Leading firms are consistently seeing measurable returns within a quarter following new tech investments. If yours isn’t, it’s time to take the leap to Agentforce.
When business leaders discuss new tech investments, The Inevitable Question is always in conversational undercurrent:
How quickly will we see results?
One-hundred percent non-theoretical at its core, this very straightforward, completely closed-ended question is all too often treated as a conjectural one, met with round-a-bout answers and conditional timelines.
It doesn’t have to be that way. And for our clients, it isn’t.
Thanks to the dialed-in deployment of Salesforce-based tools like Agentforce, the answer is a matter of routine:
You’ll get results within 90 days - possibly sooner.
How can my team be so confident? Because we see it every day. Profoundly improved processes routinely inspire quick, measurable returns. It’s a rule of the business universe that simply comes down to approach.
As we all know, to determine the ROI of anything, you first have to figure out its tangible benefits and whether those benefits are relevant to your organization.
With Agentforce, I categorize the ROI upsides into three areas:
These factors will shape the ROI formula:
Now to quantify things.
In my experience with traditional CRM systems, a salesperson will spend about 35% of their total work hours doing data entry.
Agentforce slashes this data entry time-suck by automating data capture and delivering instant insights within the agent’s workflow.
For example, consider an employee whose annual cost totals around $100,000. If Agentforce saves just 15% of this person’s time - a realistic scenario based on ForteNext’s client data - that's a $15,000 annual savings, $3,750 each quarter.
Imagine a sales team of 10, each member spending 10 hours per week on manual CRM updates. In this scenario, Agentforce’s automation could reclaim 5 of those work hours weekly per person.
You’d be looking at an annual savings of over $125,000 - enough to hire another new team member (and maybe even pay their benefits).
What’s even crazier, all these savings are achieved with zero additional overhead.
Agentforce transforms tedious CRM interactions into precious selling opportunities. As a result, teams use these AI tools typically see much quicker sales cycles and achieve a boost of at least 20% in sales conversions.
Think of it like this: If an average salesperson generates $250,000 per quarter, and you attribute just half of a 20% productivity increase to Agentforce, that still comes out to an additional $25,000 per salesperson per quarter.
Or consider a sales rep who usually closes 10 deals per quarter. With Agentforce’s real-time insights and tactical prompts, this salesperson could realistically close two additional deals per quarter.
Estimate those deals at a modest $30,000 each, and you’re looking at generating an extra $60,000 quarterly revenue.
Clients I've worked with at FortéNext regularly see about a 10% decrease in operational costs within their first quarter. For a company whose quarterly operations are costing them around $200,000, that becomes an immediate savings of about $20,000 every 90 days.
More specifically, it’s not unusual for companies to spend $50,000 quarterly on CRM maintenance, licensing, and manual troubleshooting alone.
Integrating Agentforce’s AI-driven solutions can streamline these operations, potentially reducing associated expenses by 25% - putting an additional $12,500 back into the business each quarter.
Let’s assume your initial Agentforce investment - including licensing, onboarding, and training - comes to around $40,000.
To keep things modest, we’ll say your quarterly benefits are…
For a total quarterly savings of $48,750. Then, applying the payback period calculation…
You can easily see that your investment recoups its value quite comfortably within three months.
Recently, the team oversaw an Agentforce implementation at an enterprise software firm. Here’s what happened:
This client fully recouped their Agentforce investment in roughly 75 days, comfortably exceeding their initial expectations.
Of course, the initial 90-day payback is only the beginning. After this kick-off phase, Agentforce delivers long-term value exponentially.
First, there’s reduced turnover. With the drudgery of data entry greatly reduced, salespeople actually have the time they need to focus on selling. It’s a recipe for success, satisfaction, and sticking around.
Second, improvements compound on top of improvements ad infinitum - internally and externally.
Internally, AI-driven insights within your organization progressively improve sales results each subsequent quarter.
From the external, you’re getting the benefits of real-time access to Agentforce system improvements which, as with all things AI, are on rapid-fire mode.
If you’re convinced to take the quantum leap, keep these tips in mind:
Document current performance around productivity and costs.
For example, measure the exact amount of time sales representatives spend on manual data entry and administrative tasks weekly, and calculate the total cost of these hours based on employee wages.
Establishing clear metrics provides a baseline against which you can evaluate improvements after deploying Agentforce.
Tie Agentforce capabilities directly to measurable business goals like increased conversions and reduced administrative burdens.
For instance, if your current average quarterly conversion rate is 10%, set a specific target of achieving a conversion rate of 15% within two quarters post-Agentforce deployment.
Similarly, aim to reduce the hours your team spends on CRM data entry by at least 20% within the first quarter.
As a first step, deploy Agentforce within specific teams. Then make refinements based on feedback and measurable outcomes.
Choose a small, strategically significant team, such as your top-performing sales reps, to pilot Agentforce. Track their performance closely, gathering regular feedback through surveys and one-on-one check-ins.
Use this feedback to fine-tune the integration process and get a smoother, more successful, and broader deployment.
Continuously track performance metrics and adapt Agentforce use to optimize results.
Schedule monthly review meetings with team leads to discuss Agentforce performance data, identify emerging patterns, and determine necessary adjustments.
For instance, if sales reps find certain real-time insights particularly beneficial, refine the AI settings to emphasize these features. Doing so will maximize ongoing productivity gains.
When FortéNext advises companies considering Agentforce, our message is clear: Rapid, measurable financial results are yours for the taking.
The consistent 90-day payback we achieve with our clients underscores this point. More importantly, these initial returns compound over time, solidifying long-term competitive advantages.
Ultimately, if you're not seeing ROI in 90 days, you're already falling behind - Agentforce is the way to catch up, fast.
To further support your decision-making, Salesforce offers an Agentforce ROI Calculator to help you visualize your potential gains in time savings, cost reductions, and sales performance tailored to your specific business parameters. This can be a helpful tool for internal stakeholder buy-in, especially when aligning implementation goals with CFO or procurement expectations.
Additionally, recent updates to Agentforce's pricing models - specifically the introduction of Conversation-Based Pricing and Flex Credits, make adoption even more adaptable. Whether you're scaling usage by customer interactions or leveraging credits across different Salesforce AI capabilities, these options provide flexibility to align costs directly with outcomes. This makes the 90-day ROI model even more achievable for organizations of varying sizes and use cases.
