3 Reasons Why Salesforce AI Is a Game-Changer for Small Businesses

Did you know that 65% of customers expect companies to adapt to their changing needs and preferences, but almost as many feel that companies are treating them as a number? As a small and medium business (SMB) leader with limited budgets and resources, you may feel pressure to keep up. 

Get to know your customers better, improve productivity, and grow your business faster. For an SMB, Salesforce can bring together applications for customer relationship management (CRM), trusted AI, and connected data, all on one integrated platform. You can create a holistic view of every customer no matter what your product or service is, improve productivity no matter what size team you are, and scale faster no matter where you are in the process.

Three reasons Salesforce AI is a game-changer for your SMB:

1. Know your customers better with a single source of truth
2. Improve productivity with best-in-class apps
3. Scale faster with a trusted platform

1. Know your customers better with a single source of truth

Have you ever gotten a call from a ‘new customer,’ only to realize they had already talked to someone else on your team? This typically results in frustration, in fact, research shows nearly 80% of customers expect consistency when interacting across departments. 

Depending on the size of your small business, you may have teams focused on different areas like sales, marketing, service, or commerce. As data sources rapidly grow, each team can become disconnected and that can lead teams to take actions that may not be right for your customers

With Salesforce, you can unite your sales, marketing, service, commerce, and IT teams with a shared view of customer information — which means no silos, and time saved to get back to building your SMB. Applications are integrated natively into the platform, so changes you make in one app are immediately available everywhere. 

Plus, Data Cloud helps you access data from anywhere, even if it’s stored in an external data lake or warehouse. So you can put it to work for you improving your team’s visibility and automating tasks that are left. This gives you a comprehensive source of truth for each one of your customers, helping you connect with them in a whole new way. 

The results? On average, Salesforce customers report 31% faster responses to customers, prospects, employees, and partners. (Back to top.) 

2. Improve productivity with best-in-class apps

Productivity is key for small businesses, and Salesforce’s (best-in-class, if we do say so ourselves) applications help your teams work smarter and faster. For small businesses, we bring marketing, sales, and service together into a single suite with Salesforce Starter. 

Marketers can create detailed customer profiles and use insights to customize each interaction, which helps increase demand. Sellers can speed up business growth with tools that improve their connections with buyers and help manage everything from the first contact to the final sale. Service teams can boost customer loyalty and provide value through every channel, all while becoming more efficient and cutting costs.

And everyone can work smarter with Salesforce, our built-in artificial intelligence (AI) that augments and enhances every team member’s productivity. Salesforce’s easy-to-use AI helps everyone on your team share relevant insights, make predictions, and generate new content from your customer data. 

Agentforce, the agentic layer of Salesforce, enables autonomous AI agents to handle tasks like lead qualification, customer recommendations, and 24/7 service case resolution. It integrates data, AI, and automation to help your teams work more efficiently.

The results? On average Salesforce customers report a 32% increase in marketing-led or influenced growth, a 30% increase in sales win rate, and a 32% increase in customer retention. (Back to top.)  

3. Scale faster with a trusted platform

According to our research, 83% of SMB leaders say that customer experience is the key competitive differentiator, but small businesses with limited resources can find it challenging to offer great customer experiences while growing. 

That’s why it’s simple and easy to use. Salesforce is designed to meet your small business needs, and we know you may not be a developer, so there is a no-code option for easy use.

There are a wealth of resources included to help you maximize your investment. Learn at your own pace with Trailhead, our free online learning platform. You can also visit the AppExchange for easy access to over 5,000 partner applications and over 200,000 partner experts ready to support your unique business needs with tailored solutions. 

The results? On average Salesforce customers attain ROI within 11 months. (Back to top.) 

Change the game with Salesforce AI for Small Business 

With the right tools, you can level up your business today. Ready to give it a try? If you’re a small business, start with Salesforce Starter — the easiest way for SMBs to grow with CRM or learn more about all of our products for small businesses. 

*All sources: 2024 Salesforce Success Metrics Global Highlights. Data is aggregated from 2,165 customers across 10 countries.