The BurnRate Guide to Configuring Salesforce for Startups
Most startups focus on sales way too late. Getting process-oriented sooner can help you close deals before your product is even finished.
BurnRate is a new startup that helps funded companies manage the scaling process. Some say that there is no exact formula for startup success… we think that’s bullshit. If math can be used for everything from mapping DNA to exploring the cosmos, surely we can do better than that Excel spreadsheet you downloaded from some VC’s Medium post. If you like building and selling things, come join us on our journey, and check us out at burnrate.io.
Technically-oriented founders like to think that if they just build something amazing, people will flock to it. While that might have been somewhat true 20 years ago, there are now tens of thousands of startups all vying for attention on a daily basis. So if you think you can just build something in a few weeks and watch the cash roll in, think again.
Nope, as a founder, you’re gonna have to convince people that what you’re building is useful. That means you’re gonna have to sell your ass off… whether you’re finding co-founders, team members, customers, or investors. If you can’t sell, you’d better learn fast. Don’t just bring on a co-founder who says they can sell… what happens if they can’t? What if they’re “fakin’ it till they make it” too, and they don’t make it?
I can say this from experience, so heed my warning now: if you want to be a founder (or are one) and you don’t want to bother with sales… you probably shouldn’t bother being in a startup either. You should go find a job that doesn’t require explaining ideas to others and getting buy-in (and good luck with that).
So I’m in the process of setting up BurnRate’s Salesforce instance, and I thought I’d take the time to share the experience as I go through it again with another startup. As such, this is a living document for now. Be sure to check back as I continue through the process.
Understanding Key Concepts
Before you dive headfirst into a new Salesforce account, it’s probably a good time to help you understand the difference between the different types of relationships in Salesforce.
Leads, Accounts, Contacts, and Opportunities
A Lead is the lowest level of record in Salesforce. Most of the time, people start out as Leads. Chances are pretty good that you’ll have multiple Leads in your system targeting a single company. Since most sales involve more than one person being a part of the decision, that’s usually a good thing.
An Account is another term for a Company. When a Lead is converted to an Opportunity, you can choose to have the parts of the Lead record that deal with company size, location, revenue, etc. copied over to an Account record.
A Contact is an employee of a Company. When the Lead is converted to an Opportunity, the parts of the Lead record that deal with the person get copied over to a Contact record.
An Opportunity is a record of the opportunity to do business with one or more Contact(s) at an Account. When a Lead is converted to an Opportunity, the parts of the Lead record that deal with the qualification questions and the needs get copied over to an Opportunity record.
Marketing Qualified Leads vs Sales Qualified Leads
Once a Lead takes some sort of action, like responding to an email, or connecting with you on LinkedIn, they have become a Marketing-Qualified Lead (or MQL for short). MQL is essentially shorthand for an engaged lead.
A Lead does not graduate to the next step, which is a Sales Qualified Lead (or SQL for short) unless they pass these three gates:
- You’ve run a FIT Call to understand their challenges and see if they align with your worldview.
- You’ve BANT qualified them, which stands for Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeline. That means:
- You’ve identified that they have budget allocated to solve the problem.
- They have the authority to make decisions in the department you’re targeting.
- They actually have a need for what you’re selling. You need to be objective here… we all know YOU need the sale, but they don’t. You have to learn the difference between being polite and actually having a need.
- They’re looking for a solution now, and not in 18 months. - You’ve got the next appointment (typically the Demo) on the calendar. DO NOT try to demo right there. Your customer is busy; don’t be a jerk. Schedule a time within the next 3 days to get together for a quick demo. The farther out it is, the more likely they are to blow you off… but don’t be too pushy.
Let’s say you got this far. You’re going to be tempted to jump the gun here, and get all excited. DON’T. You’re a long way to go, partner. Hold your horses. I can’t stress enough that you need to be objective, and dare I say pessimistic, about each one of those gates. Remember, your time is super-valuable. Over-estimating someone’s qualifications will just waste hours of your time later.
