As a very easy-to-use tool for increasing sales teams’ productivity through the Gmail and Outlook integrations, Salesforce Inbox has been used widely for a long time.
Salesforce have even decided to make it available at no extra cost for their Unlimited and Performance editions.
Salesforce Inbox: Quick Overview
With a Salesforce Inbox license, users are able to:
- Access Salesforce data directly from a side panel on their email page.
- Easily share availability and schedule meetings.
- Access the Inbox mobile app.
- Track emails… and more.
Read More:
What’s New?
By far one of the most time-saving features available with Salesforce email integrations is the ability to send meeting invites to either customers or internal colleagues (or both), with just a couple of clicks.
While you may already be familiar with the Availability tab within the side panel, the Scheduling Link option is brand new, having been made Generally Available to Inbox users in December 2022.
As you can see below, this means that right now you have both of the following options:
- Preferred Times: Send out specific meeting times the customer can choose from.
- Scheduling Link: Allow customers to be in full control of the time, and simply pick an available slot directly from your calendar.
Of course, not only is this new feature available within your Outlook or Gmail inbox, but it’s also an option when sending emails directly from Salesforce Lightning. This allows the sales and business development teams to have this option at their fingertips at all times!
How Does It Work?
As noted above, the new feature is literally two clicks away. Once a sales manager clicks on Scheduling Link, their calendar availability will be inserted into the email in the form of a Book a Meeting link the recipient can click on. Then it’s simply a matter of hitting send!
Keep in mind that availability is taken directly from the user’s calendar, ensuring the recipient will have accurate information whenever they decide to click on the dynamic link (available for 90 days).
After the recipient clicks on the link from the email, the sales manager’s up-to-date calendar will appear for the prospect or customer to rapidly choose whichever slot is best suited for them. Once they do, a meeting invite will automatically be sent out on the sales manager’s behalf.
Summary
And that’s it! The tedious back-and-forth conversations for choosing the right slot never even happened, giving both the sales manager and the prospect time to focus on more important day-to-day tasks.
Don’t forget to check out the Salesforce Inbox release notes for Spring ‘23, and if you are already an Inbox user, make sure you check out the new Scheduling Link option!
Note: Since, at this time, there isn’t a developer edition available to try out Salesforce Inbox functionality outside your organization, you should reach out to your account executive for further licensing information and a possible trial.