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
“Know thyself” is an Ancient Greek aphorism.
When you know yourself, you also increase your confidence, accept your weaknesses, and generally strive to be a better human being.
It’s a wonderful goal for sure. And as luck would have it, one way to achieve this goal is to be a digital nomad.… 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
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:
I attended the Salesforce World Tour in NYC today, which was awesome, and I’ll write about that soon. But today is Friday, which usually focuses on remote working/being a digital nomad. So let’s talk about NYC itself.
Living in Montreal, Canada provides me easy access to this city.… Read the rest
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
Making the decision to be a digital nomad is a big step. It involves re-evaluating your current working situation and lifestyle, and then determining you want a change.
Usually this change doesn’t just impact you. Often there’s a partner to consider, perhaps children, and even extended family members.… 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:
Sorry for the late email today. Two days I moved back to Canada and I’m still fighting jet lag.
As some of you know, I spent summers in Canada and winters in Spain, about six months in each spot. Since there is a six hour difference in time, I’ve learned a couple of tricks to help with the transition.… Read the rest
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
There’s a growing trend in the Salesforce ecosystem to shift away from hourly billing. It’s a trend that is more commonly found on other platforms and industries, so it’s about damn time it came to Salesforce.
When you’re starting your Salesforce career, it’s normal to only hear about hourly rates.… Read the rest
On this week’s podcast, I interviewed Pat McClellan of Proton7Group.
Pat, a Salesforce MVP, is the creator of a Salesforce-native SMS app. In short, it allows users to send SMS and MMS messages from any object It looks so integrated, it could have been built by Salesforce themselves.… Read the rest
One of the most important observations I made during my many travels is often downplayed.
In the media, there’s a focus on our differences and they are often exaggerated. It doesn’t matter if they talk about people from different continents, countries, regions, states or even cities.… Read the rest
Best practices exist because they are generally approved and recommended. In the Salesforce ecosystem, this usually means Salesforce introduced the best practice and the community agreed. Sometimes it’s the other way around; it’s community initiated and Salesforce rubber stamps it.
Does that mean you should always follow best practices?… Read the rest
There’s a method called “Spaced Repetition” that helps you remember things better and for longer. Basically, you shouldn’t cram all your studying into a single session. Instead, you’ll have better results if you space out your studying over multiple days while repeating key pieces of information each time.… Read the rest