Salesforce’s Sales Cloud is a set of tools that are meant to help sales teams work faster and better. It has many features that make you more productive, such as managing leads and pipelines, forecasting, getting insights from AI, coaching tools for managers, integration with communication channels (like phone calls, text messages, and LinkedIn InMail), sales cadences for easier outreach, and a powerful to-do list for keeping track of your daily tasks.
There are three main parts of Sales Cloud: efficiency, intelligence, and automation. This guide will explain what each of these is and how the different versions of Sales Cloud work.
What Is Salesforce Sales Cloud?
Sales Cloud is a Salesforce app that helps businesses sell more efficiently and quickly by centralizing information about customers, keeping track of interactions, letting teams work together, and automating many chores.
Everything you need to know about your customers and prospects is in one place, which helps your sales teams get more done.
Sales Cloud, which is based on the expandable and adaptable Salesforce 360° platform, lets businesses use old systems without having to “rip and replace” them.
A lot of companies use the Salesforce interface to show customers data from several different back-end systems, which makes things run more smoothly and makes the whole experience better.
Keeping track of contacts, leads, accounts, contracts, opportunities, products, price books, quotes, and campaigns is one way to do this. These tools are meant to help you keep track of the whole sales process.
You can turn your teams from order workers who are bad at doing paperwork by hand into strategic advisors who help you make more money for your business.
What are the features of Salesforce Sales Cloud?
Efficiency
To be efficient, salespeople need to be able to connect with prospects and finish the sales process through virtual platforms. Every contact, whether it’s online or in person, is recorded in the CRM.
These records are then put together and used in other processes. For example, recording email activities can give information on the likelihood to buy, which would help with pipeline forecasting.
Core SFA: Lead and opportunity management as usual, from the first contact with a pre-qualified lead to the purchase. This includes the proposal and negotiation stages of a deal.
Channel Sales: Helps your company and its partner network share leads by acting as co-sellers or marketers on your company’s behalf. A portal is used for this and other parts of handling customers who work with each other.
Sales Bots: Prospects can talk to sales bots to get faster answers to their questions (without having to talk to a real person), and they can be sent to the right person based on their needs.
CPQ: Your sales reps can make accurate quotes for customers with Configure, Price, Quote, which goes beyond basic opportunities, goods, and quotes to help them sell complex sets of goods and bundles. It also adds more advanced approval for quotes.
Billing: Makes billing, payments, and settlements easier and more automated across your whole business.
Analytics and AI
How sales data can be “sliced and diced” to show different lessons that would have been lost in the huge amount of data if they were not visualized and “sliced and diced.”
This tells sales managers and their teams which “levers” to pull, like when deals are getting stuck and need more attention.
Forecasting
Plan for future sales (which deals will be won and when), including forecast types and forecast categories, which are used to guess how likely it is that an opportunity will be won (each sales stage is linked to a forecast category).
Pipeline Inspection
Take a closer look at changes based on past opportunities and deals, as well as AI-powered suggestions and ideas, all from the reports your team normally looks at.
Revenue Intelligence
Readily available dashboards enable businesses to view their sales data in a variety of ways, tailored to their specific needs.
Sales Cloud Einstein
This is the AI technology layer that makes up the Salesforce Lightning platform and products. It’s called “your own personal data scientist” and is built in. Einstein Opportunity Insights, Einstein Activity Capture, Einstein Account Insights, and Einstein Lead Scoring are all part of this.
Einstein Relationship Insights
Looks at the web and other data sources to help you find new connections and insights between contacts and accounts, even if they aren’t in your CRM. That is, it’s used to map both the contacts and accounts in your CRM and the connections you find on the web and in other places.
Salesforce Inbox
It links email to Salesforce customer data so you can “sell smarter from your inbox.” Inbox shows you important Sales Cloud data so you can get useful information without leaving your email. Inbox is better for managing people that your business talks to so you can get more information from the conversations you have.
Einstein Activity Capture
Finds sentiments in emails by looking for keywords like “pricing” or ones that are tied to objections. Also, these gaps can be found and filled even if contacts aren’t stored in Salesforce. This will prompt the user to make Contact records.
Recommended Connections
looks at email correspondence and helps find good business possibilities by putting contacts in touch with other salespeople in your company.
Einstein Conversation Insights
Automatically types up talks with prospects and highlights important parts so you can quickly go through them. It is designed to enable sales managers to monitor customer behavior, provide feedback, and receive reports on voice or video calls made by their team.
During the review, you should look at the metrics that count when looking into voice or video calls. Phone, Zoom, and Sales Dialer can all be connected. Google Meets and MS Teams are on the plan.
Automation
Automated processes can help salespeople do their jobs by getting rid of unnecessary physical work and tasks that don’t need to be done by the sales team.
Sales Engagement
Sales Cloud helps reps be more productive by making it easier for them to handle outreach. Managers, sales reps, and sales operations can all automate sequences.
For example, when a new lead is assigned, an “introduction” sequence can be set off, and when a chance moves from one stage to the next, a “set up a demo” sequence can be set off.
