by Ask any sales professional and they'll tell you that location intelligence is a must-have integration in their tool belt. With the ability to visualize and analyze geospatial data on customers, field rep activity, and sales performance, you gain valuable insights that can help you:
- Maximize efficiency for reps and ops teams
- Unlock hidden opportunities and untapped sales potential
- Boost selling productivity and increase revenue
If, like many businesses, your organization relies on the Salesforce platform and CRM software to manage its data, you've likely come across Salesforce Maps. While this visualization tool might seem like a clear-cut candidate, it isn't the only mapping software on the market, nor is it the most comprehensive.
To find out if Salesforce Maps is right for your sales team, let's take a look at some of its advanced features, along with the benefits, pitfalls, and alternative solutions.
What are Salesforce Maps’ advanced capabilities?
Salesforce Maps comes with a variety of functions that can work great when embedded in your Salesforce platform, including:
- Mapping data from your Salesforce CRM
- Territory management and visualization
- Sales route planning and optimization
- Prospect and client prioritization
- Sharing and collaboration tools
These Salesforce Maps advanced capabilities save you time planning customer visits, automates schedules, and optimizes route efficiency. That way, your field sales reps can reduce travel time and spend more of their day meeting with target prospects and customers.
The pros and cons of Salesforce Maps
While Salesforce Maps can be a great solution for some companies, that doesn't mean it's right for everyone. Let's take a look at some common pros and cons to see how it stacks up to other mapping software.
Pros:
- Direct integration with your Salesforce CRM for seamless data access
- Advanced visualization features allow you to map sales data, including customers and revenue
- Balanced territory planning gives your sales reps equal opportunities
- Route optimization function allows reps to add nearby stops while on the move
Cons:
- It's time-consuming and confusing to configure
- Platform limitations make it difficult to view activity in the sales process
- An unintuitive software interface makes it difficult to use or adjust routes
- It doesn't offer demographic data overlays for advanced insight into customers
Why use Salesforce Maps integrations?
For many organizations, Salesforce Maps seems like the obvious choice — that is, until they dig a little deeper. Often, companies are turned away by the high price, licensing requirements, and underwhelming support. Even if you can get past these obstacles, you might just want more advanced features that are easier to use.
Integrations offer a great alternative to Salesforce Maps with all of the same, if not more, advantages. A user-friendly mapping solution, like eSpatial, provides complete visibility into all your Salesforce CRM data, with all the tools you need to design better maps that drive results.
eSpatial for Salesforce
With eSpatial for Salesforce, it's easier than ever to map your data, whether it comes from your Salesforce CRM, an Excel spreadsheet, or any other data source. eSpatial for Salesforce is the most comprehensive mapping, territory design, and route optimization solution on the market. It delivers all the same benefits as the stand-alone software with powerful integrations for your Salesforce platform. Personalize each map with custom styling options, align and balance territories for your sales reps, and plan and optimize routes on the fly — all from a single platform integration.
1. Visualize all Salesforce and non-Salesforce data with eMapping
eMapping enables you to unlock the power of location intelligence to visualize data and discover new levels of actionable insight into sales and rep activity.
Simply upload your data and eMapping automatically generates a vibrant map for you to tweak and personalize. eMapping even offers demographic overlays to view your sales and customer data in full context. With intuitive and highly customizable styling options, it's easy to create and share strategic maps that highlight unprecedented opportunities.
2. Design, balance and align your territories with eTerritory
eTerritory is the all-in-one solution for territory management. Intelligent algorithms ensure accuracy and efficiency in everything you do, while advanced visualizations and point-based optimization allow you to maximize sales effectiveness.
In addition, sharing and communication tools enable easy collaboration to fine-tune your territories. From planning and designing to aligning and balancing, this solution offers everything sales leaders need to boost productivity and revenue.
3. Optimize route planning with eRouting
eRouting is the perfect solution for boosting field rep performance and productivity. Plan and schedule your routes up to 20 days in advance with intelligent algorithms that prioritize high-value prospects and customers. While your sales reps are on the road, they can reoptimize their routes to account for disruptions like late appointments or cancelations. That way, they can add more visits per week while staying on schedule.
How to set up advanced map configurations with eSpatial
Setting up advanced mapping configurations in eSpatial has never been easier. Our solution's intuitive tools allow you to upload, filter, and style your data however you like it. Once you've created your map, you can share it with others to get feedback or distribute it as a template to your team. eSpatial's Salesforce integrations even allow you to take Salesforce actions from within your map to streamline your workflows and keep everything in one place.