6 Common Questions for Salesforce Consultants
As an account executive, I’m often the first point of contact at Idealist Consulting. It’s a pretty cool responsibility, and I get to chat with and learn about all sorts of great organizations that do meaningful work. As you can imagine, I often get many of the same questions from people I speak with. So if you are in search of a Salesforce consultant, here are answers to some questions you might have in mind.
1. Why Do I Need a Salesforce Consultant?
Ask yourself: is my current system working? Is it efficient and easy to use? Do I have the resources to configure Salesforce internally? If the answer to these questions is yes, maybe you don’t need a consultant.
But if you’re just getting started with Salesforce, or you’re looking to radically change the way you leverage the system, or your team is just complaining about Salesforce and you don’t have the time to learn how to improve it, let us take care of it for you. We’ll do the heavy lifting so you can focus on other things, like expanding your organization’s impact. Our consultants will delve into your workflow and make sure that your Salesforce instance is configured specifically to your processes.
2. How Do You Draft an Estimate?
We have an in-depth blog post about how we build an estimate, but here’s a high-level overview. We generally start with a call between you (the prospective client) and one of our account executives (like me!). During this conversation, we’ll gather some preliminary information like how you’re hoping to use Salesforce, your data migration needs, and whether you want to integrate any third-party applications. We’ll also ask about your timeline, budget, and the people involved in the project.
We’ll then identify which of our 45 consultants is the best equipped to assist you to reach your goals. They’ll hop on the phone with you to delve deeper into your technical requirements. This call should give us enough information to draft an estimate that includes a list of all the labor necessary to accomplish your vision, as well as how long we think it will take to complete it. We’ll multiply that time by our hourly rate and voila! You’ll have your estimate hot off the press.
3. Which Consultant Will Work on My Project?
We consider several factors when determining project assignments such as timeline, timezone, and mission affinity. Although we cannot commit a specific resource to your project until after we’ve agreed to work together, you can rest assured you’ll be paired with an expert in your area of need. Our team is made up of 45 talented consultants based across the US and Canada with 50 Salesforce certifications between them. We’re proud to be a Salesforce Premier Partner, to have a 5-star rating on the Salesforce AppExchange, and to have one of the highest client retention rates in the industry.
4. What Will the Timeline of the Project Be?
We move as quickly as possible, but we encourage our clients to set the pace. Different teams move at varied speeds, and we'll work together to find the perfect project pace for your team.
5. What Does Support Look Like After a Project?
After completing a project, we won’t leave you hanging. We want to set you up for success! Our estimate includes post-launch support that gives us time to answer questions and point your team to Salesforce resources. This support helps us ensure that all loose ends are tied up before finishing.
But there are times that organizations want to extend this period of extra help. To accommodate that, we offer a couple of options for providing extra support. A lot of organizations have found our admin and tech support contracts very helpful. Our support contracts are great for those who think they need some extra time to settle into Salesforce or simply would love to have an extra helping hand.
6. What Is Your Process Like?
This is one of my favorite questions to answer because I get to talk about the Idealist Way! The Idealist Way is our approach to guiding clients in their adoption and use of technology. We want to take you on a guided expedition. Instead of plunking you down in uncharted territory and leaving you there, we want to guide you on your journey, making sure you have resources to get to your destination and that you enjoy the journey along the way. Our process includes creating a story of how your organization will use your Salesforce, give you resources to use during and after the project, and provide an immersive experience to ensure you get the most out of Salesforce. If you haven’t yet, I highly recommend you watch our Idealist Way video.
I hope I answered a few of the questions you might have if you’re searching for a Salesforce consultant. But there’s more to implementing Salesforce than just choosing a consultant. If you have a big Salesforce project coming up, I recommend you check out our guide about preparing for tech change at your organization.
