Lina Fowler

Salesforce has long been the platform of record-keeping for sales teams, while the pandemic quickly popularized Slack as a communication hub for sales teams. This has caused a fragmented work flow in which sales teams switch between platforms to get their work done. Critical updates are often lost or outdated.

My Role

I was brought on as product manager soon after Salesforce acquired Slack. I was tasked with defining and conceptualizing the hybridization of Salesforce + Slack to increase the efficiency of the sales team workflow.

I began with open-ended interviews with all roles on the sales team -- sales managers, representatives, and operations -- to understand the biggest frustrations and blockers in their day-to-day workflows.

Sales representatives revealed that their most-dreaded task is recalling their week's updates from Slack to input into Salesforce on Friday afternoons.

I held three rounds of meetings with sales reps from Salesforce client companies to gather product feedback early and often. Among the solutions I tested with users, the following three were received with the most enthusiasm.

1. Slack-native option to send update with tags, notes, and attachments to Salesforce

2. In-conversation AI assistant prompts updates from conversation context: "Would you like to update Acme Corp to Deal Stage 2?"

3. Salesforce-native Slack summarization