The document provides guidance on getting started with Salesforce including watching promotional materials, signing up for free trials, and considering implementation options. It discusses whether to partner with an implementation company or do an in-house installation based on budget, skills, and adoption factors. The document also provides tips on campaign setup and integration with email marketing tools like Vertical Response.

1. Getting Started with Salesforce Here are the road signs you can look for during the process of adopting Salesforce platform.

3. To Partner or Not to Partner When moving forward with CRM installation, you have two choices. You can retain an implementation partner or you can install your CRM on your own. There are three factors to consider: Budget: Is a partner deployment affordable? Skill: Do you have the skill set required to install and configure Salesforce? Adopt: Are you able to get your staff using the new system?

4. To Partner… Talk to at least 3 potential partners. Things to consider: Certifications: How many certifications? What certifications do they have? Experience: How many projects have they deployed? Do they have client references? Have they done similar projects? Tenure: How long has the partner been around? Do they have longstanding partnerships? Breadth: How many staff do they have? Where are their offices?

6. There are a number of resources available to anyone involved with Salesforce, no matter their skill level. User Groups: Most cities have one available, which not only provides you with meetings to discuss Salesforce, but puts a circle of helpful Salesforce contacts at your fingertips. Google Groups: In particular, the NPSP group. If you’re not all members already, you should be. There is robust discussion happening there, users write and have questions answered by extremely knowledgeable Salesforce developers. Help in SF: There are countless videos and tutorials to walk you through tasks in Salesforce. Either… Or…

7. Getting off the Ground with Campaigns There are a number of training videos available on YouTube . Just remember to do your “translations”… Campaign = Appeal Contacts = Constituent Accounts = Organizations Leads = Potential Donors Opportunities = Donations

8. So What is a Campaign? A campaign (i.e. appeal) is a promotional effort focused around a particular marketing segment, designed to elicit a constituent response. Examples include: - Donation requests - Newsletter interest - Get out the vote - Volunteer efforts - Events

9. Campaign Apps A campaign without promotion is worthless. Below is a list of apps designed to help you augment your campaign effort. Examples include: Mass Email: Exact Target , Vertical Response , Constant Contact , Magnet Mail Telephone: Phone Campaigner Social Media: Rapleaf, Toucan, Salesforce Twitter, Live Twitter Mass Fax: Esker Snail Mail: Esker Mass Text: Messagenet SMS, Messagenet SMS, SMS Magic

11. Example: Email Marketing in Salesforce Vertical Response gifts 10K emails per month to nonprofits. Here are a few tips from VR regarding successful email campaigns: Leverage your Stats: VR allows you to update email statistics (clicks, opens, bounces, etc.) to Salesforce. 1 Click Social Web: Allows you to load email campaigns to your organization’s FB and Twitter communities, reaching contacts outside your email lists. Free Webinars: Salesforce and Vertical Response offer a great number of free webinars you can use -- there’s a great one tomorrow, June 30 th , which is an introduction to VR.