💃 The Salesforce "Quick Start" 🕺

Good morning, Salesforce Nerd! Would you be interested in a Ferrari…for the price of a Toyota Camry?!

Of course you would! Merino wool performance for polyester pricing 💸!

And who cares if you didn’t get your Ferrari in the color you desire, with the wheels you want, and the racing exhaust you need 😎! You can add those in the future, but first things first - slide into your new supercar 🔥.

Your Ferrari is a bit unfamiliar - you’re used to driving vanilla cars - it seems very impressive. You give it some throttle, and then what everyone knew from the beginning happens 👇

SCENARIO

False Start?

Your Ferrari flies of the line 🏎️💨!

But it pulls left just a bit.

And that makes you notice the steering wheel is a loose 😳.

And the radio is literally only a radio - no bluetooth or aux inputs 🙁.

And there’s no floormats 😮.

And the windows don’t roll down 😬.

The car drives like a Ferrari, but it feels…unfinished. Incomplete. Somehow lower than your expectations even though you got a Ferrari for a Camry price.

Your Ferrari gives you no satisfaction 😢.

WHAT IS IT?

The Salesforce Quick Start

The basic idea of a Salesforce Quick Start is to kickoff with a semi-canned solution, 80% built, that needs a few weeks of fine-tuning to get a client up and running at full speed, for a fraction of the cost of a full implementation.

Ferrari performance for Camry pricing.

It’s a brilliant concept, and on the surface it looks like a win-win. Check this out-

🔥 For the Client: They get a mini-ramp to value. Instead of months of custom builds, they’re live in weeks, seeing ROI sooner. It’s cost-effective, too. Less billable hours mean they save money while still getting an enterprise CRM.

🔥 For the Implementer: It’s a competitive edge. Onboard clients faster, showcase expertise, and free up bandwidth for bigger, custom projects. Plus, it’s a predictable revenue stream- scalable and repeatable.

And to be clear, there is a market for quick starts. If these stars align 💫, then it’s fuel for the 🔥 stated above-

💥 The implementer has deep industry experience, along with Salesforce skills.

💥 The client fits neatly into the implementer’s industry expertise.

💥 The client needs help with business process, ie will conform to the software.

💥 The client is 10s of millions in revenue and tens of users.

But once you get into the mid-8 to low-9-digit revenue customers, then the quick start becomes a risky proposition that the veteran salespeople at implementers will discard from their toolbox, knowing there’s no gold at the end the rainbow, only pain 😖.

A Ferrari for Camry pricing that somehow still doesn’t meet expectations 😭.

WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?

Not For Everyone

Enterprise clients love the idea of a Quick Start…until they realize “80% done” doesn’t mean “100% perfect for my snowflake ❄️ of a business.” Expectations and reality collide, and things go sideways.

Here’s a few reasons why-

😫 Scope creep. The client sees the pre-built org and thinks, “Great, now add this custom object, that automation, and oh, integrate it with our legacy ERP.” Suddenly, the “few weeks” timeline is toast.

😫 Misaligned expectations. Clients hear “quick” and still assume it’s bespoke. When they see the standardized pieces, they feel shortchanged, even if it’s exactly what was promised.

😫 Data conversion and migration. Pre-configured doesn’t mean pre-loaded. If their data is a mess (when is not 😫) add another week, at least!

😫 Underestimating discovery. Again, there’s an assumption that the business will conform to the software in a quick start, and that will reduce discovery time. This assumption is deadly, and, in fact, disco is a solid place to identify potentially deadly gaps- better then than the week before go-live!

😫 User Adoption isn’t quick. The system may be live in four weeks, but that doesn’t mean the client’s team is using it effectively. Training, change management, and ongoing support are still essential, something that is typically not included in a quick start.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Takeaway

Quick Starts are amazing when expectations are aligned. They allow you to deliver impactful solutions quickly while keeping projects predictable and profitable. But they require disciplined execution and firm boundaries.

A Quick Start is not a shortcut- it’s a structured path. That path begins with the clients who roll up to the implementer’s area of expertise and do not have the complexities of an enterprise business.

Keep them efficient, keep them valuable, and keep them quick 🫡.

Here’s a few implementers who are advertising quick start services

• VRP Consulting

• Twistellar

• DB Services

• Skyplanner

None of them promote a specific industry 🙈.

Do you implement quick starts? Reply to this email and let us know about your wins and losses!

SOUL FOOD

Today’s Principle

and now....Your Salesforce Memes