Salesforce Product Changes: What You Need to Know and How to Navigate Them

Salesforce has been accelerating its transformation into an AI-first platform since the summer of 2023 when the vendor applied a 9% increase to their core products. Shortly after, Salesforce introduced a new Sales/Service Cloud suite, Einstein 1, that focused on integrating generative AI capabilities into their core suites.

Since the introduction of the Einstein 1 suite, Salesforce has been making changes to their legacy product sets to push customers towards their new suite, including adding AI features to the product and increasing the list price from $50/user/month to $75/user/month. We are seeing this trend continue as upcoming product changes and product retirements reinforce Salesforce’s underlying strategy: push customers to their AI-based offerings like Einstein 1.

Here, we will cover what product changes Salesforce customers need to be aware of and how they can build a robust negotiation strategy in light of Salesforce’s goals.

What New Product Changes Do Customers Need to Be Aware Of?

Staying on-top of Salesforce’s product changes is more important than ever, as product retirements will continue to push customers towards Salesforce’s new offerings. One impactful retirement is Sales Enablement. Customers will no longer be able to renew this product, and the functionality of the product is now included under Salesforce’s Sales Programs License.

While this new license comes with additional AI features, they are also using this to justify price increases. For example, legacy Sales Enablement was previously $25/user/month where Sales Programs is priced at a 300% increase of $100/user/month. The catch – Sales Programs is also included in Salesforce’s Einstein 1 suite.

Since the 9% price increase in 2023, Salesforce has continued to close the gap between the cost of Sales Cloud Unlimited/Enterprise Edition, that most customers own today, plus a-la carte features compared to the cost of the full Einstein 1 upgrade. Going forward, it will be critical to understand your business’s current product portfolio and how Salesforce’s licensing changes can impact your business.

What Can Salesforce Customers Do

If your business will be impacted by Salesforce’s price increases, here are key strategies to maximize your leverage to get ahead of these licensing changes:

Conduct a Granular Assessment

Salesforce is justifying these price increases by citing additional value, but will you actually be using these new features? Put together a granular view of your usage of key products like Einstein or Sales Enablement. If you are not going to utilize the new features included, use this data to push back on the inflated pricing of these new solutions.

Understand Your Anticipated Rollout

Many enterprises are making the shift to add more AI features to their technology portfolio. However, this is a long-term journey. Your business will not be getting the full value out of these new upgrades on day 1 of a new agreement. Understand your business’s long-term plans and anticipated rollout schedule of new features to take a value-based approach to negotiations.

Leverage Salesforce’s Larger Goals

Salesforce has made it clear that AI is their key focus going forward. Because of this, they are aggressively pushing upgrades to new suites like Einstein 1, along with other AI offerings like Agentforce.

After conducting a granular assessment, evaluate your deal options. If you have renewal protections on existing product sets, be sure to leverage these by requesting baseline renewal options from Salesforce in-line with your current usage and roadmap.

Use this alternative option as a baseline for negotiations. Let Salesforce know that in-order for you to consider an upgrade to new suites like Einstein 1, the value needs to better align with your baseline option for you to justify this upgrade.

Salesforce wants to sell these new suites. Take control of negotiations and put Salesforce in a position where they need to go and win the upgrade.

The Bottom Line

Salesforce will continue to close the gap on add-on pricing relative to full suite upgrades. With the right strategies and planning in place, Salesforce customers can turn Salesforce’s motivations to push new suites to their advantage.

If you haven’t started planning yet because your renewal is far out, it would be advantageous to start planning now. For customers with renewals coming up ahead of Salesforce’s next FYE on 1/31, the time is now.

Don’t let Salesforce’s AI-focused changes disrupt your strategy. Navigate product retirements, price increases, and suite transitions with confidence. Partner with UpperEdge’s Salesforce Advisory experts to build a negotiation strategy that protects your bottom line. Learn more.