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If you've ever read business blogs or self-help books for tips on how to get organized, you've probably heard this mantra on repeat: "Don’t let your inbox rule your life!"
For some, that's a lot easier said than done. However, just to be the devil's advocate, what if spending more time in your mail app could actually help your employees become more productive, smarter, and happier overall? That’s exactly what one San Francisco company set out to do. Let's meet DroneDeploy.
DroneDeploy helps businesses use drone data to optimize their operations. The company has worked with customers to map out more than 30 million acres in 180 countries and across the agriculture, construction, and solar industries. In addition to offering aerial photography, DroneDeploy makes it easy for customers to do data analysis, 3D modeling, and a lot more from any device. Right about now you're probably wondering: "so, what does this have to do with email?" (Don't worry, keep reading.)
After DroneDeploy launched in 2013, business took off — and fast. The company takes pride in its now more than 2,000 customers and is on pace to employ more than 150 people by the end of 2018. Fast growth is always a good thing, but it does come with a few challenges. When DroneDeploy's Vice President of Sales and Customer Success, Brandon O’Sullivan joined the team in March 2016, lost leads and operational inefficiencies were at the top of his “Fix It” list. Fortunately, he found a solution by tapping into the powerhouse combination of Salesforce and Google.
"With hundreds of leads flowing in daily, some were getting lost,” said Brandon. “We needed a solution that allowed the sales team to follow up in a timely manner and easily track the progress of leads throughout the system.” Brandon led the company’s migration from a disparate set of tools and platforms — Google G Suite, Yesware, Sales Loft, and SalesforceIQ — to Salesforce's Sales Cloud Enterprise Edition. And once employees got a taste of Lightning in Sales Cloud, they decided to kick the migration up a notch and consolidate their systems to just Salesforce and Google.
Today, DroneDeploy’s sales reps live in Gmail — and use it for 90% of their work. Salesforce Lightning for Gmail connects Sales Cloud with G Suite, which means sales reps can automatically update Salesforce records without ever having to toggle back and forth between apps. Now, that's efficiency! Here's a great example of this. Being able to add contacts to an email thread with a single click saves about five minutes for every record. And that adds up fast!
With the information they need at their fingertips, the DroneDeploy Sales team is now more productive and efficient than ever. They also have a better understanding of what each customer wants and needs from them, which translates into fewer lost leads and more ongoing prospect conversations.
Best of all, the migration was easy. “It took a week,” Brandon recalled. “We had a one-hour training session with the sales team that outlined the full life cycle of a lead in Salesforce Classic vs. Lightning. It was really just a matter of everyone getting used to the new interface and reporting features.”
Being a slave to your inbox is one thing. Leveraging the best tools to maximize the efficiency and productivity of your mail app is quite another. If your small business is growing — or if it’s already all grown up and ready to take the next step — Salesforce Lightning for Gmail can transform email into a business productivity machine.
Seamlessly integrating your CRM, data management, and email in this way leads to less scrolling and toggling between apps. This also leads to more time spent both winning new customers and better serving your current customers. It's a great — and easy — way to supercharge your team’s productivity via simpler and more powerful e-mail-based workflows.
Don’t just take our (or DroneDeploy’s) word for it. Try it for yourself. Google is now offering Salesforce customers access to G Suite at no cost for a year. Now you can experience the benefits for yourself. Take advantage of this offer today and watch your productivity skyrocket immediately!
Salesforce can help you find customers, win their business, and keep them happy so you can grow faster than ever. Learn more about our small business CRM solutions, follow us on Twitter at @SalesforceSMB, or keep up with us on LinkedIn at Salesforce for Small Business. Join the conversation with #SalesforceEssentials.
