With a 20% share of the overall CRM market, Salesforce is the Amazon of customer relationship management platforms.
The platform’s reputation is significant, and its popularity is growing by the year—so, if you’re looking to improve your business with modern CRM technology, why wouldn’t you choose Salesforce? No one’s going to get fired for choosing Salesforce, after all.
Now, while this may be true, there are a wealth of excellent alternatives out there that are likely to serve your specific commercial goals and outcomes better.
To open up the conversation and inspire you to explore potential CRM alternatives, we’re going to give you five definitive reasons why you shouldn’t choose Salesforce.
Let’s dive in.
First of all, Salesforce is expensive—both the monthly and annual plans cost more than most other CRMs on the market.
While it is equipped with many scalable features, Salesforce may not always gel best with your business, making many of its tools redundant.
If you choose a CRM that costs less, is customisable, and comes with an excellent level of support, consultancy, and guidance, you’re likely to enjoy a far better return on investment (ROI).
Your company’s budget is precious, so every decision you make will have a direct impact on your business’s future success. Don’t settle for Salesforce without exploring your options.
Expanding on costs and value for money: If you want to integrate additional platforms, apps, and data sources seamlessly, your monthly Salesforce fee will double.
Salesforce doesn’t offer ample CRM integration opportunities out-of-the-box. You have to access the edition that includes API support, skyrocketing your monthly subscription fee from £60 to £120.
Many modern alternatives on the market come with a range of integration options as part of their core offering, with a specialist team that will help you create a CRM ecosystem that provides maximum value to your business.
Read: How CRM can help you reduce operational costs.
So, you don’t want every CRM user in the business to access the same set of features or have the same level of access? Well, if you choose Salesforce, tough luck—there’s not much wiggle room.
While there are CRMs on the market that will tailor solutions to meet the exact needs of everyone in your organisation (and charge you accordingly), Salesforce is far more rigid.
As a platform, Salesforce dictates that everyone in the business must use the same edition, even if some of them don’t need a particular functionality and find certain tools or features completely redundant.
If you want a CRM that offers the best possible ROI while addressing all of your business goals, challenges, and pain points, Salesforce may not be the platform for you.
The same principle applies to processes. If you have very specific business processes and you want to tailor your CRM to fit those processes. – there’s not much wiggle room there… or it will cost you a fortune in professional services. Once again, other CRM may be more flexible and more suited to your requirements. You may not have to bend your processes to fit the tool!
It’s not good enough for a CRM to come with an endless list of extensive features and functionality. For your new solution to offer long-term business growth, evolution, and value, getting the implementation just right is essential.
Unfortunately, Salesforce (unlike some other CRM vendors on the market) isn’t willing to help you get your data into the system, offer personal training and support, or help you decide how to use its technology to your business’s advantage. Not unless you pay extra.
Yes, Salesforce does have an extensive library of online training materials and resources. But if you’re looking for someone to ensure every aspect of your system’s implementation is successful, you will have to invest in a Salesforce partner.
The problem here is, Salesforce partners make their money from consulting, often extending the scope of what needs to be done and ultimately costing you unnecessary time and money. Not a great return on investment. And if something does not quite work, you then have two partners to deal with: Salesforce and its implementation partner who will sometimes push the issues back and forth – leaving you stuck in the middle.
When you’re talking to a Salesforce rep, they are likely to offer you an alluring discount or incentive—the kind that is difficult to decline.
But, more often than not, when your discounted subscription term ends, it’s unlikely that you will receive any further discount, and your costs will rise significantly. Also, because of your agreement or contract, you could find yourself stuck with an overpriced platform with redundant features you don’t need.
So, there you have it—essential reasons why you shouldn’t choose Salesforce for your business. It’s true that Salesforce might be a worthwhile solution for you, but without doing your research and exploring other CRM options, you’ll be selling your business short.
If you want to squeeze every last business-boosting drop of value from your CRM investment, you must take the time to consider your needs in detail, think about how your business might change or scale in the coming years, and ask the right questions. Look beyond Salesforce, and you’re likely to see a world of CRM opportunities there for the taking.
Watch our latest webinar: How to select a CRM
At Workbooks, we prioritise our clients’ outcomes and objectives, first and foremost, to ensure we tailor our CRM solutions in a way that will ensure ongoing growth, adaptation, and success. By working with you as a partner, we will tailor our CRM technology so everyone in your business benefits. And we have the tools as well as the talent to do so—without any extra costs or burden.
Get in touch with us to find out more about our CRM platform and discover how we can partner with you to maximise the value of your new solution.
