Reaching your destination with Salesforce

By Martin Brockwell

At a not-for-profit user group that I attended not so long ago, a Salesforce employee remarked on how successfully embedding Salesforce was an ongoing journey that you and your organisation need to continually work at in order to get exactly where you wanted to go. 

His analogy was the following: “Salesforce ask you who wants to go on holiday in Hawaii? Everyone puts their hands up. Salesforce then pick you up in a shuttle bus, drive you to the airport and park outside a 747 jet, they then say okay there’s the keys to the plane, away you go!�? Salesforce implementations can of course be supported in their early days by a consultancy but if you are limited in your resources and if your trips to Hawaii are to be frequent and cost effective then you are going to need to find your own pilot (not to stretch the analogy to breaking point!)  Engaging with Salesforce longer term is crucial to implementation success and is something that the project champions who kick a project off don’t always consider or compensate for.  

We would recommend investing in training an internal resource and finding suitable people to take on the following internal positions:  

System Admin – An internal staff member who has the responsibility of managing system security and compliance, carrying out essential maintenance tasks, managing an ongoing staff support agenda and keeping one eye on the system development road map. The admin should be the go to person for Salesforce topics within your organisation, and it is a good idea to support your admin with an external consultant that can offer expert advice as and when needed.  Super Users – If you can’t afford a single staff member to be a dedicated Admin full time, then staff with “Super User!” knowledge are often the next best thing. These staff members can gain specialised knowledge in: 

1. Security Management 
2. Oversee Data Integrity  
3. Analytics: Reports and Dashboards  
4. Marketing: Email Shots and Campaigns 

Either of these options mean that having this knowledge in house will: 

1. Make things happen within a reasonable timetable 
2. Reduce implementation costs 
3. Embed system knowledge within your workforce 
4. Maintain Project Momentum 
5. Build trust in the system and data  

How can our Company support these roles? 

our Company provides one-to-one or group mentoring and training to develop the skills of internal Salesforce admins:

Annual Support Package

Buying an our Company Annual Support Package gives you exclusive access to our Company Champions User Group. This service is ideal to support staff learn more about Salesforce and put their Salesforce knowledge to practical use under the supervision of our Company’s Expert Consultants.   The group consists of: 

• Monthly Live Training Webinars, which will also be recorded (topics will be voted on by Champions Group Customers) 
• Monthly 1hr group mentoring calls – Consultants to answer any questions you wish 
• 2x 1 day Champion Workshops in London – exclusive access to Consultancy team 
• A series of customer insight case study webinars 
• Online peer chatter group to connect and support each other. 

The Training Calls, Mentoring Calls and Away Days are open to as many staff from your organisation as you wish so buying into this service can be the ideal vehicle to drive forward your Salesforce adoption and expansion. 

Developing your own System Admin

For staff members who are responsible for back-end internal administration of their Salesforce system, we are running six month virtual training courses to train staff in charities as Salesforce administrators. The curriculum covers the learning objectives required to take the Salesforce Administrator certification, as well as the fundamentals of the Non Profit Success Pack. 

The course consists of: 

• Fortnightly – 2.5hr Live Training & Mentoring Webinars, which will also be recorded. 
• Weekly – 8hrs of Homework and Self Study 
• Access to Salesforce Champion Membership for one year (see below) 
• Online chatter group for peer support and Litmos LMS access for one year 
• 3x 1hr one-to-one mentoring calls 

For more information on how we can support you sustain the success of your Salesforce project please don’t hesitate to contact us.  A summary of our support options can be found here: https://www.economicchange.co.uk/salesforce-support-non-profits/