Passage Technology Blog

Dear PT, 

Salesforce^® functionality will let you view open Cases within your org. However, sometimes there are situations where it would be useful to view this information on a more granular level, for specific Contacts or Accounts. How could our company set up this at-a-glance list view, which also has filters for priority and status?

Dear PT, 

With every customer project, there are billable and non-billable hours required to complete the objectives. Of course, customers are very interested in proper accounting—it’s their money on the line. But for our company, the non-billable hours are a necessary cost to us for deploying resources and getting the job done. It is an important metric for measuring efficiency and billing properly, overall and in various departments. Can you help us make sure we are not unnecessarily losing money on these customer engagements?

Bud Jetting in Costa Mesa, CA

Dear PT, 

Buyer expectations are rapidly evolving. Now you can measure buyer intent in nearly real-time. However, at our company, our new Lead response time is often measured in days, not hours. Studies show that best practices require a response measured in minutes. Any ideas on how we can extend Salesforce^® capabilities to make this internal improvement?

Hawt Leede from Prospect Heights, IL

Dear PT, 

We need to better aggregate our data so various business functions can create insights. On a number of Objects, we need a way to easily rollup records scattered across numerous child, parent, and grand-parent hierarchies—for example, Accounts. However, our company has limited developer resources internally. So when we need a solution, we have to pay for outsourcing. This can be expensive, but often it is more expensive to not obtain that solution, in terms of productivity and competitiveness. Are there other options to coding?

Rhee Layshuns in Progress, PA

Dear PT, 

With Salesforce^® Contacts, you can view their Account information. But at our company, we like to classify leads as Leads, not as Contacts. But Leads don’t display Account information. How can we extend Salesforce to get this functionality?

Moe Enfo from Lead Mine, WI

Dear PT, 

With all of the Accounts our company manages, there is usually a point of contact who is the primary go-to person for the relationship. However, sometimes we engage a different (or wrong) Contact, bypassing the key point person. This happens with both human interactions and automated solutions. It may lead to confusion, miscommunication, and missed opportunities for all involved. How can we better address these situations?

Dear PT, 

At our company, when a Case or Opportunity is created, the parent Account is not always known or identified at that time. This creates a significant amount of work later, trying to manually identify if there is an Account and what it might be. Also, we think it would be useful to have a top-down look at these relationships, viewing the parent Account and seeing a list of its child Accounts and their related objects. How could we accomplish this?

Gren P. Reant from Childwold, NY

How Data Impacts Customer Experience

Just because you have access to tons of data, doesn’t always mean it’s being put to good use. Poor quality data can lead to significant losses.

After the pandemic shock of 2020-21, businesses are consistently hearing from analysts that the general sales process has changed, perhaps permanently. There is no shortage of analysis and advice available. In response, Sales Leaders are trying to make the specific adjustments needed to boost sales performance.

Responding to a Changing Sales Landscape

Businesses must address changes in B2B buyers’ behavior, a movement which had already started pre-pandemic. Analyst firms, like McKinsey & Company and Accenture, have done research that shows long-held best practices are shifting. These macro environment issues can’t be ignored.

Sales leaders and customer success professionals continue to face new challenges in a pandemic-affected business environment. Prospects and customers are no longer easily found in their business offices, as lockdowns and remote working make direct communication more difficult. In many industries, engagement and conversion rates for sales have plummeted, constricting the pipeline for new customers. Meanwhile, as customer expectations evolve, the definition of customer success is being redefined.