Is sales NAV better than premium?

This is a common question that many businesses face when evaluating CRM solutions. Salesforce offers two core CRM products for small and medium-sized businesses: Sales NAV and Premium. In this comprehensive guide, we will compare the key features, pricing, and use cases of Sales NAV vs Premium to help you determine which is the better fit for your company.

Sales NAV Overview

Sales NAV is Salesforce’s affordable CRM solution designed for small and emerging businesses. Key features of Sales NAV include:

• Contact Management – Organize all your customer and prospect information in one place.
• Account Management – Track details like account history, open opportunities, and activity.
• Opportunity Tracking – Monitor your open deals from lead to close.
• Sales Forecasting – Predict future sales based on pipeline trends.
• Customer Service – Log cases, track issues, and provide support.
• Mobile Access – Manage your CRM on the go with the Salesforce mobile app.
• Analytics – Gain insights from reports and dashboards.
• 3rd Party App Integration – Connect other business apps through the AppExchange marketplace.

Sales NAV is designed to be easy to use right out of the box, with drag-and-drop customization capabilities. It includes core sales and customer service functionality without advanced extras that smaller businesses may not need. The interface has a clean, modern look and feel that is familiar to Salesforce users.

Premium Edition Overview

Salesforce Premium takes CRM to the next level with more advanced features, customization, and scalability for growing businesses. Key highlights of Premium include:

• Opportunity Management – Customizable sales processes, product/price books, and opportunity splits.
• Sales Collaboration – Team selling with account hierarchy, shared activities, and opportunity teams.
• Lead Management – Custom lead processes, lead queues, and campaign integration.
• Customer Service – Case teams, entitlements, service contracts, knowledge base.
• Marketing Automation – Build targeted email campaigns and customize segmentation.
• Customization – Modify page layouts, business processes, apps, and tabs.
• API Access – Integrate CRM data into other systems and build custom apps.
• Administration – Role-based security, workflow automation, and compliance support.

Premium provides greater flexibility to adapt the CRM to your sales and service processes. The additional customization and automation capabilities make Premium better suited to businesses with more complex workflows or specialized needs.

Comparing Key Features

Let’s dive deeper into the key differences between Sales NAV and Premium Editions:

User Licenses

Sales NAV supports a maximum of 10 users with its base licenses, while Premium allows up to 25 users. For larger teams, Premium provides more flexibility for user access and permissions.

Records

The record storage limits vary significantly between the editions:

Premium supports unlimited contacts and accounts, with higher limits for campaigns, custom objects, and other records.

Customization

When it comes to adapting Salesforce to your unique business needs, Premium offers significantly more customization options including:

• Page Layout Editor – Enhance page layouts
• Workflow Rules – Automate processes
• Approval Processes – Create approval chains
• Custom Apps – Build unique apps
• Custom Tabs – Add custom navigational tabs
• Roles – Fine tune user permissions

This allows you to truly customize the instance for sales, service, and industry-specific needs.

Integrations & APIs

Both Sales NAV and Premium support third-party app integration through the AppExchange marketplace. However, Premium also provides access to the full Salesforce API for deeper integration capabilities.

With API access, you can build custom apps on the Salesforce platform, integrate CRM data with other systems like ERP and marketing automation, and customize complex workflows and business processes.

Support

Sales NAV comes with web support, documentation, and online training content. Premium provides all of that plus access to chat support with Salesforce agents and 24/7 phone support for critical issues to resolve problems quickly.

Pricing Comparison

Sales NAV and Premium have different pricing models that reflect the differences in features and capabilities:

Sales NAV costs $25 per user per month, with a minimum annual cost of $3,000. Premium is $150 per user per month with a $9,000 annual minimum. Volume discounts are available on Premium licenses once you exceed 10 users.

Keep in mind that Salesforce offers nonprofit discounts of 40% off these list prices. Pricing for both solutions may also vary based on promotional offers.

When is Sales NAV the Right Choice?

Sales NAV is ideal for smaller companies that want an affordable CRM solution with basic sales and support functionality. It’s a good fit for businesses that:

• Have under 10 employees
• Are early stage or growing startups
• Need straightforward contact and lead management
• Have simple sales processes and no specialized needs
• Use email marketing with minimal segmentation
• Have limited budget or lower willingness to pay

Sales NAV makes Salesforce accessible for early stage startups and very small businesses at an attractive price point. The simplified features still provide enormous value compared to spreadsheets or patchwork systems.

When to Choose Salesforce Premium

Salesforce Premium is the better choice as your company scales and requires more sophisticated CRM capabilities. Premium is ideal for businesses that:

• Have 10+ employees
• Need advanced customization and automation
• Have complex or specialized sales processes
• Require in-depth tracking and reporting
• Use highly segmented marketing campaigns
• Need enterprise integrations and APIs
• Have industry-specific requirements
• Are mid-market or larger companies

Premium can support more complex business requirements and custom workflows for sales, service, and marketing. The API access also enables deep integrations to unite CRM with the rest of your technology stack.

Which is Right For You?

Determining whether Sales NAV or Premium is the better choice depends on your company size, budget, and functionality needs. Consider which edition aligns better to your priorities:

In summary:

• Sales NAV offers an affordable starter CRM solution for early stage businesses.
• Premium supports more complex needs and customization for established mid-market companies.

As your business grows, you may find yourself outgrowing Sales NAV and needing to upgrade to Premium. Salesforce makes it easy to upgrade editions while preserving your configurations and data.

Conclusion

Sales NAV and Premium both provide tremendous value as Salesforce-powered CRM solutions tailored to small/mid-sized businesses. Sales NAV is the right choice for startups who need an affordable starter CRM, while Premium better serves established businesses needing advanced customization and scalability.

When selecting between Sales NAV vs Premium, consider your budget, team size, growth trajectory, and functionality needs. This will help determine which edition is the better fit. Both can help maximize sales and customer success as your company evolves.