One of the most important responsibilities of a Center of Excellence is setting up a proper governance framework.
In short, governance is a system of rules and processes that a company creates. It determines who has power and accountability, and who makes decisions.… Read the rest
Establishing and maintaining standards are important in a Salesforce org. They determine the basic rules of an implementation, so it doesn’t look like it was built by 3 admins and 2 devs.
Here are three core ingredients to build standards in a Salesforce CoE:
1.… Read the rest
Vision is about the art of the possible. There are three main components to focus on.
1. Business Goals
Too many agencies focus on the wrong problem to solve. They focus on the inputs instead of the outputs. The number of hours something will take instead of what are the business goals.… Read the rest
Out of all the pillars in a Center of Excellence, the Project Management Office (PMO) is the one I’m least familiar with. So if any of my PM readers want to add to anything I say, please chime in 🙂
In a Salesforce context, three main functions of the PMO is:
1.… Read the rest
In short, prototyping is the innovation hub that builds out Salesforce prototypes to show the “art of the possible”
This can be broken down into three main components:
1. User flow
It’s important that user’s know and understand how they will be using Salesforce.… Read the rest
Let’s start with a definition of what a Center of Excellent (CoE) is.
According to Wikipedia, it “is a team, a shared facility or an entity that provides leadership, best practices, research, support or training for a focus area”.
In our world, this can be translated into providing the “best of breed” across multiple facets of the Salesforce ecosystem.… Read the rest
Through the many projects implemented over time, I’ve designed two main options for Salesforce object pages and layouts. Clients seem to prefer one or the other, depending on their requirements and areas of focus. Here they are, in case they are useful to you.… Read the rest
One thing that amazes me about Salesforce (and not in a good way) is that out-of-the-box, nearly each standard object has a different layout on their lightning page. This also applies to some packages built by Salesforce.
For example, the account and contact objects have pretty consistent pages.… Read the rest
Not so long ago, I started to feel overwhelmed. I was trying to properly organize my contacts and sales opportunities. They were related to my project implementations, the Salesforce app for nonprofits, and notes about my coaching students.
Until then, I was using a combination of Google Contacts (contacts), Evernote (notes) and TickTick (todo list).… Read the rest
When you decide to specialize in a specific industry or Salesforce Cloud, you encourage yourself to learn your domain better.
The more you learn about your domain, the better you become. It’s a positive feedback loop that guides you towards mastery.… Read the rest
The last two emails talked about being a Salesforce specialist, instead of a generalist. Now, why should you bother specializing in the first place? Isn’t it better to serve a larger client base?
Actually, not necessarily.
There are a few advantages to being a specialist.… Read the rest
In a general sense, what does specialization mean to you?
You may think of a marketing consultant who works with investment companies or a marketing firm that specializes in small businesses.
Or you may think of a specialized doctor – someone who treats a specific illness or condition.… Read the rest
In the Salesforce ecosystem, there’s a lot you can do.
You can provide your services to any organization that uses Salesforce, regardless of the industry. You can also learn and know any of the many clouds: Sales, Service, Health, Nonprofit, CPQ, Field Service, Financial, etc.… Read the rest
Since the nonprofit industry is my specialization, I wanted to dive a little deeper into what’s happening with the new Nonprofit Cloud product (NPC).
Here’s what’s available today:
These are all included in a single SKU.… Read the rest
Last week Thursday was the Salesforce World Tour in NYC. About 15,000 people attended, along with 300+ partners, and 226+ sessions available. Yes, it was quite overwhelming!
That being said, here are the major points I gleaned from the event:
Salesforce is awesome. It offers so much power and so much potential. But it’s not perfect. Far from it, actually.
Knowing the quirks in the system can really amplify your skill as a Salesforce consultant. The question shouldn’t be, “why doesn’t Salesforce do what we want?”,… Read the rest
Yesterday, we spoke about delivering a Salesforce multi-cloud project using Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and CPQ. And we spoke about going deep in a single cloud before shifting focus to another cloud.
Today, let’s talk about the order of things. In an evergreen situation, which cloud should be first?… Read the rest
Let’s imagine a scenario in which you’re asked to provide a Salesforce multi-cloud design implementation. Say, Sales Cloud, Service Cloud and just for fun, CPQ.
In each cloud, there are multiple desired capabilities, such as territory management, case management, and volume discounting.… Read the rest
After attending the DreamOle Salesforce conference in Sevilla, Spain, I’ve discovered a new addiction.
Previous to that event, I’ve only attended Dreamforce in San Francisco, US. But that was back in 2015. It was awesome on so many levels, even if it kinda felt like some people were “drinking from the Kool-Aid”.… Read the rest
Ever since Salesforce announced they would enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA), clients have been complaining.
Between you and me, it IS a pain in the butt. But there is a reason for this madness and that is people are notoriously bad with passwords.… Read the rest
Based on the previous emails, you can see that value-based pricing (VBP) is quite different from regular time & material (T&M) projects.
Many of you will probably be shocked by the concept. Your initial reaction might be to not believe it’s actually feasible.… Read the rest
Fellow reader Christopher asked, regarding fixed-priced projects, how does the payment structure work?
The short answer is, get paid 100% up-front.
The “usual” approach for invoicing Salesforce projects is:
Charging late fees, sending reminder emails, and politely but firmly chasing the client are all part of this approach.… Read the rest
The second most important thing to know about value-based projects is to scope last.
Yes, last.
Here are the steps to be complete before you determine the scope:
The most important thing to know about value-based projects is the value of a project is determined by a combination of math and art. The math can sometimes be straightforward, but sometimes it may require additional creative help.
For example, let’s say the project is to merge Salesforce orgs.… Read the rest
Method #5: Value-based projects
The following process must be quite familiar to you:
Now instead of all that, what if we flipped it around and use value-based pricing (VBP).… Read the rest
Method #4: Retainer
Once you become well known in a specific vertical or horizontal domain in Salesforce, you can offer a retainer service.
When I say “vertical”, I’m talking about an industry, such as nonprofit, financial, or healthcare. For “horizontal”, it could mean a cloud specialization, like CPQ or Field Service.… Read the rest
Method #3: Managed service
A managed service is a monthly subscription-type of service. In return, you offer and fulfill a list of clearly set functions or objectives.
The main difference between this method and a productized service is that you customize the price based on the client’s requirements.… Read the rest
Method #2: Productized service
A productized service is a hybrid of a product and a service. You sell it like a product, with a fixed price. And you fulfill it as a service, with a very clear scope.
The boundaries of the scope are important here, as you don’t want scope creep.… Read the rest
There are five main ways Salesforce consultants can move away from hourly billing. Depending on whether you are a full-time employee or a freelancer, not every way will be easily available to you. The goal here is to show you the ways and then for you to determine which one or ones are best suited for your situation.… Read the rest
Just before we get into details about having fixed-prices for Salesforce work, consider the following story. This is probably not a factual story, but an allegory with an important moral.
Henry Ford of the Ford motor company had a huge machine that automated an important part of the car manufacturing process.… Read the rest