Salesforce consultation partners help businesses establish CRMs and other tech tools, so they perform seamlessly. The primary role here is to collect and maintain databases for businesses to connect with prospective customers.

An ideal Salesforce consultation partner engages with customers at all times to find their needs, implement solutions and offer needed support and training. They help in strategic decision-making to ensure business growth and operational efficiency. 

Your Salesforce partner must have extensive knowledge of Salesforce CRM, its deployment, design, and building. 

And, when you lack the required expertise, there are high chances of your CRM failing. 

According to CIO magazine, one in every three CRM projects fails, and for some companies, the failure rate is high as 70%. There can be various reasons for this failure, but a major one would be selecting the wrong Salesforce consulting partner. 

This article will talk in detail about features that you must consider before choosing your apt salesforce consultation partner. 

1. Ask Salesforce Support 

There are more than 1700 Salesforce consulting partners available globally, and it’s tough to get hold of the right consulting partner for your business. To combat this problem, Salesforce has launched a Salesforce Partner Navigator program that helps businesses measure the expertise of consulting partners and choose the right fit. 

The Salesforce navigator program bifurcates partners on three accreditation levels: knowledge, quality delivery, and experience with the products or industry served. 

• Knowledge
  This helps determine the partner’s technical efficiency measured via Salesforce credentials through various certifications. 
  
  
• Quality
  This can be measured with client satisfaction scores based on how consistently partners deliver success to businesses.
  
  
• Experience
  It includes the number of completed projects delivered by the customer in the last two years.  Salesforces then asses these criteria to offer ranks to their partners. There are three accreditation levels awarded-
  
  
• Expert (highest)
  This shows that the partner can handle the most complex projects and deliver premium results. To qualify, the partner should achieve multiple Level II Subcategories. 
  
  
• Level II Specialist
  This verifies that the partner has the experience and knowledge in delivering complex projects with higher customer success. To become a Level II Specialist, the partner should have earned over five certifications and completed at least 10 projects in the past two years. They should also have a satisfaction score of over 4.4 for completed projects. 
  
  
• Level I Specialist 
  This certifies that the partner possesses the required knowledge in an industry vertical or cloud. To qualify as a Level I Specialist, earn at least one certification and have completed at least three projects within two years. They should also earn a score of over 4.2 or greater on the customer satisfaction scale for the projects. 
  
  

You can find all these under the consultant finder of Salesforce’s navigator program results. A partner’s listing also provides additional information like their product and service, contact details, customer ratings, and completed projects.

2. Look out for industrial and technical expertise 

Salesforce consulting partners are a good mix of business consultants, customer support, admin, and technical assistance. You would want to choose a partner that’s available 24*7 to deal with your Salesforce requirement and help you navigate the platform with ease. 

Thus, your Salesforce partner must have a technically solid team that makes it feasible to offer timely deliveries, constant support, and prompt communication. To understand their technical expertise, ask them for case studies similar to your niche. 

3. Well-rounded expertise 

Besides having strong knowledge of Salesforce, your partner must also have the following skills- 

• Sales
  Businesses mostly use Salesforce to interact better with their customers and collect crucial user-specific data. As such, your consulting partner needs to have a sales operation director or sales manager on their team. These professionals can offer critical insights into your Salesforce dashboard and offer strategies that you missed out on. 
  
  
• Project management
  Your Salesforce infrastructure doesn’t just live online; they have equal implications across various departments. An ideal Salesforce consulting partner offer project managers to help your business bring sanity and streamline data present online and offline. These professionals ensure that the projects stay focused, are timely delivered, and employees are well-equipped with training sessions. 
  
  
• Related technologies
  One of the primary reasons why businesses hire Salesforce consultation partner is to help them with LOBs and integrations. The partners you choose must have fair experience working with technologies related to Salesforce like Gmail or Quickbook; otherwise, your business would fail to use salesforce solutions at its full strength. 

4. Cost shouldn’t be the only factor 

When choosing the right Salesforce consultation partner, businesses should look beyond price. Due to increased demand for Salesforce professionals and utilizing CRM benefits. And, if you are looking for cheaper and affordable options, prioritizing quality and experience shouldn’t be in the picture. However, the cost may vary depending on the following instances-

• You can calculate the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). This would include costs incurred on internal labor, product licenses, long-term maintenance cost, and service.  
• The cost may vary depending on the implementations- Service cloud or Sales cloud. 
• Include data migration costs; they can be quite steep and play a deciding role in choosing a partner. 

Incorporate such costs to define a rough figure before beginning your research for your consultation partner. 

Final Thoughts 

Your Salesforce consultation partner is not just another business bond but a base for a successful Salesforce implementation journey. Having the right partner will optimize all aspects of Salesforce benefits and is also available in your customer’s awareness journey. 

Contact our Salesforce Consultant to improve your business productivity and maximize revenue generation