As a Salesforce consultant, you constantly need to make decisions.
Some are easy, such as whether you should rename standard objects (the answer is “no”). Some are more challenging, such as what will be the long-term impacts of adding a custom field to this object (the answer is “it depends”).… Read the rest
There are many ways to build trust with a new client. Here is one of the more unusual ones: swearing.
According to a 2017 study, “We found a consistent positive relationship between profanity and honesty; profanity was associated with less lying and deception at the individual level and with higher integrity at the society level.”… Read the rest
We’re all human. And humans make mistakes. Which means you make mistakes.
Talking about mistakes is even a popular Salesforce interview question. It’s usually phrased as, “tell me about a mistake you made and how you learned from it”.
Taking the time to understand and analyze your mistakes is an important step to learn from them.… Read the rest
Clients will usually ask for more. And a perfectly acceptable response is, “no”. This may seem obvious to some, but it’s worth underlining.
It doesn’t really matter how much you are already proposing to deliver. The scope of your Salesforce project could be small or large.… Read the rest
As a Salesforce consultant, trust needs to be part of your DNA. If your client cannot trust you, you’re effectively useless.
So, how can you build trust?
There are several ways, and here’s a REALLY easy one: do what you say you’ll do.… Read the rest
As a Salesforce consultant, you sometimes need to deliver not-so-positive news. The recipient of this news can be a fellow colleague or a client, and the topic can be related to their performance or the project, or anything in-between.
The most popular method to deliver bad news is to use the sandwich model.… Read the rest
Last week, I wrote about a power question to use when your client no longer responds to your emails. The goal is to encourage a response so you can move the project forward.
There’s another one-liner you can write, when you’re in the same scenario.… Read the rest
Recently, a colleague of mine was sharing a story about a Salesforce Field Service (SFS) project he’s currently working on.
As anyone who has worked with SFS knows, these projects can be tricky. It always feels like the client needs to follow a strict structure and process to benefit from it.… Read the rest
The subject of this email is an extremely powerful negotiation tactic.
To give it more context, imagine a scenario in which you are communicating with a potential client. They are a warm lead and you believe your services would be an excellent fit for their needs.… Read the rest
I’ve been recently helping a client interview for a MuleSoft developer position. The client is using a recruiting agency, and we receive numerous candidates each week. Unfortunately so far, all of them have a common issue.
Once all the technical questions have been asked, I switch gears and ask soft-skill questions.… Read the rest
Yesterday, I was a guest speaker on The Nonprofit Show. It’s a daily live broadcast where the national’s nonprofit community comes together for problem solving, innovations, and reflections to foster greater social impacts.
The subject of the episode was about whether nonprofits are using the tech right, and included topics such as
When I’m doing my podcast, I’m the one asking the questions, and it’s not live, so it’s easily editable.… Read the rest
No, I’m not talking about using your face as a type of authentication to your device.
We all know that watching your client’s face for micro expressions is an important method to provide hints. These hints tell us whether the client is happy or sad or frustrated or anything in between.… Read the rest
Another way to build strong connections and gain insight into your client’s perspective is with empathy.
Let’s say you’re discussing a deadline with a client. Their position is that a certain Salesforce feature needs to be in production by the end of the week, and it’s just not feasible to do this.… Read the rest
One way to build trust quickly with a client is to repeat their words.
This simple yet surprisingly effective tool can not only help build trust, but also help with project negotiations. It’s a type of verbal mirroring (as opposed to physical mirroring).… Read the rest
Several years ago, I was working with a client on a new web feature. It wasn’t in Salesforce, but Siebel CRM. For those of you who are unaware, Siebel was *the* CRM before Salesforce, perhaps 10-15 years ago.
The new feature was a tree-like hierarchical folder structure, like you see in Windows Explorer.… Read the rest
In honor of the 50th episode of my podcast, Agents of Nonprofit, there was a special guest.
This guest is not used to speaking about himself very much. As such, although he’s the host of a growing podcast, he prefers to interview others.… Read the rest
In continuing the theme from yesterday, your clients are like your children.
As a parent, you quickly learn everything is a type of negotiation. Whatever you give your children, they’ll want more of it or a bigger version or to keep it for longer.… Read the rest
As a Salesforce consultant, clients are like our children.
We want them to grow up strong, healthy and self-sufficient. We nurture them, guide them and show them the right way to move forward and be successful.
But every once in a while, we need to fire the bastards!… Read the rest
One of the most important elements of being a “good enough” consultant is the ability to aggregate knowledge.
In today’s world of constant breaking news, company newsletters, journey articles, blog posts, press releases, Youtube videos and so on, it’s easy to get overwhelmed.… Read the rest
Several years ago, I helped a small client of mine interview for a Salesforce admin.
Since their budget was the primary concern, there wasn’t a very long line of available candidates. I reluctantly had to accept this restriction, no matter what my particular views were.… Read the rest
Even during a good sales to delivery team hand-off, there will inevitably be moments in which you don’t know the answer to something the client already discussed with the sales team. After all, no transition is 100%, and some amount of information will be lost in the process.… Read the rest
Columbo was a popular crime drama television show in the 70’s and then again in the 90’s. He was famous for playing dumb and asking questions he already knew the answers to. He did this to confirm his logic and to get the criminal to see the error of their ways.… Read the rest
You may have picked up a subtle wording I use often in my emails.
When I email or talk with my clients, I normally don’t use the words, “you” or “me”. As in, “You need to do this thing”. Instead I prefer using the word, “we”.… Read the rest
Related to the email Budget, scope or timeline, a reader asked, “Can you please share a sample message to push back for any of these scenarios?”
The general approach to push back is twofold:
1. When you initially ask the client which factor is most important and therefore cannot change.… Read the rest
When I ask a client the question, “Why do we need to do this?”, sometimes their response is, “Well, it’s always been done”.
This is when I grin and ask them if they’d heard the story of the 5 monkeys.
Whether this story is true or not is not important.… Read the rest
Every once in a while, you’ll come across an individual that knows everything. At least, they act like they know everything. And they’ll make sure everyone else know they know everything.
Dealing with these individual can be very challenging, and will test your patience.… Read the rest
Despite multiple alternatives, email remains one of the most important communication tools available. It just works and everyone knows how to use it.
However, when compared to Slack or Teams messaging, email can feel slower. The back and forth nature of email usually has more gaps in the conversation.… Read the rest
The Salesforce job market right now is hotter than ever, and it feels like new opportunities are everywhere.
The interview process can feel intimidating, so here are some tips to help you present yourself in the best possible way.
1. Remember that an interview is a conversation.… Read the rest
Expressions or idioms can be a powerful way to be descriptive and provide context. They can also confuse your audience if they are unfamiliar with them.
So, as a good communicator, should you use expressions?
The short answer is yes.… Read the rest
One of my most outspoken clients constantly boasted about his accomplishments. He was a very talented businessman, and he made sure everyone knew it.
I worked with him and his team virtually for a couple of months, without turning on our cameras during our Zoom meetings.… Read the rest