Things to Keep in Mind while Hiring a Salesforce Consultant

Salesforce is constantly changing and evolving. Job role of a salesforce consultant resembles that of any other consultant or BA. Salesforce consultants support the CRM implementation from proposition to conveyance. This includes developing a thorough understanding of the client’s requirements then applying industry best practices and detailed knowledge of the Salesforce platform to design an optimal solution that supports the business process and meets/exceeds functional requirements. To be more specific, the consultant meets clients, understands their requirements, documents them, suggest solutions and develops it. Once the document is approved after revisions it is passed on to development team. The developers then work in tandem with  the consultants and answers their queries.
What are the basics a consultant needs to know?

• • In the domain of Salesforce, certification is a strong initial step, and experience taking care of an assorted scope of issues on the stage is maybe more vital.

• The consultant has to be competent on the platform at a level to develop appropriate solutions and how changes can impact an org for better or worse. It’s not that they need to know each minute feature like the back of their hand.They have to realize what Salesforce is able to do and how information is appropriated and flows through the system.
• They need to have enough appreciation of the platform to know how to use and apply the Salesforce tools and tackle business issues.
• They will have to be comfortable with stress, deadlines, juggling multiple projects simultaneously, and challenging client personalities.

Responsibilities of a Consultant

Salesforce experts or consultants are among the prime resources in an organization as they add value to clients and their business by generating revenue. They can develop appropriate solutions and analyse how changes impact the business for better or worse. A good consultant is one who appreciates the platform and knows how to leverage the different tools offered by Salesforce to solve critical business problems.
Who is the best Salesforce consultant?

• A good consultant should be able to convince the client and manage relationships.
• A good consultant should be able to understand your current business process and recommend the best practices in the industry than spend time in replicating your existing application into Salesforce.
• A good consultant will ensure that you don’t spend millions of dollars building an app which takes months if not years and instead use Appexchange which enables your app to be up and running in a few days.
• A good consultant should be able to guide the business on getting the right metrics in their home page and use gamification or other logics to drive adoption, sales, improve efficiency or productivity.
• A good consultant ensures stability for the current project by using standard naming conventions and best practices.

How do you find the right candidate?

A viable candidate is someone who can rattle off a handful of good differentiators and value-adds. There are hard life-lessons gained from having been “around the block” a few times for a consultant. A person needs time in different roles in order to be exposed to new challenges. Only new experiences help them grow and learn.
Before you hire a consultant you need to be clear on the business need for each technological requirement. Build your case for major investments within your organization first before engaging a consultant. Searching for a consultant with Salesforce expertise can be hard to differentiate the experts from the bad seeds. So not only knowing the kind of questions to ask but also knowing what the right answers are can be crucial when hiring a Salesforce consultant to work on your Salesforce projects.