The Salesforce playbook for manufacturing.
Manufacturing is where the integration story matters most. Sales, channel, service, and operations all touch the same products and the same customers, and they all need to see the same data. The companies winning right now have unified their go-to-market technology on top of their ERP, with AI deployed where it changes the cost structure.
- 14 chapters
- 5 Salesforce products in depth
- 14-point readiness checklist
- 10,402 words
What's inside.
Written by our Salesforce consultants for manufacturing. Read it start to finish or go straight to the chapter you need.
Salesforce in manufacturing: where it pays off
6 patterns that work, and the stack we typically deploy.
The challenges Salesforce has to solve
The 6 problems a design has to solve, plus 4 methods we use on them.
Which Salesforce products fit, and how
Salesforce Sales Cloud, Salesforce Revenue Cloud / CPQ, Salesforce Experience Cloud, Salesforce Service Cloud, Salesforce Marketing Cloud: use cases, data model and buyer questions for each.
How to implement it
Who needs to be in the room, what the first release includes, and the questions to settle before kickoff.
Moving from your current system
What moves from your current system, how to plan it, and the decisions to make early.
The systems to connect
10 systems to connect and what flows between them.
Regulation and compliance
6 rules and obligations the design has to account for.
Readiness checklist
14 decisions to make before you sign a statement of work.
What to measure
6 metrics to baseline before the build, with a worksheet.
After go-live: support and health checks
What ongoing support covers and when to run a health check.
If a project has stalled
How stalled projects get back on track, and how to get more from the org you have.
Results from our projects
6 results from Abstrakt Solutions projects.
Where the industry is concentrated, and local guides
Where the industry is the largest share of the local economy, and local guides for 83 metros.
Next steps
Free assessments and how to reach a consultant.
From the readiness checklist.
Three of the 14 decisions the playbook asks you to make before you sign a statement of work. The full checklist, with the rest of the playbook, is in the PDF.
Get the full playbook →- Clean the customer master firstERP customer records often contain duplicates, legacy ship-to accounts and inconsistent naming. Agree how to consolidate them before syncing, or Salesforce inherits the mess and reps lose confidence immediately. A crosswalk between ERP and CRM identifiers keeps reporting consistent across both systems.
- Stage CPQ carefullyConfigure-price-quote work depends on accurate product structures, pricing rules and approval policies, which are often undocumented. Treat it as its own phase with engineering and pricing owners involved. Rushing it into the first release risks wrong quotes and a sales force that stops trusting the tool.
- Address channel conflict openlyWhen direct reps and distributors pursue the same customers, deal registration rules and visibility must be agreed in advance. Decide who can see which accounts and how conflicts are resolved, then build that into sharing and assignment. Otherwise partners simply stop registering deals.
The Salesforce products it covers.
Each product chapter covers use cases, how the data is modeled and the questions buyers ask. Shorter versions are on our site.
- Salesforce Sales Cloud for ManufacturingSales Cloud gives manufacturers a place to manage the parts of selling that the ERP does not: new program opportunities, engineering-driven sales cycles, distributor and rep relationships, and plans for key customers.
- Salesforce Revenue Cloud and CPQ for ManufacturingRevenue Cloud and its CPQ capabilities let manufacturers quote complex, configurable products without relying on a few people who know every rule by heart.
- Salesforce Experience Cloud for ManufacturingExperience Cloud lets manufacturers open selected Salesforce data and processes to dealers, distributors, installers and end customers through secure, branded sites.
- Salesforce Service Cloud for ManufacturingService Cloud gives manufacturers a single place to handle what happens after the product ships: technical support questions, warranty claims, return authorizations, order and delivery inquiries, and complaints that may point to a quality problem.
- Salesforce Marketing Cloud for ManufacturingMarketing Cloud helps manufacturers reach engineers, buyers, distributors and existing owners with messages tied to what they actually use or specify.
Who wrote it.
Abstrakt Solutions is a Salesforce Select partner based in St. Louis, with 108 Salesforce certifications, 7 Salesforce accreditations and a 4.95 out of 5 rating from 92 reviews on Salesforce AgentExchange (formerly AppExchange).
The playbook draws on the guidance we publish for manufacturing and on 6 of our own projects.
