5 Steps for Choosing The Right Salesforce Consulting Partner

If you're reading this, I believe you have realized that salesforce CRM can do wonders for your business. But you don't want to make a hasty decision in choosing your salesforce consulting partner – clever choice, I must say.The right partner will take your company to a new level, while a wrong choice can haunt you for years.

Around 18-69% of CRM projects fail because of poor execution, weak data handling, unrealistic expectations, and feeble data management.

Since you're on the right track, we will help you find the right Salesforce consulting partner to offer your business a revolutionary advantage.

Journey Towards Finding The Perfect Salesforce Consulting Partner

1. Do your Homework; Learn about Salesforce

You cannot find the right partner if you have no clue what you are looking for. Therefore, the first step towards success is researching; search the internet to learn more about Salesforce and industry-specific case studies. This will help you figure out what solutions will work for you based on businesses that have successfully adopted Salesforce.To learn about Salesforce, you can leverage the resources provided by Salesforce. Salesforce's official Trailblazer Community is another great place to find advice from peers and can help you identify your goals and expectations before selecting a Salesforce consulting firm.

2. Time to explore; Look for partners

Now that you have your basics covered, it's time to explore some of the best consulting partners. You need to find Salesforce partners with decent experience in the field and impressive track records. To find your perfect partner, look into the following:Official websites: To ensure the reliability of partners, visit their official websites, spend more time there and look for signs of trust or suspicion. Shady companies often leave signs you can recognize and keep yourself from making huge mistakes.Review websites: Another source to check the reliability is various review websites like; clutch.co, good firms, itrate.co.Reading customer reviews on the Salesforce AppExchange is a great way to get a feel for the types of projects a Salesforce consulting firm has worked on, how they work with their clients and the true breadth of their experience.  While exploring, keep selecting those companies that have a decent track record. We will use this shortlist to further screen the right Salesforce consulting partner.

3. Communicate; Avoid Flattery

Now that you have a substantial list of potential Salesforce Consulting partners, you need to start talking to them. But before you start, have all your questions ready for them. These questions will automatically come to your mind during your first research step. If not, you can take some time to think about your company's requirements, underlying challenges, vision, and what you want to achieve with Salesforce CRM development. This will create a map for your communication, and you're good to go.During your meeting, look for red flags like faltering – that are usually obvious to you while talking to them. At first, it might feel like everything is going too smoothly, and they are agreeable to even the more unrealistic expectations you throw at them.Consultants don't exist to implement the solutions you tell them to. They're there to provide valuable feedback based on experience and to challenge you to think beyond the systems you already know. The right consulting partner will disagree with you if they find that your plans are unrealistic and offer you a smart workaround to achieve your goals.

4. Salesforce Certifications

Certification is the legit way to filter out authentic Salesforce Consulting Partners from the rest. Thankfully, Salesforce has done a great job with its certification policies. These Salesforce certifications validate the authentic Salesforce partner and categorize them with their expertise and experience.Based on roles, salesforce consultants are divided into administrators, developers, app developers, and specialists. These experts are given certificates in tiers that start with Registered, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Global Strategic partners. These certificates are given to the number of verified employees. Now the question arises, what certifications to look for? If your requirements are not that much and could be fulfilled by someone with a lower certificate. Should you go with top-tier salesforce partners? Maybe not. It all boils down to your requirements, expectations, and budget.Remember: All certified partners are legit.

5. Evaluate project Value and Costs

Now that you have narrowed down the list of potential Salesforce Consulting Partners, you need to start discussing the project with them. While it may be tempting to look for a partner that's the most economical choice for your business, going cheap can cost you more money in the long run.We advise looking for partners offering comprehensive solutions to meet long-term business goals. Asking specific questions related to pricing structure, such as the actual cost of "per hour" pricing, if there are any extra fees outside of hourly rates, and what is included in the contract, are all critical questions to consider before wading deep into the waters of a complex project.Consider a long-term relationship with your Salesforce Consulting Partner and choose the one where you get the highest value for your money. This value could be in terms of customization, support, or even software implementation.

Let's wrap up

By now, you must think that looking for the right Salesforce Consulting Partner can be intimidating. Undoubtedly, it is pretty daunting and takes significant time and effort. However, the reward will be in multiple folds of your actions.Just Remember!

Always be clear about your objectives and keep your expectation realistic.

Transparent discussion is the key to success.

Don't leave any grey areas in your project discussion, management, and distribution of roles and responsibilities. If you don't understand anything, ask questions.

At Whizzbridge, our team is ready to meet your technical implementation and integration needs. Our team has successfully delivered hundreds of projects across a variety of industries. We are experts in Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Experience Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Custom Development, and Integrations. Contact us today to get started.