With exit points, when a prospect responds, they leave sequences that are no longer interesting to them. The split view in the optimized console makes it easier to handle multiple activities at once.
Salesforce Inbox
It links email to Salesforce customer data so you can “sell smarter from your inbox.” Inbox shows you important Sales Cloud data so you can get useful information without leaving your email.
Seller Enablement
Results-based support and guidance—all while you’re working. Sales reps go through classes to get them started. Real Salesforce data tracks the results (like closing more deals) of the things they do in Salesforce, so the program is always up to date.
Sales Planning
How can you make it easier to plan sales areas when your Salesforce org has so much data?
Territory Planning
By establishing territory kinds, developing a model, and incorporating account assignment criteria, Enterprise Territory Management empowers sales leaders to oversee and preserve sales territories.
Revenue operations can use an optimization engine to optimize territories with the aid of Territory Planning’s mapped-based visual interface.
Salesforce Maps
The ideal approach to use and embed maps in Salesforce and comprehend the geographic mapping of your Salesforce data is using a location intelligence solution. Salesforce Maps features real location tracking, route optimization, and location data visualization, which are particularly helpful for field sales personnel.
Subscription Management
whereby clients may buy and manage their goods and services—such as purchasing more licenses or upgrading their subscriptions—without speaking to a salesman.
Slack Collaboration
One of the most user-friendly instant messaging apps for companies is Slack. Because Slack allows sales teams to communicate more quickly and incorporate Sales Cloud data and insights into conversations, it plays a significant role in Salesforce’s “sell faster with automation” business promise.
Sales Cloud for Slack App
Focuses on common sales use cases, like automating updates on deal status, keeping Salesforce records current to feed pipeline analytics, and facilitating real-time team collaboration to close transactions more quickly.
Slack Huddles
These ensure that momentum is never lost on a hot opportunity.
Slack Canvases
They function as a “surface to capture and share knowledge [with] the ability to access and take action on Salesforce data directly in Slack” when used in conjunction with a channel.
Salesforce Platform Automation
Combine all of this with automation to customize feature utilization for your company. This includes the enduringly potent Apex and Salesforce Flow triggers.
Sales Cloud Pricing: Editions Overview
Edition | Features | Pricing (Per User/Month) |
Starter Edition |
| $25 |
Professional Edition |
| $80 |
Enterprise Edition |
| $165 |
Unlimited Edition |
| $330 |
Einstein 1 Sales Edition |
| $500 |
What’s the difference between Sales and Service Cloud?
Feature | Sales Cloud | Service Cloud |
Purpose | Focuses on sales automation and CRM to help sales teams close more deals. | Designed for customer service and support teams to enhance customer satisfaction. |
Primary Users | Sales representatives, sales managers, and business development teams. | Customer support agents, service managers, call center teams. |
Key Features |
|
|
AI & Automation | Einstein AI for sales forecasting, automation, and engagement. | Einstein AI for case routing, chatbot automation, and customer sentiment analysis. |
Customer Interaction | Focuses on proactive engagement with leads and prospects. | Handles reactive support and ongoing customer service. |
Integration | Integrates with marketing tools, email platforms, and sales enablement software. | Connects with contact centers, knowledge bases, and live chat systems. |
Pricing | Starts at $25/user/month (Starter Edition) and goes up to $500/user/month. | Starts at $25/user/month (Starter Edition) and goes up to $500/user/month. |
Best For | Companies looking to increase revenue, close deals faster, and automate sales processes. | Businesses that need to provide excellent customer support and case management. |
You might be able to do it yourself, depending on your company’s size and procedures. Trailhead is the best resource for getting started quickly.
Another alternative is to get in touch with a Certified Salesforce Partner, who can help you make sure you’re following best practices, boost user adoption, and optimize Sales Cloud to your business operations.
You can also get help from other Sales Cloud specialists and experts in the Success Community, which is a community of partners, customers, and experts.
Conclusion
Salesforce has completely transformed the way businesses handle customer relationships. With its powerful tools and automation, companies can streamline their operations and improve efficiency. If you’re looking to build a career in Salesforce or enhance your skills, now is the perfect time to get started.
Want to understand What is Salesforce and how it works? Check out our detailed guide. If you’re a beginner, our Salesforce Tutorial will walk you through the basics step by step. And if you’re preparing for job interviews, don’t miss our list of Salesforce Interview Questions to help you get ready with confidence.
If you’re serious about becoming a Salesforce expert, consider enrolling in Edureka’s Salesforce Certification Course. This course is designed by industry professionals to help you gain real-world experience and clear your certification with ease
FAQs
Sales Cloud in Salesforce is a CRM platform that helps companies manage leads, track sales, and automate processes to boost revenue.
Is Salesforce Sales Cloud the same as CRM?
Sales Cloud is a part of CRM, not Sales Cloud. It only deals with sales tasks like managing leads, automating tasks, and making predictions. CRM, on the other hand, handles all customer interactions, including sales, marketing, and service.
What is the difference between Sales Cloud and Service Cloud in Salesforce?
Service Cloud is made for customer service, case management, and automating services. Sales Cloud is for sales tasks like managing leads and opportunities.