Choosing the Right Salesforce Implementation Partner: Questions You Should Be Asking

Choosing the right partner for Salesforce's implementation can elevate or dampen your experience with Salesforce's CRM. Apart from the numerous consultants and firms available to work with, selecting one can prove to be even more difficult. While their skills and offerings differ, evaluating them carefully can ensure that your business gains time and financial resources—and saves plenty of future complications.

Let's get to the questions you need to have answers to regarding the firm you intend on working with.

1. Are You A Certified Salesforce Partner?
  
This is one of the more straightforward inquiries, yet it does feature on the list. As trained associates of Salesforce, certified partners do receive training and endorsement. Because of this, they are guaranteed to remain within the industry's best methods which are aligned with the latest system changes.

2. What Is Your Experience in My Industry?

Each and every sector faces its own set of challenges, which can also be termed as workflows. The right Salesforce partner will understand your specific issues and solve them leveraging Salesforce’s resources.

3. Would you be able to provide any customer success stories and references?

Proving claims made by someone requires backing them up with a few successful case studies or reports from past clients over the details provided by the partner. This narrows down the work processes and value delivery a partner offers.

4. How will your company approach the implementation plan?

Every partner has their unique implementation method. Some go with a phased approach while others prefer complete integration at once. Make sure their proposed methods suit your team’s capabilities, objectives, and risk exposure. 

5. How are you planning on addressing training for our team? 

Customer Relationship Management tools are only as useful as the user's comprehension. Great implementation partners focus on end user training and User Support Services. Inquire about the training offered, support after the launch, and any manuals available.

6. Data migration and integration—what is your standard strategy for this?

Legacy system data migration and existing tools integration is implementation's “black box.” Your data thoroughly needs to be clean for seamless integration, which makes the process murky. Ask about their procedures regarding data security and the handling of clean data migration. 

7. Once the business goes live, what else is expected from our company moving forward?

Sales force works alongside your company—there is no definite beginning. Even after an initial setup, thorough ongoing support needs to follow a company’s prerequisite for updates and optimization services added to the setup. Good partners actively seek out these provisions.

Thoughts On The Subject

It is just as crucial to consider soft skills when choosing a Salesforce implementation partner. A partner that understands your objectives and works within your timeframes is likely going to be more committed to the success of the project. So, spend enough time to answer these questions and look for a partner that will become your team member.