Choosing a CRM that ticks all the boxes for your small business is no small task. It needs to be affordable, play well with others, built to scale, and most importantly, easy to use.

How do we know this? Our research shows that 66% of business leaders are personally responsible for three or more areas of their company, with many performing complex tasks such as managing data on a manual, ad-hoc basis. So when you try to pare back your responsibilities to concentrate on what you do best – growing your company – you’re likely to find that there’s no one to introduce and manage the tech solutions that could make your life easier.

That’s why we’re excited to announce Salesforce Essentials. We took the world’s #1 CRM and tailored it to the needs — and budget — of UK SMEs.

Fast and intuitive, it gives you a complete overview of your sales and service operations. And its flexible app-based structure means that it grows alongside you, allowing you to tap into the power of Salesforce in a scalable way.

Here’s how Salesforce Essentials meets the needs of your small business:

1. Simple to Use

93% of small businesses say easy setup is important when evaluating new technology for their companies. In fact, one of the biggest questions we get from UK businesses is around how to integrate their new CRM into their day-to day without disrupting the processes already at work. In order to keep these businesses from defaulting back to spreadsheets, we’ve made the platform even easier to use and ramp. 

Skip the data entry step and directly upload the data you need from your email, calendar, spreadsheets, support channels and more into Salesforce Essentials. Now, all your hard work is in one convenient place.

2. Easy to Onboard with a Built-in Educational System

74% of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have no in-house IT staff, which means most UK small businesses are on their own when it comes to implementing new technology into their day-to-day business.

Not only do we have a simple setup assistant built into our products, but in-depth answers to your CRM questions are all in Trailhead, a fun and interactive treasure trove of knowledge on everything from how a CRM works to specifics around Salesforce Essentials functionality. 

Small businesses can also use Trailhead to learn about broader business topics, such as how to foster innovation. Earn badges and complete challenges as you take your CRM and business knowledge to the next level while improving your business’s prospects in the process.

3. Compatible with the Apps You Use Every Day

CRMs that play well with others make the lives of small business owners easier. All your apps need to talk to each other.

Salesforce Essentials integrates seamlessly with Google Cloud’s G Suite, allowing you to connect your email, calendar, and data. In fact, you can get the full G suite for your business at no cost for the first three months.

If your business needs extend beyond Google, you can utilise AppExchange, our app marketplace where you can plug in different systems that customise the functions of your CRM, helping you harness the power of the whole business ecosystem. So you can still share files via Dropbox, design an email promotion with MailChimp, or just exchange some morale-boosting gifs on Slack.

4. Upgraded Effortlessly 3 Times a Year

It’s that simple. Every four months we automatically update and enhance our products – leaving all your data and customisations intact – so you’re always benefiting from the leading edge of CRM technology. (This is true for all of our products, not just Salesforce Essentials.)

5. Enhanced with AI Technology to Enable Smarter Decision-making

Small business teams spend 23% of their average workday manually inputting data. What a waste! Salesforce Essentials is built with Einstein, our artificial intelligence (AI) software that allows you to automate basic sales activities and work smarter.

This technology automatically keeps customer records up-to-date without any tedious data entry by syncing user's email and calendar, as well as helping to prioritise their inbox. As a result, they can save time, close business faster and identify new opportunities.

6. Priced Affordably for Growing Businesses

Sales Cloud Essentials starts at £20 per user per month and is geared toward helping small businesses with up to 5 users manage contacts, leads, opportunities in one central location.

Service Cloud Essentials, built for small business service teams, helps teams of up to 5 users close cases faster and connect all your support channels. It’s also priced at £20 per user per month

Since we know every business has different needs, we recommend checking out Salesforce Essentials’ product page for more information about pricing and more in-depth information around each product.

7. Built to Grow with You

Growth is a leading business objective for 40% of small business owners in the UK, meaning scalability is an important part of any tech solution.

If your small business gets to a point where it isn’t so small anymore, you can upgrade to our full-scale Sales or Service CRM and keep all your tools and data intact. In the meantime, you’re only a few clicks away from added functionality via pre-built business apps in our AppExchange.

Businesses Like Yours Benefit with Salesforce Essentials

With this level of functionality and effortless integration, it’s no wonder that small businesses are calling Salesforce Essentials “Salesforce’s best product yet”. But if you’re the type that likes to do your research (and we figure you are, seeing as you’ve made it all this way), check out our Getting to Know Salesforce Essentials e-book. It’s packed with even more information about what Salesforce can do for your unique small business.