A Salesforce Document Generation App Will Change Your Life – Really!

You know those campy infomercials where an exasperated actor looks at the camera and screams out in frustration, “There has to be a better way!?” Then the announcer tells the audience that “there is a solution!” and we see the same actor happily completing their task? If you live in Salesforce, life without a document generation app is just as frustrating. Adding one to your Salesforce wheelhouse can change your life.

Once installed, daily users are one-click away from creating and emailing highly customized proposals, quotes and more.

Life without a Salesforce document generation app

While a document generation app is more complicated than the “Touch N Brush” in the video above, it’s just about as easy to use. Once they’re set up, they can increase efficiencies while making Salesforce’s day-to-day activities simpler and more seamless.

Without a document generation app, making custom documents like sales quotes and proposals have to be created outside the Salesforce environment. Oftentimes, this means using a template that was designed in MS Word long ago, then saving it as a PDF. Because of custom content, a user will inevitably spend more time than necessary making edits. And even after taking massive amounts of time formatting and trying to get it just right, they’ll then need to “Save As” and begin the process of uploading it to Salesforce. At that point, it can finally be sent to a prospect/client and tracked properly.

Only as a slightly better option, users can try templates supplied by Salesforce. While these allow users to generate a document with very basic templates, they don’t offer total control over formatting or basic features like conditional logic. For example, if the template has a discount field, but a salesperson does not include a discount in their quote, the field will not disappear when a zero percent discount is applied — making the client wonder why they are not getting a discount.

The right Salesforce document generation app solves these and many more pain points.

3 ways a document generation app will benefit a daily Salesforce user

1. Speed: It will put an end to the wasted time and mistakes caused by copying and pasting information from Salesforce into your existing documents, forms, emails or proposals.
2. Empowers End-Users: It gives document generation control to users that are no longer reliant on dedicated IT resources.
3. Security: While this may not be a concern of a daily user, a native solution like S-Docs  can be approved by IT much quicker.

Recommendation – Come to the table with a solution

One of the most common questions we hear from daily users is “how do I convince our Salesforce admin or IT director that a document creation app is worth exploring?” Leaders are always happier when users come to the table with a solution –  and there are several ways to solve this problem. This is where you want to focus on the WIIFM (what's in it for me) approach. While you, the user will clearly benefit, you should highlight the benefits of a document generation solution for the admin and the organization.

There are some common concerns raised whenever a new solution is proposed. You should be well prepared to help convince your organization that your recommendation makes sense:

• Explain “buy over build” benefits: Your admin could recommend a consultant or internal developers to build a solution. Development projects take time and compete with other internal projects. They also need ongoing and constant IT support. What happens when you need changes, Salesforce upgrades their platform, you want to add more docs, go mobile, add languages, or add permissions or workflows? Your organization would spend a lot of energy trying to maintain code when it should focus on selling. A native document generation app, like S-Docs, delivers on the four benefits listed above. Moreover, why build something new when someone has already done the work for you? You should point out that a turn-key solution will lessen the demand for IT resources, since this process will can be managed by end-users – not developers.
• Explain that you want to go with a trusted and proven solution: Read reviews of document generation apps in the Salesforce AppExchange. Talk to other users like you to see if they think a document generation app would make their life easier. Armed with this research, pull a list of benefits relevant to your organization thus demonstrating to management that it is a worthwhile investment. Most solutions offer an online ROI calculator that can help demonstrate the return on investment.

Taking the time to supply management with a well-thought solution will not only help move the process of getting a document generation app approved — it will also change your life. Really, it will.