What is Salesforce?

Salesforce is a customer success platform designed to help you sell, service, market, analyze, and connect with customers.
Salesforce has everything you need to run your business from anywhere. Using standard products and features, you can manage relationships with prospects and customers, collaborate and engage with employees and partners, and store your data securely in the cloud.

Salesforce Data

Salesforce organizes data into Objects and Records.

Objects

Similar to tabs in a spreadsheet (e.g. Account, Contacts, Quotes)

Records

Similar to rows in spreadsheet tabs (e.g. Account Name, Phone, Website, Industry)

Salesforce Standard Objects

Objects that Salesforce already comes set up with and ready for use.
Accounts, Contacts, Leads, Opportunities

Accounts

Companies you’re doing business with. You can also do business with individual people, like solo contractors, using Person Accounts. More on that later.

Contacts

People who work at a company you’re doing business with (Accounts).

Leads

Potential prospects who are not yet ready to buy or you haven't determined what product they need.
You don't have to use Leads, but they can be helpful if you have team selling, or if you have different sales processes for prospects and qualified buyers.

Opportunities

Qualified leads that you’ve converted. When you convert a lead, you create an Account and Contact along with the Opportunity.