💃 Preparing for Your Salesforce Implementation🕺

Good morning, Salesforce Nerd Executive! If you’re getting your kitchen remodeled are you going to tidy up before the contractors arrive?

Will you tell them where the master water shutoff is? That there’s a previous generation’s linoleum and asbestos under the 12” tiles? And a quirk where the kitchen sink disposal shorts out the coffee machine?

Will have your house in order and buried skeletons documented before the professionals arrive?

Do you even know what you want your kitchen to look and feel like? Or are you expecting the contracting professionals to make family decisions for you?

Are you picking up what we’re putting down?

WHAT DOES WINNING LOOK LIKE? HOW ABOUT LOSING?!

Defining Salesforce Success

Most executives think they’ve defined success. Then you ask three leaders - Sales, Marketing, RevOps - and get five answers 😵‍💫.

Before talking to partners, you must align on ⬇️

👉 What problem Salesforce is solving first

👉 Who “wins” if this works

👉 What is Day 1 success, Day 90 success, and Day 365 success

Good success statements sound like ⬇️

🗣️ “New reps reach quota in 90 days instead of 150”

🗣️ “Forecast accuracy improves from 60% to 85%”

🗣️ “Sales leadership trusts pipeline without reconciliation”

Bad success statements sound like ⬇️

🤷🏻 “Modernize CRM”

🤷🏻 “Enable scalability”

🤷🏻 “Get better data”

Partners design to what you say. Be precise, or be disappointed.

HOW MANY COOKS IN YOUR KITCHEN?

Pick a Salesforce Leader. One.

Committees don’t implement 🙅. If Salesforce belongs to everyone, it belongs to no one.

Ideally a major Salesforce implementation has a single accountable executive owner. Not a steering committee 🤮. SalesMarketingIT hydra 🐉. One throat to choke 😵 (and reward 😃).

This person ⬇️

💪 Breaks ties when priorities clash

💪 Protects the initiative from scope creep

💪 Makes hard calls when trade offs arise

💪 Represents the business, not IT or the partner.

Without this role, partners end up mediating internal debates instead of delivering value. That’s expensive therapy…billed hourly 💰.

One more thing - set this person up for success by clearing their plate. A Salesforce implementation is a (temporary) full time job 😅.

YES, NO, MAYBE

Define Your Salesforce Non-Negotiables and Flexibilities

Every organization has landmines. The problem is most don’t identify them until they’re already stepping on them 💥.

Before partner selection, write down ⬇️

Non-negotiables

For example-

🫡 Compliance requirements

🫡 Data residency or security constraints

🫡 Revenue recognition rules

Flex zones

For example-

🧘 Process changes you’re open to

🧘 Legacy tools you’re willing to sunset

🧘 “We’ve always done it this way” things

Strong partners want these constraints early. Weak partners gloss over them to keep momentum. Guess which ones you want running your implementation?

QUICK HITTERS

These Two, Too…

Inventory Your Reality (Current State)

Partners need to understand the business you actually operate, in addition to the one you’re planning to become someday.

Take stock of ⬇️

✍️ Sales roles and handoffs

✍️ Current systems feeding or fed by Salesforce

✍️ Data quality (be honest)

✍️ Shadow systems (spreadsheets, desktop apps, post-it notes 🙂)

✍️ Manual processes everyone pretends are temporary

Let’s see those skeletons in the closet!

A partner who understands your mess can design a path forward. A partner who only sees your vision deck will design something brittle.

Decide How You’ll Work

Here’s a subtle but critical point - your internal working style will collide with your partner’s delivery model.

Ask yourself - how fast do we actually make decisions? Who approves changes? Are you comfortable with iterative delivery (agile-scrum) or do you expect “Finished. Done done.” (waterfall) ? How much access will users really have?

If your culture is consensus-driven but you hire a partner optimized for speed, friction is guaranteed. Alignment here is more important than methodology logos.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Takeaway

Simple - get your house in order first! Then bring in the help.

It needs to be said- you don’t need everything figured out before engaging a partner. That’s unrealistic 💯. But you do need to👇

Define Success. Choose your Decision-Maker. Set your Guardrails. Take Inventory.

Help the helpers help you.

The best Salesforce partners amplify clarity, it’s up to you to create it 🙌!

SOUL FOOD

Today’s Principle

and now....Your Salesforce Memes