A fellow reader recently shared a story and asked for help. Here’s a summary of the situation:
Imagine you’re an in-house consultant. You were hired to onboard the sales team to Salesforce, but the stakeholder who hired you isn’t dedicating time to define requirements or approve the project launch.… Read the rest
As a Salesforce consultant, you probably don’t spend much time in in-person meetings with clients. This applies to independent consultants and those working with agencies.
Apps like Zoom have become so prolific, that it’s unnecessary to meet your client face-to-face. And yet, when we do, it’s magical.… Read the rest
As a Salesforce consultant working with a delivery team, you’re bound to have different opinions.
The solution architect will try to push their opinion because they understand the end goal.
The technical architect will say that’s not technically possible and offer alternatives.… Read the rest
Filler words are when you add words such as, “umm”, “err”, “humm”, “like”, “you know” in the middle of sentences. Most people often don’t realize how often they use them until they hear a recording of themselves.
In a casual conversation, these words are normal and accepted.… Read the rest
AI has become a daily part of our lives. It’s hard not to hear about it everyday. From next generation text responses to new video capabilities.
People also keep talking about the jobs it’ll take from us. When we initially thought about advances in technology, we imagined the blue-collared jobs would fall first.… Read the rest
There are two kinds of Salesforce consultants: those who hosted a client demo and an error popped, and those who will host a client demo and an error will pop.
Here are some considerations to help you manage errors in this situation.… Read the rest
Another sales tactic that works really well as an independent Salesforce consultant is to assume the sale.
What this means is, talk to your prospective client as though you’ve already won the deal. This allows you to change the frame of the conversation to one in which you are already working with the client.… Read the rest
This is a common question asked by clients, at the start of the implementation phase of a Salesforce project. They typically want to know when everything will be done. And this is a question you need to learn how to avoid answering directly.… Read the rest
As a “good enough” Salesforce consultant, you’re going to be in demand. It’s natural you will receive offers from many potential clients. And it’s also natural you won’t want to work with all of them.
Politely saying “no” to a client takes practice.… Read the rest
Many issues with your Salesforce project can be avoided by applying a simple test, before commiting to the project.
This test is performed during the sales call, while your potential client is introducing themselves and the project. About halfway through the conversation, ask yourself, “Can I see myself having a meal with this person, in a non-business setting?”… Read the rest
As Salesforce consultants, we are expected to know pretty much everything about Salesforce. But is that actually possible?
The ecosystem grows bigger everyday. The product names keep on changing. The bugs keep appearing. The updates keep coming. And our work doesn’t stop.… Read the rest
When working on multiple Salesforce projects, It’s common for one project to start shortly after another project begins. Sometimes there’s even some overlap.
Recently, I had one project that required more attention than expected, and I wasn’t able to start the 2nd project at the expected date.… Read the rest
In addition to building your tribe, another powerful way to help your career is to build your cheerleaders.
Cheerleaders are people that you don’t meet regularly, and who are a bit further out of your immediate network.
However, they are champions to your cause.… Read the rest
Positively challenging your Salesforce clients is fun.
Getting them to open their minds to the possibilities and seeing a grin slowly spread across their faces is priceless.
Of course, in the early stages of the sales cycle, it’s not always easy to build excitement.… Read the rest
One business decision that can really help you grow your career as a Salesfore consultant is deciding to be part of a tribe.
A tribe doesn’t mean contributing to the Trailblazer community, or one of the many Salesforce-oriented Slack workspaces. Those are great, and you should be participating in those forums, but that’s not what a tribe is.… Read the rest
While networking at Nonprofit Dreamin this week, someone asked me why am I so good at marketing myself? Being a soloist cannot be easy, he added. After all, I
My response was laughter.… Read the rest
Every once in a while, I rewatch an YouTube video from 2014 called The Expert (Short Comedy Sketch).
It’s titled a comedy but it’s actually scary how real it feels.
The actors are:
Sadly, being a Salesforce consultant can often make you feel like the expert in this sketch.… Read the rest
As a Salesforce consultant, sometimes your client can irritate you.
Perhaps they do it unconsciously or inadvertently, and they may do it to try and exert their dominance on you. It actually doesn’t really matter why they do these things. You cannot control them, you cannot change their behavior, and you should not retaliate.… Read the rest
Another approach to setting expectations with a Salesforce client is to set the bar low and then deliver more than promised.
Thus, instead of telling them how great the results are going to be, you almost do the opposite.
For example, you could say, “All these extra features sound great, but I doubt we’ll have time to do them for the MVP”.… Read the rest
Did you know they’ve done studies about anticipation?
One of these studies linked anticipation to experience. They found the positive or negative anticipation or expectation of something has a direct relationship with the actual experience of this something.
For example, when you open a pop or soda, it makes that wonderful fizzing noise.… Read the rest
I recently listened to a wonderful podcast with Annie Duke.
Annie is a former poker player and author of some books related to decision science and decision education. As you know, decision making is an important part of being a Salesforce consultant.… Read the rest
Your Salesforce clients know their business. This is what they do every day and where their expertise lies. That’s their job.
They shouldn’t be expected to know Salesforce. This is what you do every day. That’s your job.
So in order to understand their needs, it’s your responsibility to speak to them in their language.… Read the rest
Yesterday’s email about “Yes, and”… with clients and the example with a client with a dumb idea seems to have ruffled a few features. So let’s talk about another use case, one in which you’re working with fellow team members.
Let’s say you’re doing a Salesforce discovery session with a handful of colleagues and the client.… Read the rest
In a Salesforce discovery session with a client, someone is bound to share some stupid ideas.
It’s not that the person is dumb, it’s usually the idea they are communicating just doesn’t fit in the current context.
Rather than point out how weird that idea is, here’s a tip from improvisational comedy: Say, “Yes, and …” and then redirect the conversation to something else.… Read the rest
Last week I wrote an email about Asking for the no: A negotiation lesson from Calvin & Hobbes, in which Calvin attempts to use a negotiation strategy called the door-in-the-face technique.
Today’s negotiation strategy is about the opposite method. It’s called the foot-in-the-door technique.… Read the rest
Despite wanting to believe that you and I are superhuman, our brains have the same limits as everyone else. And knowing some of these limits can help us be better communicators during Salesforce projects.
The limit for today is: the number of daily decisions we are capable of making before “decision fatigue” kicks in.… Read the rest
Another negotiation tactic that involves the word “no” comes from the Black Swan Group.
According to their website, “When someone says yes, they’re committing to something, and people are hesitant to make such commitments. On the other hand, when they can say no, they feel protected.”… Read the rest
When I was younger, I used to love reading the comic, Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson in the Sunday newspaper.
Calvin was linguistically wise beyond his years, and it was lovely to re-read all the books with my nephew more recently.… Read the rest
Many years ago, I didn’t have the ability to hire professional movers. Instead, like most university students, I would rent a truck, like U-Haul van, pack everything myself, and then ask some friends to help me load and unload.
It was a cheap but effective option when friends were willing and available.… Read the rest
Let’s continue the conversation from yesterday about navigating delays in a Salesforce project.
The question was, when a project is built, tested, and approved and is just waiting to be scheduled, should you allow changes if the scheduled date is in the short-to-medium future?… Read the rest