You’ve seen Salesforce touted as the best CRM system in the market today, and now you have decided that you want your company sales team to enjoy the benefits. The Salesforce system indeed has the power to transform your business, but where do you start?
Here is a detailed guide on how business leaders and decision-makers can implement a system that is seamless and which will guarantee success.
Before you do anything
Before you begin the Salesforce implementation process, the first thing you’ve to do is get an experienced implementation consultant. You may think having a specialist just because you have your IT team that you trust. However, the Salesforce system is not like any other. You may be an IT expert, but if you’ve no experience implementing this system, it will take you longer, and the cost will be higher. The result will be a faulty system and thus low ROI. Why take such a risk? Get a registered Salesforce consulting partner who can tackle the project no matter its magnitude.
Establish clear timelines for the project
In establishing your project timelines, you need to find out what other projects need to be implemented so that you know what to prioritize. The Salesforce implementation should not overlap with other significant projects. This is because it demands an of concentration and resources, and thus you may be strained. Think of an optimal timeline that will ensure minimal business interruptions for go-live. Once you settle on the timelines, you’ll need to mark the significant milestones on your calendar like the beta, alpha, business mapping, piloting, and kickoff. If you’re working with a consultant, you need to articulate the deliverables on both sides; the clients and consultant. This will ensure that the project is implemented within the set timelines.
Setting Success metrics
There are many ways to define your goals for your Salesforce project. One of these may be reducing your case time resolution by 40% or the customer churn rate by 5%. Or your goal could be to increase your deal size by a specific dollar amount or the lead flow by a certain percentage. Defining goals and metrics gives you a tangible way to gauge the overall success of the implementation.
Define communication channels
You need a Salesforce project manager to oversee the implementation process, address the concerns and keep track of the project. Implementing this system requires a team effort, and therefore there must be clear communication among the implementation team.
Get an implementation team in place.
Firstly, you will need a sales force consultant who will be an essential member of your implementation team. You’ll also need to designate an executive sponsor, a project manager, system administrator, and a power user, among others, as need presents. The roles of each of these should be clearly defined to avoid confusion.
User access and permissions
Several constituents across departments will use Salesforce deployment, and this is quite an exciting prospect which prompts collaboration between teams and with power to breakdown silos. That said, and since so many people have access to the system, it’s good you create permissions and internal security models.
There are a few pertinent steps for Salesforce implementation, but the ones outlined above are crucial. The most important thing is to get a reliable consultant like Salesforce candoris to help you out in the implementation process.