5 Mistakes You Should Avoid While Hiring a Salesforce Implementation Consultant

If you need to start a Salesforce Implementation right from scratch, then you may require a trusted Salesforce Implementation Consultant with the right expertise and experience.

Businesses show desperation for such Salesforce professionals to drive their business forward. However, hiring these coveted professionals is often tricky as specific roles are available sparsely, and higher demand has raised salary expectations, which has increased the hiring price. 

However, you need to hire a Salesforce implementation consultant suitable for you. But, you must avoid some mistakes while hiring them and discover ways to have a seamless transition.

In this post, we will find these mistakes one by one.

What are the 5 Mistakes to Avoid While Hiring a Salesforce Implementation Consultant?

The mistakes are as follows:

1. Not Enough Salesforce Knowledge
2. Ignoring Business Pain points and Goals
3. Not Considering the Marketing Background of the Salesforce Consultant
4. Prioritizing Price Over Quality
5. Underestimating Reviews

Don't forget to check out: Set Your Sales Cloud Implementation Up for Success

Not Enough Salesforce Knowledge

While hiring a Salesforce Implementation Consultant, you must have basic knowledge of Salesforce. It is better to know the common terms used and the capabilities used by the Salesforce platform.

You must gather knowledge on the features with the help of case studies, white papers, product demos, and videos on Salesforce org and Salesforce.com which are relevant to your business domain. Knowing how Salesforce has helped companies with similar business types will put you in a far more comfortable position. You need not acquire in-depth know-how for discussions with your prospect. 

Ignoring Business Pain Points and Goals

It is futile to expect the consultant to show you the right ways to do your business. You must be thorough enough about the problems, the solutions required, and the business goals to achieve. 

If you fail to evaluate the above points internally, you will land up with a CRM system that you will not be able to utilize as per its full potential, leading only to sheer wastage of your money and time.

You must draft a  Request to Proposal (RFP), which will help to reduce the sessions with your prospective partner. For this, you must know your business objectives, budget constraints, partnership model, and stakeholders of your project and define the roles played by your Salesforce partner.

Not Considering the Marketing Background of the Salesforce Consultant

Salesforce is a digital marketing company that enables businesses to successfully manage customer relationships and also acts as a tool for marketers to launch campaigns, track conversions and improve ROI.

 However, it is possible that all Salesforce Implementation Consultants will have digital marketing experience, although that is not a mandatory skill set. But, if you hire an implementation consultant with this skillset, you are bound to maximize the harnessing of the power of Salesforce.

Implementation is not the only thing sought you, but you must be aware of how to align business goals to marketing goals.

Prioritizing Price Over Quality

Even though you require a quality Salesforce Implementation Consultant, you sometimes opt for a low-cost alternative due to budget constraints. This will only lead to a higher running cost than what you originally planned, longer project completion time or failure of your project.

Sometimes you may only go for developers as a viable alternative. But this may result in a project that is not evaluated holistically and the solution underdeveloped or well-developed but under-adopted by the end users.

This is why Salesforce suggests you work with a Salesforce Certified Implementation Consultant, which may be a high-cost option but beneficial in the long run with a higher probability of success. 

Check out another amazing blog by Kelly here: How to Select Best Salesforce Implementation Partner

Underestimating Reviews

When you glance through the company website, everything seems perfect, but that is only one side of the coin. The independent review platforms provide you with unbiased client opinions. To cite an example, the surveys are not that well when compared to customer reviews on AppExchange in terms of customer satisfaction rate. 

There are other sources for obtaining great reviews published on platforms like Clutch or G2.com. Here you find the likes and dislikes of clients based on the interactions for all stages with the Consultant. 

Conclusion

You must go for informed decision-making and not indulge in hasty decisions. Before you make this serious decision, you must thoroughly go through the AppExchange or the Trailblazer Community of the Salesforce platform to gather a pool of Consulting partners or freelance Consultants who appear on websites like UpWork or others. Carefully weigh out the pros and cons of the Consultant and then hire the right Salesforce Implementation Consultant. You must avoid making mistakes while hiring a Salesforce Implementation Consultant and discover ways to have a seamless transition.

Cloud Analogy, is one of the top-notch Salesforce implementation partners and will guide you on the mistakes to avoid when you hire a Salesforce Implementation Consultant. We provide cost-efficient Salesforce Implementation Services to drive your business forward. Reach out to our expert and certified team at Cloud Analogy and start your project today.