Salesforce consultants help their clients optimize the use of their CRM platform. In addition, they assist the firm in remaining on track at various stages of the Salesforce deployment.
They are also renowned for planning projects that vary in size, utilizing workforce hours, and developing project timelines. Moreover, they are experts in solution design regarding automation, custom objects, and data relationships.
Requirements Gathering
Requirements gathering is a critical step in the project. It ensures the system is designed based on the client’s business requirements. This increases the project success rate and reduces the chances of encountering problems later in development.
This is also an opportunity for the consultant to interact with clients and understand their expectations for the project. The consultant should utilize interviewing techniques like questionnaires, surveys, and interviews to collect the necessary information for the project.
A Salesforce consultant acts as the first point of contact for the client company. They deal with every client’s question, query, general suggestion, or comment and foster a cordial relationship.
Business Analysis
In this stage, Salesforce consultants get to know the client company and assess their requirements. Then, they define the specific business analysis deliverables to fully cover the project scope, including identifying foreseeable risks and determining a delivery timeline.
Salesforce consultants should have strong written and verbal communication skills to explain complex technical points to non-technical stakeholders. They must also have the caliber to identify and discover business solutions to meet customer needs. They help companies of all sizes streamline their customer service processes and enhance organizational performance through the Salesforce platform. They also train employees to use CRM.
Design
Salesforce consultants use their expert platform knowledge to help clients maximize their potential. They help them optimize the system and boost their sales and ROI.
Entry-level Salesforce consultants work in a support role, executing configuration tasks delegated by more experienced team members. They learn by observing more senior consultants, participating in client meetings, and acting as the client’s escalation point.
As they gain experience, they can carry out business analysis independently and build solutions for large-scale transformations with complex integrations (this is known as pre-sales involvement). Solution design involves determining which Salesforce options are best in each scenario regarding automation, custom objects, and data relationships.
Implementation
Salesforce consultants help their clients make the most of the platform. They design CRM solutions that meet business goals—such as reducing costs, increasing sales, and improving customer management—and improve existing workflows.
They also ensure that solutions are delivered according to the given deadlines by analyzing and optimizing working hours, establishing project timelines, and scheduling client meetings. This is crucial for an effective implementation of the Salesforce solution.
The end users will likely feel the most substantial impact of Salesforce as they integrate it into their everyday work routines. Therefore, the consultants must remain engaged with these employees and address any issues or concerns so that the new system can ultimately increase efficiency.
Training
The role of a Salesforce consultant is more than just implementing a tech platform. It also involves training people on how to use it.
As a result, they need to have strong customer service skills and robust knowledge of the platform. This makes them valuable to their clients, which is why they are rewarded with such a high salary.
This includes assisting with training sessions for their client companies. It also means being able to provide status updates on multiple projects at the same time from one dashboard. This can be a challenge for consultants who work with smaller firms and have to split their time across numerous clients.
Launch
After identifying the client’s requirements, Salesforce consultants build a project plan with a clear timeline and any foreseeable risks. This is then shared with cross-functional teams like marketing, product, sales, engineering, and support. It ensures that every activity is completed before launch day and helps to keep everyone accountable.
Since its founding in 1999, Salesforce has grown beyond its humble beginnings — a one-bedroom apartment next to Marc Benioff’s home atop Telegraph Hill, San Francisco. Today, it has an ecosystem of administrators, developers, and users and is the leader in customer relationship management (CRM). It also generates massive revenue, with projected ecosystem revenues of $1.6 trillion by 2024.
