18 to 69 percent of CRM projects fail due to poor implementation, weak data management, and unrealistic expectations of businesses. This high project failure rate is largely due to a lack of qualified Salesforce resources with companies. If your organization is unable to make the best use of Salesforce offerings, it is high time you consider onboarding qualified talent with established Salesforce partners.
Salesforce certified partners are companies that are officially recognized by Salesforce to implement, maintain, and support Salesforce solutions. But how will you recognize the best-fit partner from thousands of registered Salesforce firms? In this blog, we have come up with the best considerations that will help you make a well-concerted choice for hiring the right Salesforce talent for your business.
- Begin With Research
Before hiring any Salesforce partner, you must identify business requirements with important stakeholders. Stakeholders can include your leadership, employees, senior managers, team leaders, etc. These discussions will help you identify goals and share concerns with your Salesforce partner. Once your requirements are agreed upon, you should look for reliable online listings, there are a few credible ones including the likes of AppExchange and Salesforce community forums. While community forums are good places to know more about the Salesforce platform and connect with Salesforce professionals, AppExchange is a place where you will find listed companies from all across the globe.
- Check Partnership Levels
Salesforce offers various partnership levels to companies namely Gold, Silver, Platinum, and Registered. These partnership badges are decided based on the Partner Value Score or PVS. This PVS numeric is calculated based on customer satisfaction, annual contract value, and knowledge factors. Before onboarding a Salesforce partner company, check their year of establishment and current partnership level. Their progress over the years will help you determine their caliber and tech acumen.
- Validated Salesforce Certifications
Many companies hire non-certified/less certified professionals, getting attracted to their low-cost services. However, soon they realize that they are not getting the desired returns with hired professionals. To prevent such blunders, businesses must check the certifications of Salesforce professionals before onboarding them to their projects. Certification is a legit way to separate authentic experts from the rest. Since Salesforce has a tough certification policy, only a few thousand professionals get certified annually. You should target these and already certified professionals rather than hiring freelance professionals or newly setup companies which will likely result in losses.
- Evaluate Project Value and Cost
Once you have shortlisted Salesforce partners based on AppExchange listings, certifications, partnerships, and other factors, it is time you start discussing projects with companies. Each company shares a quotation based on its estimates. These estimates are generally based on the extent of customization, implementation complexity, migration requirements, hours of service, and various other factors. You can average the estimates and negotiate to a specific value. You can also make use of online estimates published by Salesforce partners and negotiate based on that as well. Finally, select the one that offers results near your expectations and budget.
- Prefer Long-Term Support
Unprecedented times like COVID have shown the importance of long-term partnerships, something most companies lacked in pre-covid times. This was largely due to overreliance on the break-fix model where issues are addressed after they occur. Lack of resources in these critical times has forced many businesses to close their shutters and start something new. To have a flourishing business, teams should have a dependable workforce that can be onboarded at any time. Before establishing partnerships with a Salesforce company, check if they will offer long-term services or support post-implementation. A ready to onboard team offers quick support in critical times, which is why you should look for a long-term partner.
- Flexibility in Contracts
The needs of businesses keep changing with time. To address the changing needs of your business, you should look for partners that offer scalable contracts. Scalable contracts are something that can be altered (up or down) during peak and non-peak seasons. Before you hire a Salesforce partner, see if they have the necessary resources that can give you backup during critical times. As a Salesforce certified partner, we at Damco will suggest teams look for companies with a sizable workforce
Bottomline
The success and failure of a project depend on the tech acumen of Salesforce partners. To maximize returns with Salesforce, you should look for Salesforce partners with proven-track records and a large dependable workforce that is both certified and experienced. With the right resources alongside, you will be able to bridge gaps in Salesforce functioning and focus on core tasks.
