever way works best for your company.

Cons

One downside is how long it can take to create customizations and even pulling up a basic field can be more complicated than it should be. The classic view is pretty awful and difficult to work with yet there are still times when the newer version view hides fields that are only available through the classic version.

“Dated interface and limited contract”

Pros

Its modular setup and customization options suggest it could support a wide range of use cases, at least in theory.

Cons

Interface feels awkward and outdated and it is not especially pleasant to work in. It also leans heavily on a sales-funnel style approach which did not feel useful or relevant alongside the health cloud features we planned to use for patient management. We quickly realized it was not going to fit our needs and never even launched it yet we are still locked into a three-year contract they will not let us exit.

“Connected ecosystem hub”

Pros

The biggest advantage here is how extensible the platform and ecosystem are. There's pretty much a tool or product available for everything and having SFDC at the center of our systems gives us one reliable source of truth.

Cons

Default UI feels a little awkward and the new version interface takes some time to get comfortable with. Moving data in and out of the system also isn't very easy so there's definitely some vendor lock-in.

“Reliable document control”

Pros

One of the most useful things about this software is how well it handles document control. Files are automatically saved by revision number which makes it simple to go back and review them for any needed time period. The revision number also updates during the review process so documents stay current without extra manual work. Its strongest purpose is definitely keeping documents organized and under control.

Cons

A downside is that an active workflow cannot be edited once it is in progress. There is also no way to fast-track a document when it becomes urgent or high priority. On top of that, if a document gets rejected at any stage, it is sent all the way back to stage 1 instead of allowing corrections to be made at the stage where the issue actually happened.

“simple and feature-packed”

Pros

Right from the start, the software felt simple and user-friendly. It offers a lot more functionality and runs faster than other tools I've used. One thing I really appreciated is that the stage and live environments are the same which makes everything much more consistent.

Cons

It would be really helpful to have a few built-in "how-to" guides inside the software itself but aside from that, I honestly don't have anything negative to add.

“Top-tier solution”

Pros

When it comes to CRM platforms, this one really sits at the top. If you want a high-value tool that gives you pretty much everything you need, it's definitely a strong choice.

Cons

The biggest downside is the price, really, the price. Even though it's one of the best CRM tools out there, getting all the best features comes with a pretty hefty cost. There are more stripped-down versions available but you end up missing out on some of the benefits.

“CRM with broad integrations”

Pros

After 3-4 years of using this CRM, I'm still impressed by how much it lets you do. The integration options with third-party apps like Google Sheets, UJET and Five9 are really useful and it supports just about any task needed to help customers day to day. It also stores a huge amount of information and the search functionality for people, products and other records works very well. Overall, it gives you what you need to get things done efficiently.

Cons

A few parts are still frustrating especially when it comes to duplicate records. The system doesn't clearly tell you how to resolve them so you have to manually go into the profile that owns the product or asset and remove it yourself before moving that asset to the correct account or profile. Some issues have improved over time but there are still a few areas that could use more polishing.