💃 Salesforce Consultant = Blackjack Dealer 🕺

Good morning, Salesforce Nerds! Perhaps the greatest knee-slapper in cinema history 🤣

But did you catch it 👀? Did you see how the dealer managed that situation 🧐?

And is that dealer the same guy who played this iconic role?

What a legend 🫡 !

BLACKJACK

“It’s Your Money…..”

You’re playing at the blackjack table and lay down a fresh $20 💵.

The dealer deals.

You’re dealt a hard 13. The dealer is showing a 2.

You get that uncomfortable feeling. Behind your eyes gets hot. Your palms sweat. You attempt to calculate the odds in your head 😵‍💫.

“What do I do?” you sheepishly ask the dealer.

“I recommend you stay. When I show 2 and you have 13, the odds say you stay. But it’s your money….Hit? Or stay?” responds the dealer, glancing at the baseball score at the sportsbook, not even making eye contact with you 🙄.

ONCE YOU SEE IT, YOU CAN’T UNSEE IT

The Game

To paraphrase what the dealer just said-

I’ve given you my recommendation, based on the data and my not-insignificant experience.

However, it’s not my choice. It’s your choice. That is the game.

THAT. IS. THE. GAME.

☝️

THE GAME

Salesforce Consultant = Blackjack Dealer

The game is simple.

Your client is dealt a hand.

You, the Salesforce consultant, gives your client advisement, backed by research, data, and your experience.

You give your client choices - option A, option B, option C.

You give your recommendation - “I recommend option C because it has the least impact on the users. It costs more than options A and B, but your users will have a better experience - simpler layout, less clicks, and instant output.”

And then the *chef’s kiss 😘

“But it’s your choice. How would you like to proceed?”

FINAL THOUGHTS

Takeaway

Your role as a Salesforce consultant is to setup you client for success.

That sounds real foo-foo on it’s own, so here are 3 tangible tactics for setting up your client for success-

🙌 Do the research, analysis, and problem solving for your client. Develop the context of the problem so you can develop an array of solution proposals and how they impact the problem.

🙌 Provide the client options. Steel man each of them. Perhaps make a recommendation, backed by data driven analysis. Align it with revenue, profit and expenses.

🙌 Present it to the client in a way they can understand. Your clients are marketing and sales execs, not technical wizards 🧙. Understand that it takes iterations and time to create this level of content.

And, most importantly, just like the blackjack dealer, there is one thing that you absolutely never, ever, ever ever ever do.

NEVER. CHOOSE. FOR. THE. CLIENT.

It’s the client’s choice.

It’s their money. It’s their business. It’s their stakes.

SOUL FOOD

Today’s Principle

and now....Your Salesforce Memes