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
Here’s a realistic hypothetical situation for you, the Salesforce consultant.
The build phase of the MVP is complete. Internal testing, user acceptance testing (UAT), and training is done. The client is overall happy with the results and is excited to using it.… Read the rest
As it turns out, shifting from a full work-at-home schedule to a full work-from-work schedule isn’t good for us on many levels. Here’s another to add to the list.
As you may know, our brain is a highly adaptable organ. It is constantly changing at a physical level, a phenomenon known as neuroplasticity.… Read the rest
As a Salesforce consultant, one simple and effective way to build a connection with a new client is to compliment them. This can also be used to deepen a connection with an existing client.
As you know, people love receiving compliments!… Read the rest
There are a couple methods to report on changes to Salesforce data.
The most common is field history. To summarize, once enabled, you can report on when field changes occur, the old value and the new values.
To enable this feature, navigate to the desired object in Object Manager and click “Set History Tracking” from the Field & Relationship menu.… Read the rest
Since several readers were intrigued by the conversion rate email from yesterday, here’s more food for thought.
I was reading the webpage Measuring Conversion Rates in Salesforce and Gabrielle has another perspective on this topic.
She defines the conversion rate as a transition.… Read the rest
A client of mine told me they want to have a Salesforce dashboard component that displays a conversion rate. I asked for clarification, and how this metric would be used. As you know, asking why is an important step before you begin the design phase.… Read the rest
As I travel from city to city as a digital nomad, I find a checklist helps me pack and track what items I use and need. If I find I’m missing something on a particular trip, I add it to the list for the next time.… Read the rest
Recently I did a Salesforce audit for a client. They had a number of issues with their instance, and wanted a review from an independent expert.
The main person responsible was an Accidental Admin, and wasn’t given sufficient time to design a modular and scalable data model.… Read the rest
Depending on the client and the project, or even for a particular moment, being a Salesforce consultant can feel like being a firefighter or a janitor.
A firefighter is someone who jumps into risk and uncertainty, and saves the family from the burning building.… Read the rest
Being a Salesforce consultant means being able to adapt your language based on your audience. We often need to explain what Salesforce is to a non-technical person, but not so often to a techie. So, how would you explain what Salesforce is and how it works to a techie?… Read the rest
Every once in a while, you’ll need to use static variables in a Salesforce automation. These variables may be different in sandboxes and in production. But once they are set in a sandbox, they don’t change often.
To illustrate the option, imagine a simple example where we want to assign accounts to a specific user.… Read the rest
Despite all the news about organizations forcing their employees to return to the office, remote working isn’t going away. As such, executives are starting to realize they need to support a hybrid or fully remote staff.
One of the key ways to do that is to build a strong work culture.… Read the rest
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’s a temptation that just because you can rename standard objects, you should. Common examples are
Here are several reasons why this is a bad idea.
1. Inconsistency
It’s generally bad design practice to have the label and API name be different.… Read the rest
There was more great feedback from another fellow reader. This time, it was related to selecting your Salesforce champion.
I’ll paraphrase, but the question was basically, “what about choosing your champion BEFORE the project starts?”
My reply was: the champion can be picked before the actual project implementation.… Read the rest
A fellow reader provided some feedback on the email How to display warning messages using the Salesforce Lightning Design System.
His main question was, why not use Salesforce’s Einstein Next Best Action (ENBA)? That’s a great question, and so I thought to share and expand my answer with you.… Read the rest
Did you know there are currently 58 countries that offer some kind of digital nomad visa?
The number keeps growing every year, and some visas are harder to obtain than others. So which ones are the easiest, cheapest and fastest to receive, in places you would actually want to go?… Read the rest
A client recently asked me for guidance on how to display warning messages on a contact record.
These warning messages need to be dynamic; sometimes none, one, or more messages will be displayed to the user. The requirement was also to have them as undismissable.… Read the rest
Salesforce offers a few options to merge records, whether they be accounts or contacts.
The merging process is straightforward for the user; you choose which record becomes the master, and merge individual fields into the master. All related objects of the merged records are reparented, and then merged records are deleted.… Read the rest
For a period of about five years, I worked with a medium-sized Salesforce agency. During that time, I was often the lead on the more challenging projects. They were usually the projects no one else could manage, or the really big ones that scared people away.… Read the rest
My coaching students often ask me what is usually the biggest concern about a Salesforce project. You know, the one that often keeps me up at night, worrying.
The answer usually surprises them, because it has nothing to do with technology.… Read the rest
According to a recent report by Future Forum, workers with a flexible schedule are 29% more productive and 53% more focused than those without. Flexible schedule means the ability to choose to work partly or completely remotely.
Yet executives are still stubbornly forcing employees to return to the office full-time.… Read the rest
Let’s imagine, as part of a new Salesforce implementation, you need to migrate data from a legacy system. The legacy system contains people and companies and sales opportunities. So, how much data should you migrate?
Most organizations will want all the accounts and contacts, regardless of when the last contact or activity was.… Read the rest
Following yesterday’s email on At least three rounds of data migration, there is a scenario in which you need a fourth round.
This scenario occurs when there is a delay between the “final extract” from the legacy system and the go-live of Salesforce.… Read the rest
Let’s imagine, as part of a new Salesforce implementation, you need to migrate data from a legacy system. Let’s also assume the data can be exported into a .csv file. So, how many rounds of data migration should you do?
Since the title gives away the answer, let’s discuss the rationale.… Read the rest
Picking up from the question, Should you only update the source of truth? my thoughts are as follows:
Forcing users to pause using the current system and have them “swivel chair” or open another browser tab to make a change in another system is a bad idea.… Read the rest
Here’s a story of a particularly close friend. Stefan is Canadian born, and holds both a Canadian and Polish passport. Anna is Polish born, and only has a Polish passport. I may have changed their names for this email.
A few years ago, when Stefan’s father grew ill while living in Canada, Stefan and Anna decided to uproot their lives in Poland and move their 4 children to Canada.… Read the rest
Let’s imagine a scenario in which Salesforce needs to integrate with a system of record for account information.
This system, which we’ll call AccountSOT, is the “source of truth” for some account-related fields. This includes the account name, addresses, phone numbers, and FAXs (don’t laugh, some companies still use them).… 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