If the Lead wants a demo, and confirms your demo invite, they become a Sales-Qualified Lead, and you can then convert the Lead to an Opportunity.
Dealing with Opportunities
Contrary to what other Salesforce guides might say, an Opportunity is not a type of person. It’s the record of an Opportunity to do some sort of business with an Account. Over time, your goal is to have multiple Opportunities per Account, as you work to book expansion revenue with existing teams, or sell to other teams in the company.
This is where it gets a little tricky, so having great data on your Leads is important. If an Account for the company doesn’t exist, the process will create one. Then, the Lead will be be copied over to a Contact, who will then be associated with both the Account, and the Opportunity. The great part is, you get to configure how the fields map over when the Lead converts. This is essential, because once it does, the Lead record is hidden from you, and the only way to access itagain is through the API.
Signing Up for Salesforce
Salesforce Lightning has 4 main plans: Essentials, Professional, Enterprise, and Unlimited. They don’t have any monthly options (BOO!), so your out-of-pocket cost is $300, $900, $1800, or $3600 per user, respectively. If you’re just getting going, the $300 version will probably be enough for now. You can make the most of that by starting out with a free trial, and taking the extra time to get familiar with the system.
What isn’t obvious on their pricing page is that each of these plans has a different trial length: Essentials is 7 days, Professional is 14 days, and Enterprise / Unlimited are 30 days. So my first tip is: if you want to make the most of your time, sign up for the free trial using the “Lightning Enterprise” link. You’ll get more features during the trial, and they can always bump you back down to the $300/year level later.
Configuring Salesforce for the First Time
So once you’ve signed up, and they’ve created your instance for you, the first step is to just click around the app for a bit and get yourself familiar with the different parts. Fortunately, your tenant comes preconfigured with a bunch of demo data, so you can goof around and see how everything works together.
Deleting the Sample Data
Once you’re done messing with it, and you’ve taken a couple tours, the first real step is to delete the sample data. If you want more time with the sample data, you can go sign up for a Developer Account instead, which will also have test data in it, but gets wiped every so often.
To do so, click the Gear at the top and select “Setup”, then expand “Data” and select “Delete All Data”. Then copy and paste the text in the first bullet point into the text box, check the box, and click “Submit”. You’ll then get an email when the delete is finished.
Setting Up Your Custom Subdomain
The next step you’ll want to take is to pick the subdomain for your tenant. This makes it easier for your employees to remember, and helps brand all your email communication with your staff.
To do this, scroll down to “Company Settings”, expand it, and select “My Domain”. This process will walk you through updating your domain settings.
After you update your subdomain, you can also update the login page with your own branding. Just scroll down to the last section on the page, and click the “Edit” button at the very bottom. You’ll be taken to a settings page in the older, non-Lightning experience.
Just specify the logo you want to use, paying attention to the image and file size constraints (circled in red), and set the background color. That’s all you really need to do. But to spice it up a bit, there is one more option.
One of the really nice things about this is that you can control the what shows up on the right-half of the page as well. This could be really useful for some inspiring messaging or other neat design. Just specify a link in the “Right Frame URL” section, and you’re all set. Just remember this is a public page, so don’t put in a link to any private company portal there. Your public blog home page might be something useful to put there, for example.
You might feel like these elements are a tad trivial, but the more you add your own personal touches, the more likely it is to get used in the first place. It will help you feel like a real, legitimate company… and that will go a long way to helping you have the confidence to close deals.
Creating Your First Processes
Now, the key to making Salesforce work well is to be able to set up different flows for different types of customers. You want to take the time to separate out the different types of Leads and Opportunities, so that you can run your team more effectively. It’s much better to get into this habit now, and bring everyone onboard with the concepts fleshed out, vs trying to change behavior for an existing team a year (or more) into the company.
