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
Did you know, in addition to writing this weekday email, I also host a weekly podcast?
It’s called, “Agents of Nonprofit”. The name is a derivative of the tv series, “Agents of Shield”, as I’m a big Marvel fan. Side note: although the tv series started strong, I felt it lost its way after a few seasons.… Read the rest
Last week, a student of mine told me about a situation with one of his Salesforce clients.
It’s a small client, with two main user groups: an executive team and the end users.
The executives are the product sponsors and they are paying the bills.… Read the rest
Last month, Spain made its digital nomad visa available to residents of not-EU countries. The requirements are low and the benefits are high, making this an absolutely awful offer.
The main requirements are:
OK, that’s not too bad.… 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
Here’s my solution to yesterday’s challenge.
The goal is to automate everything and not make any assumptions. We also need to take into consideration exam creations, updates, and deletions.
To calculate
Here’s a quick Salesforce challenge for you. This scenario was the current state of a recent client project. I’ll share my solution tomorrow, but in the meantime, I’m curious to know what your approach would have been.
Simplified data model:
A new student of mine is breaking his way into the Salesforce world. He is tired of his current occupation and wants to pivot to something more interesting.
I talk often about starting a career in Salesforce with friends and strangers alike, and recently I’ve been mentoring a relative and a close friend of mine.… Read the rest
As you know, Salesforce is much more than just a CRM – it’s a platform.
As such, its functionality is designed to be extended and customized according to your client’s business needs. The advantage is the platform can do “anything you want”, and the disadvantage is the platform can do “anything you want”.… 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
Let’s pickup from yesterday and jump right into the details.
Here is the list of artifacts to consider including in the sales to delivery team hand-off:
When organizing Salesforce projects, it’s critical that the sales to delivery team hand-off is done well.
Prior to this moment, sales was managing the client relationship, and the client probably fully trusts them (which is why the deal was successfully closed!).… 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
It’s truly awesome how customizable things are within Salesforce.
You can do pretty much anything with it. The downside? You can do pretty much anything with it.
Thus the question really isn’t, “Can this be done in Salesforce?”. Instead, the question is actually, “Should this be done in Salesforce?”… Read the rest
One common complaint I hear from new Salesforce clients is something like, “Why is it that Salesforce cannot do what I want it to do?”
These clients usually originate from the custom web development space, in which just about anything they want can be realized.… Read the rest
Yesterday I spoke about the option of using a dedicated license to load data into Salesforce. This Automation User (perhaps it should be called “Unautomation User” or “No Automation User”) is similar to another kind of dedicated license – the API User.… Read the rest
During a Salesforce project, when planning for data migrations, it’s common to review automations and validation rules to determine which ones should be temporarily disabled.
Not all automations usually need to be deactivated, but keeping some active might accidentally cause unwanted behavior.… Read the rest
Several months ago, I spoke with the owner of a successful bridal shop. They make custom gowns and are well known in the local community. She’s a very capable person with loads of talent.
I spoke to her about my upcoming travels as a digital nomad: Starting in Montreal, I will visit Poland, Vienna, Madrid, London and Spain before returning to Montreal in the spring (I’m currently writing this email in a small town near Malaga, Spain).… 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
As a Salesforce consultant, there’s a balance between investing your time and energy into learning more about Salesforce or developing other skills.
One of my students asked me what it would take to obtain the Certified Technical Architect (CTA) certifications, the pinnacle of Salesforce technical expertise.… Read the rest
Being good at Salesforce isn’t enough.
To be a strong consultant, you need to have skills in four main categories:
These categories are subdivided into further elements, all of which are documented in the mind map below.… Read the rest
Unfortunately, far too many people forget an important observation about life.
They believe things happen to them, that perhaps the world is fighting against them, or that successful people are just lucky.
Instead, they would be better off believing they make things happen, the world is fighting for them, or that successful people just work hard.… Read the rest
In the Windows operating system, the blue screen of death (BSOD) is an error message that appears when Windows reaches a fatal system error. The system cannot continue and your only choice is to reboot.
Salesforce has its own BSOD, and it’s called GACK.… 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
For any Salesforce project, there are 3 competing factors
The client can only control one of these factors.… Read the rest
As a Salesforce consultant, you have a stressful position. Taking breaks every once in a while, just like I did for the last two weeks, is vital for your health and sanity.
However, even while on holiday, I rarely just sit on the couch and vegetate.… Read the rest
This email is a little deeper and thoughtful than most. I feel the need to work up to it, because it’s not something you just blurt out in the first sentence.
We are all familiar with the expression, “You only live once (YOLO)”.… Read the rest
Imagine for a moment, a bird perched on a tree branch.
It’s very windy, and the branch is waving around frantically. The bird doesn’t know this particular branch. It just landed on it moments ago.
Despite the chaotic situation, the bird is not afraid.… Read the rest