As our manufacturing company’s customer base is continuously growing, it is necessary to address the problem of implementing an appropriate customer-relationship management (CRM) system. The previously applied variants of CRM software were not appropriate because they were not effectively integrated into the customer service platform. Salesforce Essentials is a package that provides the solution to our business problem because it combines the elements of a CRM system and a platform for supporting customers.
The key benefits of implementing Salesforce Essentials in the company are the minimal time period required for integrating the system and educating personnel on how to use this software. Additionally, this technological solution to the problem of uniting the CRM system and the platform for customer service is cost-efficient. This tool is cheaper than its alternatives ($30 per user per month in comparison to $100 per user per month) (“Salesforce Essentials,” 2019).
In Salesforce Essentials, the CRM system is integrated into the platform, organizing contacts and selling with customers by using an automation engine to guarantee 27/7 support for clients. The software enables real-time communication with customers by means of multiple channels as well as the ongoing work with their data using the CRM system. Repetitive procedures can be automated with the help of this tool, decreasing the costs of these processes.
Fact Sheet
Description of the Product
Salesforce Essentials is a CRM solution integrated with a customer service platform that tracks e-mails and meetings for users, promotes automatic communication with customers. It can easily be integrated with other Salesforce solutions, including analytics, financials, and sales, depending on the company’s needs.
Rationale for Implementation
Since our manufacturing company contacts customers directly, Salesforce Essentials will be implemented to combine processes related to customer relationship management and communication with customers using multiple channels in one system (“Salesforce Essentials,” 2019). Managers and customer support teams will be provided with an opportunity to automatize repetitive processes and organize ongoing communication with customers.
Summary of Implementation Phases
- The first step is associated with copying and storing data from the previously used CRM system.
- The second step is the implementation of Salesforce Essentials, including all its components.
- The third step is the integration of the company’s data into the new system.
- The fourth step is associated with testing the performance of Salesforce Essentials.
- The fifth step is the creation of accounts for users.
- The sixth step is training for users.
- The seventh step is the evaluation of the system’s work.
- The final stage includes modifications and corrections to guarantee the work of the system.
Graphic Aids
Figures 1-2 represent the interface for Salesforce Essentials to illustrate the functions and options available to users.
Writing Process
The first stage in writing the memorandum was planning, including the analysis of the audience (the CIO and CFO) and their expectations, the focus on purpose, as well as the collection and organization of information. The purpose of this memorandum that guided the selection of information to provide and the word choice was to inform the audience for decision-making. CIOs and CFOs typically concentrate on summaries in memorandums rather than on details, and they can have limited knowledge of technical and specific vocabulary.
Therefore, the memorandum was organized to provide the name of the technology in the first paragraph and support the choice by describing the advantages of the technological solution. Such terminology as CRM was written as a full phrase (customer-relationship management) for the first time to ensure that the CIO and CFO could easily understand it.
The second stage was multiple drafting associated with writing the memorandum for the first time to provide all benefits and weaknesses of the technology and then adding more drafts. In the final variant of the memorandum draft, only relevant summaries and conclusions were presented. The third stage of revising and editing was associated with checking the word choice and sentence structure to guarantee the memorandum was written in a concise manner using the professional but easy-to-understand vocabulary.
The fact sheet was also written following three stages: planning, drafting, and editing. At the stage of planning, it was determined that the audience includes the representatives of a cross-functional team. Therefore, the vocabulary was selected for the audience having basic technical knowledge for the purpose of informing these individuals without influencing decision-making (Guffey & Loewy, 2015). Much attention was paid to collecting and organizing data in the fact sheet according to the standards of this format to provide the audience with all required details.
During the multiple drafting stage, the rough draft of the fact sheet was written and reviewed to change the vocabulary to words familiar not only to IT specialists but also to all team members. Thus, the description of the implementation phases was rewritten to make sure the readers could understand the meaning of “storing” or “integrating data” and “creating accounts.” At the final stage of revising the draft, the fact sheet was reviewed and edited to make it shorter. Only details informing the team about the rationale for the product’s implementation and phases of this process were included in the fact sheet to guide the team members.
Audience Summary
To develop a memorandum, the analysis of executive leaders’ subject knowledge influenced the choice of details to include in the document and provide them with information on the product features and their benefits. Executive leaders’ position in the organization influenced the choice of an official and formal tone for the memorandum. Referring to the personal attitudes of leaders, it is possible to state that they were interested in learning more details regarding the software to improve business processes. Their reading style can be discussed as scanning that affects the separation of the memorandum into short paragraphs that include essential information. In this case, executive leaders are the primary audience, and the text is written directly for them.
To write a fact sheet, it was assumed that the members of a cross-functional team knew the details of implementing CRM systems in the company. Referring to their position in the organization, it was possible to use less formal but professional vocabulary for conveying the message. As for personal attitudes, the audience was interested in receiving a concise list of clear steps to address, and short but comprehensive paragraphs were used. Their reading style was expected to be intensive to focus on each detail, and they were regarded as both primary and secondary readers as the fact sheet would be spread among all the team members.
References
Guffey, M. E., & Loewy, D. (2015). Essentials of business communication (10th ed.). New York, NY: Cengage Learning.
Salesforce Essentials is the best CRM for small businesses. (2019). Web.