3 Reasons Why Customer 360 Is a Game-Changer for Small Businesses

Did you know that 65% of customers expect companies to adapt to their changing needs and preferences, but almost as many feel that companies are treating them as a number? As a small and medium business (SMB) leader with limited budgets and resources, you may feel pressure to keep up. 

Wondering how to know your customers better, improve productivity, and grow your business faster? Salesforce Customer 360, our portfolio of products and services, can help. 

Salesforce Customer 360 is an integrated customer relationship management (CRM) system where all of your teams — from sales, marketing, service, commerce, IT, and more — can share information in a central location, getting a 360-degree view of every customer. Customer 360 is built on our trusted Einstein 1 Platform, a single, comprehensive platform that unifies your data, AI, and CRM on one platform so you can find the fastest path to value.

Here’s what it means for small businesses, and three reasons Customer 360 is a game-changer for your SMB:

1. Know your customers better with a single source of truth

Have you ever gotten a call from a new customer, only to realize that they had already talked to someone else in your organization? This typically results in frustration. In fact, research shows nearly 80% of customers expect consistency when interacting across departments. Depending on the size of your small business, you may have teams focused on different areas like sales, marketing, service, or commerce. As data and data sources rapidly grow, each team’s data can become disconnected, which can lead your teams to taking actions that may not be right for your customers.

With Customer 360, you can unite your sales, marketing, service, commerce, and IT teams with a single shared view of customer information — all on the world’s #1 CRM. Our applications are integrated and native to our platform, so changes you make in one app are immediately available everywhere. This gives you a comprehensive, single source of truth for each of your customers, helping you connect with them in a whole new way. The results? On average, Salesforce customers report 31% faster responses to customers, prospects, employees, and partners.*

*Source: 2024 Salesforce Success Metrics Global Highlights. Data is aggregated from 2,165 customers across 10 countries.

2. Improve productivity with best-in-class apps

Productivity is key for small businesses, and Salesforce’s best-in-class applications  help your teams work smarter and faster. For small businesses, we bring Marketing, Sales, and Service together in a single suite called Salesforce Starter.

Marketers can leverage unified customer profiles and embedded insights to better personalize every customer touchpoint and build demand. Sellers can grow the business faster with tools that help them better connect with buyers, and manage the entire sales cycle from lead to cash. Service teams can grow customer loyalty and deliver value across every channel, while improving efficiency and reducing costs.

And everyone can work smarter with Einstein — our built-in artificial intelligence product that augments and enhances every team member’s performance. Einstein’s easy-to-use AI tools help everyone on your team share relevant insights, make predictions, and generate new content from your customer data. 

The results speaks for themselves. On average, Salesforce customers report a 32% increase in marketing-led or influenced growth, 30% increase in sales win rate, and 32% increase in customer retention.*

*Source: 2024 Salesforce Success Metrics Global Highlights. Data is aggregated from 2,165 customers across 10 countries.

3. Scale faster with a trusted platform

Meeting and exceeding customer expectations is critical for small businesses that want to grow — according to our research, 83% of SMB leaders say that customer experience is the key competitive differentiator. But small businesses with limited resources can find it challenging to offer great customer experiences during periods of growth.

Salesforce is designed to help you scale faster on one trusted platform. We’ve designed it so that anyone can personalize their CRM experience or build their own CRM apps. No matter what your skill level is, you can use no-code, low-code, and pro-code tools to extend the platform and innovate faster.

Salesforce also offers a wealth of resources to help you maximize your investment. Learn at your own pace with Trailhead, our free online learning platform. You can also visit the AppExchange for easy access to over 5,000 partner applications and over 200,000 partner experts ready to support your unique business needs with tailored solutions. On average, Salesforce customers attain ROI within 11 months.* 

*Source: 2024 Salesforce Success Metrics Global Highlights. Data is aggregated from 2,165 customers across 10 countries. 

Ready to give Salesforce a try? If you’re a small business, begin with Salesforce Starter — the easiest way for small businesses to get started with CRM. With it, you’ll get sales, service and marketing together in one easy to use application. Or, learn more about all of our products for small businesses.