Salesforce is the global benchmark on the CRM software market. The solution is deployed in a great many companies in France and internationally. Knowing how to use Salesforce has almost become a must-have to join a sales team.
Salesforce is an excellent CRM platform but, from experience, it does not suit every company.
The aim of this article is to help you decide whether Salesforce is the CRM you need. Salesforce is one of the most complete CRMs out there, but it is not always the best fit for a relatively simple use case, and you will need an integrator and probably Salesforce consultants to see the project through. And the more stakeholders you add, the longer projects take, and the more they cost.
Salesforce has long been the CRM solution to beat. This pioneering platform stands out through an exceptional feature set, an ever-widening body of innovations including artificial intelligence, and how easily it connects to a long list of business applications such as Slack, Facebook Ads or resource management software.
That said, Salesforce adapts poorly to smaller organisations, mainly because of the implementation cost and the cost of the software itself.
What does Salesforce really cost?
There are 4 Salesforce plans, ranging from 25 euros per user per month to 300 euros. The Enterprise and Unlimited editions are the most complete options, but they target larger sales organisations.
Even though Salesforce is fairly flexible on price as the number of users grows, read the contract clauses closely, in particular the annual price increase and the termination terms.
Salesforce spells out the details of its various plans in this document.
| Features | Essentials | Professional | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lead generation | Lead management and email campaigns | Option to get Pardot as a paid add-on | AI-based lead management as a paid option |
| Customer and sales management | Contact and task management | Person accounts | Calendar All, sales console app, option to pay for AI |
| Mobile app and offline mode | Included | Included | Included |
| Sales administration | Quotes, contracts, orders, catalogues | Included | |
| Reporting | Customisable reports and dashboards | Same as the Essentials plan | Advanced customisation, option to pay for AI and Sales Analytics |
| Team collaboration tools | Included | Included | Included |
| Rolling Salesforce out to partners | Lead registration | Lightning Bolt as a paid option | |
| Process customisation | Lightning App Builder, AppExchange, unlimited business apps | Developer sandbox, 2 customisable profiles and page layouts | Lightning Platform, workflow automation, unlimited customisable profiles and page layouts |
| Integrations | Outlook, Inbox desktop apps, Google Apps | Lightning Sync | Web services API |
| Salesforce support | Standard Success Plan, unlimited online training, online cases | Option to pay for a 24/7 phone line, for Premier resources, or for developer support | Same as the Professional plan |
Beyond licence costs, a number of other costs come into play when implementing Salesforce.
The integration cost
Beyond the cost of Salesforce itself, when you roll out a CRM in your company you also have to factor in the integration cost. That is even truer for Salesforce given how complex the tool is.
Salesdorado’s adviceEstimates put Salesforce at at least 5,000 € for a single user in the first year: you could therefore pay up to 50,000 € a year for a relatively small sales team.
That (wide) range varies depending on the following factors:
- The size of your organisation: number of users, customers, transactions, and so on.
- Your industry and your commercial goals: depending on the level of customer engagement required, you will need a more complex CRM and you will have to pay for add-on modules.
- The type and complexity of your organisation: the more complex your organisation (company structure, hierarchy, internal procedures, sales processes, and so on), the longer the Salesforce integration will take and therefore the more it will cost.
Salesdorado’s takeLet us be honest, Salesforce is one of the best CRMs on the market, but it is also one of the most expensive. Whether Salesforce is too heavy for you, or you are looking for a solution with a similar scope, you will find the 10 most credible alternatives to Salesforce here.