How to work with a Salesforce Consultant

4 Ways to Get the Most Value from Your Salesforce Consultant

Set realistic deliverables

You should have an outline of what your new Salesforce Consultant is helping you accomplish even if you don't know the specifics of how to get it done. As soon as they join, you need to ensure they know that too. Perhaps you implemented Salesforce CPQ and things are breaking all over the place. Great, you need a CPQ Architect that can conduct a quick audit, identify the issues, design an ideal solution, and scope out every deliverable you need to build to get there. On the other hand, maybe Salesforce is working just fine but your Revenue Operations team doesn't have time to build that Calendly integration or create those workflow automations. Excellent, you're probably just looking for a Salesforce Admin Consultant to plug in and assign tickets to. At the start of any Salesforce project, arrange a planning meeting with your Consultant to discuss whether you need them to be proactive and strategic or reactive and tactical.

Then, set clear timelines, project goals, and deliverables to work against.

Set realistic goals and expectations

Agreeing on realistic deliverables is important but so is taking the next step in outlining exactly how you expect that work to get done.

Your Salesforce Consultant doesn’t just need to know the end state you're targeting. They also need to know what your role will be in the process, the role of your team, and their individual role. If we're rescuing a failed CPQ implementation, are they just the Architect designing the solution or do you expect them to be hands-on keyboard doing the build?

Communicate upfront so everyone knows what is expected, can ensure skills alignment, and knows how to hit the necessary timeline.

Discuss Long-Term Roadmap

If you want to build the best Salesforce org for your company, you need to take a long-term view every step of the way. Your Consultant should understand the future plans, so they can help build a scalable Internal Tools infrastructure for your organization. For example, perhaps the immediate focus is getting this CPQ Cloud project back on track but once it's finished, you plan to implement Billing - this will impact how they go about configuring and setting up CPQ, so it's critical to communicate the broader vision with your Consultant.

Configuring, customizing, or integrating Salesforce without knowing what you are working towards is extremely difficult. Make sure your Salesforce Consultant knows the areas that your business is focusing on growth, some of the challenges you think will hold you back, and the areas you are expecting Salesforce to deliver value across the business over time.

This advice is true for any team member but especially for an outside Consultant working on systems that touch every business unit within your company.

Establish Process in Slack

Chances are you're using Slack and a tool like Asana or Jira to manage the day-to-day project load. Your Salesforce Consultant should work out of the tools that your team is in every single day.

Any Consultant that isn't integrated into the existing communication structure will have a difficult time communicating effectively. When a Consultant or Consulting Firm wants to collaborate during kickoff and then leave your team on the sidelines until the project is ready to be handed back to you, it's a huge red flag.

For the best results, communicate regularly and have them embedded within your existing team.

If you’ve followed our advice for choosing the right Salesforce Consultant for your needs, the person you hired will be highly trained, experienced and able to manage projects, manage teams, and provide guidance. They can be as involved as you need, or they can take a backseat and merely deliver hands-on work.

Best practice would be to establish a meeting and communication cadence at the start of a project.

• Do you expect them to be available on-demand?

• How many times per week do you want to meet?

• Is there a daily stand up that would be beneficial for them to attend?

• What is the turnaround time you expect for certain deliverables?

If you aren't sure, you can tell your Consultant that you'd like them to set these expectations for the engagement but make sure to discuss it at the start! Finally, remember that you and your Consultant are partners in every endeavor they’re involved in.