The Future of Voice-Activated CRM With Salesforce

“Voice is a huge shift for the industry and will be as impactful in businesses as it’s been in our homes,” Bret Taylor, President and Chief Product Officer, Salesforce^[i].

Back in 1984, the debut of the initial Macintosh marked a significant milestone. One of the most memorable moments from the product launch was when Steve Jobs demonstrated the Mac’s ability to speak! Over three decades have elapsed, and voice technology has made tremendous strides, far surpassing its ability to simply say, “Hello. I’m a Macintosh.”

From ‘Hey Siri, play my favorite song’, to ‘Hey Einstein, help me with customer records’, voice technology has transcended the confines of everyday life, making its mark in the professional realm!

From its modest origins at Bell Labs to the iconic Apple unveiling, voice technology has traversed a remarkable journey.

Voice-activated devices have seamlessly woven their way into the fabric of American households, with roughly 50% of homes now incorporating this technology into their daily routines^[ii].

The convenience of voice technology has significantly transformed our domestic environments, but in 2017, it ventured beyond our homes and entered the workplace through the introduction of Alexa for business.

Consequently, with Salesforce introducing the Einstein Voice – Voice-to-CRM solution, in 2018, voice technology made it within the customer relationship management (CRM) space, revolutionizing the way we conduct work.

While 77% of individuals employ voice search on their smartphones^[iii], and 65% of sales reps use a mobile CRM to achieve their sales targets^[iv], the synergy of voice technology with mobile CRM raises the question of whether it is a feasible reality or merely a distant aspiration.

We will dive deeper into the world of Voice-Activated Mobile CRM, exploring its potential to empower sales and field service teams. We’ll unveil how it’s more than just a trend, and delve into Salesforce’s potential strategies for implementing a voice-to-CRM solution in mobile applications to uncover the possibilities.

A New Era in CRM – Voice-Activated Mobile CRM

The ascent of mobile CRM becomes evident when we consider the findings from Forrester’s research, revealing that 50% of teams witnessed enhanced productivity through the adoption of mobile CRM. It’s not just Forrester; other studies have also shed light on the business advantages of mobile CRM, as exemplified below^[v].

Source^[vi]

Mobile CRMs have revolutionized the way businesses manage their interactions with customers and now, a new innovation is taking this to the next level: Voice-Activated Mobile CRM. This nifty innovation lets you talk to your CRM system just like you would to your favorite co-worker. No more tedious typing or endless menu clicking. Just say the word and watch the magic happen!

Why Voice-Activated Mobile CRM is Ideal for Sales and Field Service Teams?

Sales and field service teams are two crucial segments of a business that are often on the move and need quick access to customer information and data. Here’s why voice-activated mobile CRM is particularly suited to their needs:

Sales Teams: Sales professionals are frequently on the road, meeting clients, and attending appointments. They require immediate access to customer data, sales history, and appointment schedules while in transit. Voice-activated mobile CRM allows them to multitask efficiently, navigate to client locations, and manage customer relationships hands-free.

Field Service Teams: Field service teams, whether in HVAC, plumbing, or maintenance, often work in dynamic and sometimes challenging environments. They need a hands-free solution for recording field notes, accessing service history, and updating customer information, all while keeping their hands free to perform necessary tasks.

Voice-Activated Salesforce: Enhancing Productivity and Insights With Einstein Voice Assistant

With the rise of remote work and on-the-go productivity, the Salesforce mobile app for iOS serves as a crucial tool for keeping customers seamlessly connected. This gives users instant access to essential information, precisely when and where they require it.

A standout component of Salesforce mobile is the innovative Einstein Voice Assistant, which facilitates swift note-taking, task additions, and CRM updates solely through voice commands.

Einstein Voice Assistant is a natural language processing (NLP) powered voice assistant that allows users to interact with Salesforce CRM using natural language. Users can use Einstein Voice Assistant to perform a variety of tasks, such as:

• Create and update records
• Get insights and trends from analytics
• Schedule meetings
• Check upcoming appointments
• Navigate through Salesforce CRM

How it works:

The functionality of the Einstein Voice Assistant is rooted in its ability to introduce conversational AI to the Salesforce CRM platform. This voice assistant empowers users to communicate their instructions verbally, thereby enabling a hands-free interaction with Salesforce. By doing so, it not only streamlines operations but also enhances productivity through the elimination of manual data entry tasks. Furthermore, the Einstein Voice Assistant equips users with valuable insights that are pivotal in understanding their customers and nurturing robust customer relationships.

Here are some specific examples of how Salesforce voice-activated features can be used:

• A sales rep can use Einstein Voice Assistant to create a new lead record by saying, “Einstein, create a new lead record for John Smith from Acme Corporation.”
• A manager can use Einstein Voice Assistant to get a daily briefing on their team’s performance by saying, “Einstein, tell me how my team is doing today.”

The introduction of voice-activated features into the Salesforce CRM platform marks a pivotal step in the evolution of customer relationship management. This groundbreaking innovation empowers businesses with the ability to harness the power of conversational AI, enabling seamless, hands-free interactions with Salesforce. By streamlining operations and eliminating time-consuming manual data entry tasks, voice-activated features are not only revolutionizing workflow efficiency but also propelling productivity to unprecedented heights. Moreover, these sophisticated tools equip users with invaluable customer insights, empowering them to cultivate deeper connections and foster enduring customer relationships.

Predictions 2024: What to Expect

While Salesforce is doing wonders with its mobile CRM and voice command feature powered by Einstein Voice, we can foresee some advancements and development.

Things that could be fixed:

• Context awareness: Voice-activated CRM systems can sometimes struggle to understand the context of a user’s request. For example, if a user says “Create a new lead,” the system may not know which company the user is referring to. In the future, we can expect to see more context-aware voice-activated CRM systems.
• Integration: Voice-activated CRM systems are not always well-integrated with other Salesforce features. For example, it may not be possible to use voice commands to create a new lead record and then automatically add that lead to a campaign. In the future, we can expect to see more seamless integration between voice-activated CRM systems and other Salesforce features.

Things that could be enhanced:

• Personalization: Voice-activated CRM systems can be personalized to meet the needs of individual users. For example, a system could be configured to recognize a user’s voice and automatically recall their preferences. In the future, we can expect to see more personalized voice-activated CRM systems.
• Usability: Voice-activated CRM systems can be difficult to use, especially for users who are not familiar with voice technology. In the future, we can expect to see more user-friendly voice-activated CRM systems.

Things that could be added:

• New features: New features could be added to voice-activated CRM systems, such as the ability to generate reports, create custom dashboards, and collaborate with other users.
• Support for multiple languages: Voice-activated CRM systems could be extended to support multiple languages, making them more accessible to users around the world.
• Integration with other technologies: Voice-activated CRM systems could be integrated with other technologies, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, to provide users with more powerful insights.

As we stand at the precipice of a voice-activated CRM revolution, the future of Salesforce voice-activated CRM gleams with boundless possibilities. With continuous innovation and refinement, these systems hold the transformative power to reshape the very fabric of customer engagement. Envision a future where businesses effortlessly interact with their customers, seamlessly gathering insights and forging deeper connections through natural language. This is not just a glimpse into the future; it’s a promise on the horizon, inviting us to embrace the transformative power of voice-activated CRM.

Statistical References:

^[i] Salesforce
^[ii] Voicebot.AI
^[iii] DemandSage
^[iv] ForceManager
^[v][vi] SuperOffice