Like any professional, any sales manager faces a range of challenges. One of the biggest challenges is to build trust and gain sympathy among prospects. Another difficulty that comes along with the first one is to do all that in the digital-only environment as technological progress pushes everyone towards that direction.
Another big challenge most salespeople face is managing leads and closing deals effectively. For that, they usually need to collaborate with a marketing team to evaluate prospects first. This is possible by creating a central hub where all the consolidated data is present.
A CRM system usually becomes that single source of truth for both marketing and sales representatives. Around 32% of salespeople report that the biggest benefit of CRM systems is that they are perfect for keeping track of leads. And one of the most popular CRM systems in the world is Salesforce.
In this article, we review how to make Salesforce a central hub with all the needed information using the native data loader and alternative solutions such as Skyvia.
Role of Data in Sales
When referring to data in sales, performance results and customer details are usually assumed. Both these data types are gathered and analyzed properly to further drive revenue and prosperity. Obviously, the better management mechanisms are applied, the better the overview and predictions are.
As it was mentioned above, sales representatives struggle with obtaining exhaustive information about prospects. It’s crucial for evaluating leads and observing their lifecycle. Salesforce is a powerful solution for bringing data management to a high level, though it often happens that it doesn’t contain ALL the data about potential customers.
To help sales agents perform their tasks with maximum efficiency, Salesforce Data Loader is right there. This tool is designed by Salesforce to help companies manage their leads and drive more revenue out of sales deals.
Salesforce Data Loader
This is an application for working with bulk operations for data import and export. Salesforce Data Loader works with CSV files that contain records with fields divided by commas. It’s possible to insert records in Salesforce, update them, or delete if needed. This tool also allows exporting of data from Salesforce objects to CSV files.
NOTE: Salesforce Data Loader is a desktop app available for Windows and macOS operating systems.
The main characteristics of Salesforce Data Loader:
- All the settings are configurable through the interactive interface with drag-and-drop options.
- Supports both standard and custom objects for export.
- Allows operating 5 million records on import and export.
- Provides log files in case of errors in the CSV format.
- Offers CLI for Windows users for batch operations.
Sales teams can greatly benefit from using Salesforce Data Loader by importing all the needed data into Salesforce or exporting it when needed. That way, Salesforce becomes a central hub with all the consolidated data needed for proper lead management.
Streamlining Lead Management
Transferring data from other sources to Salesforce about prospects broadens the field of action for sales teams. Working smarter but not harder is at the place, though having more leads in the CRM is always a positive aspect.
Along with importing new leads, it’s possible to add complementary information about existing ones. It would be very helpful in understanding how each prospect corresponds to the buyer’s personal profile.
So, let’s have a look at how to import data into Salesforce.
- Open Salesforce Data Loader.
- Select Insert, Update, or Delete option depending on the desired type of operation to carry out.
- Enter your Salesforce credentials and click Next.
- Select the objects where the data would be imported.
- Click Browse to select the CSV file from which the data would be imported.
- Define the mapping settings and click Next.
- Indicate the location for CSV files with the outcomes of the operations after the import operation is completed.
- Click Finish to execute import.
Another outstanding function of the Salesforce Data Loader is that it allows the exporting of existing data into CSV files that could be used in the sales system. For instance, it might be needed to send sales deal results to the financial department. Also, it might be useful to send data about prospects who were converted into customers to the marketing department for a better understanding of the target audience.
Now let’s have a look at how to export data using Salesforce Data Loader.
- Open application.
- Select Export.
- Enter your Salesforce credentials and click Next.
- Select the objects for export.
- Select the location where the results CSV file would be saved and click Next.
- Create a SOQL query for the data export.
- Click Finish to execute the operation.
Even though Salesforce Data Loader is powerful, it might not be convenient for every company. Though let’s have a look at its alternatives with a similar feature set.
Skyvia
Data management involves ETL tools for extracting, transforming, and transferring data. Skyvia https://skyvia.com/data-integration/salesforce-data-loader is one such tool that easily copes with all the import and export operations with data. Moreover, it offers added functionality that helps businesses to take out the value of the existing data.
Skyvia can be seen as a great alternative to the Salesforce Data Loader as:
- It isn’t OS-restricted and can be used on any operating system and any modern internet browser.
- It supports multiple sources, including CSV files, FTP and cloud storage services, SaaS applications, and databases.
- It’s really intuitive owing to the elaborated interface.
- It offers scalability with 200 million records to transfer or even more.
This service also implements other data integration scenarios – synchronization and replication at no extra cost. Data backup, query, automation, and endpoint connection are among other functions of Skyvia that can be acquired additionally.
It’s possible to use Skyvia to import and export Salesforce-related data as in Data Loader, meaning that CSV files are used for uploading or downloading the selected data. At the same time, Skyvia supports FTP and cloud storage services for CSV files. Another great benefit of this service is that it also connects to other services with OAuth, so Salesforce data can travel to/from other applications such as HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics, etc.
Conclusion
Salesforce Data Loader is undoubtedly a great assistant to salespeople because it allows for effective data management. As a result, sales representatives can better evaluate each prospect and distribute their efforts accordingly to increase the lead conversion rate.
As uploading and downloading CSV files manually using the Salesforce Data Loader isn’t always convenient and time-saving, Skyvia comes as a great alternative. It’s more user-friendly and thus allows sales managers to achieve objectives faster.
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