Key Takeaways

• Anticipate common Salesforce setup hurdles to maximize your CRM investment returns.
• Build a skilled team covering roles from architecture to administration for effective implementation.
• Invest in user training and support to help your team succeed with the new Salesforce system.
• Explore the different Salesforce products carefully to select the best option for your specific needs.

The understanding of these common pitfalls will help you prepare for the implementation properly and maximize your company’s CRM investment.In this article, experts from Itransition, a Salesforce implementation partner with 10+ years of experience, will highlight the challenges you will likely face and provide recommendations to help you avoid them.

What are the typical Salesforce implementation challenges?

1. Building an efficient implementation team

The typical Salesforce implementation process is complex due to encompassing many diverse aspects, such as architecture design, UX/UI design, data migration, and others. To handle all of them efficiently, you will need a robust and well-rounded team. Here are the key qualifications that a Salesforce implementation team should possess:

• Project owner to establish an overall project vision
• Project managers to schedule and control project task execution
• Software architects to design the solution’s technical architecture
• Developers to implement the solution and build customizations and integrations
• UX\UI designers to tailor the solution’s navigation and look
• Data migration engineers to plan and execute data migration
• System administrators to maintain Salesforce and support users

2. Selecting the right Salesforce product

The Salesforce ecosystem includes dozens of products, each offering a different functionality and toolset. These products also come in multiple editions (Essential, Professional, Enterprise, and Unlimited), which are suitable for businesses from specific niches and of different sizes. Given such variety, making the right decision about which Salesforce products and editions you should purchase can be hard.

3. Defining Salesforce customization and integration scope

Some degree of Salesforce soluton’s customization is typically necessary to better tailor the solution to your business needs. This process can include building custom fields, implementing custom business rules, and integrating the solution with third-party software, such as ERP, BPM, or marketing automation tools. Lack of customization and over-customization can both negatively affect your project’s effectiveness, so you need to determine the customization scope carefully.

4. Migrating data to Salesforce

Migrating data from a legacy CRM system to Salesforce is one of the most complex and risky implementation aspects, especially if you need to transfer large data volumes. An improperly setup and managed migration process can result in the corruption or loss of valuable customer data, which can lead to the disruption of your business’s operations and cause reputational damage.

5. Ensuring Salesforce user adoption

If employees can not properly utilize your CRM solution and make use of its capabilities on a daily basis, the Salesforce project can be hardly considered successful. What, in result, can cause dissatisfaction among your company’s stakeholders. 

3 ways to ensure smoother Salesforce implementation

• Identify your Salesforce requirements early on

After defining your primary business goals, you should audit your existing service, marketing, and sales processes, the current toolset if you already use some CRM software, and the customer data you possess. The gathered information, together with the data collected during the elicitation of stakeholder needs, will help you accurately define the requirements for your future Salesforce solution. Identified software requirements will greatly facilitate the process of choosing the right Salesforce product and edition among all possible options. 

Clear software requirements will also help you determine Salesforce configurations, customizations, and integrations you need to perform to ensure that the solution meets your company’s business goals. This information will also help you determine an appropriate implementation strategy and, if you are already using a CRM system, the right approach to data migration.

• Invest in the professional development of your Salesforce team

If you have already evaluated the implementation scope, you also can determine what particular qualifications your team should have to handle all project aspects. However, if you are going to assemble the team in-house and fill all the required positions with your employees, you will most likely have to contend with the shortage of Salesforce-specific skills and lack of Salesforce implementation experience.

To address the implementation team’s skill and knowledge gaps, you should be ready to invest in the professional development of your Salesforce team. You can provide team members with relevant online courses on Udemy, Coursera, or other sources and hold internal workshops with more experienced employees, who can share their expertise in different domains. As your team members expand their knowledge, you can also register them for Salesforce certification exams to validate their expertise.

• Implement a robust user adoption strategy

To ensure high adoption of Salesforce among users, you need to develop and follow a well-rounded and actionable adoption strategy. Such a strategy should include a comprehensive training plan for employees, one that would provide them with a common understanding of the Salesforce platform and teach them how to use its capabilities to the full extent.

Besides general training activities, you need to include role-based training in your strategy to teach your business users how to leverage Salesforce for their job roles, whether it is an account manager, CRM analyst, or social media support rep. Also, consider including personalized training in your strategy, which implies building an individualized learning path for each business user. Since personalized training is tailored to employees’ individual needs, it can be more engaging compared to standardized training approaches.

Not less importantly, your user adoption strategy should put a strong emphasis on post-implementation user support. It should include measures that will help new users become acquainted with your Salesforce solution and support them. As an option, your strategy can involve providing employees with in-app guidance: contextual tips, guidelines, and tooltips embedded right into the Salesforce interface. With its help, employees can learn to use Salesforce on the go and get comfortable with the solution quicker.

Final thoughts

If you are going to start a Salesforce implementation journey aiming to leverage the advantages of this CRM platform, you should know what challenges you will most likely face along the way. Building a full-fledged implementation team, handling data migration, and customizing Salesforce properly are just some of them. You can address some of these pitfalls by following the recommendations listed in the article.

Also keep in mind that you don’t have to struggle with all the implementation challenges on your own, since a certified Salesforce partner can assist you in overcoming them. Third-party experts can join your in-house specialists and help you avoid overheads associated with Salesforce team development and training. They can also help you handle customization, integration, data migration, user adoption, and many other project aspects to ensure smoother Salesforce implementation.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the main difficulties when setting up Salesforce?

Companies often encounter challenges such as assembling a capable implementation team with diverse skills and choosing the most suitable Salesforce product and edition from many options. Other common issues include determining the right amount of customization, safely migrating existing data, and encouraging employees to use the new system regularly. Careful planning helps address these potential problems.

How important is building the right team for Salesforce implementation?

Having a well-rounded team is foundational for a successful Salesforce setup because the process involves many different tasks like technical design, user experience adjustments, and data handling. Key roles include project managers, software architects, developers, designers, data engineers, and administrators, each contributing specific expertise to manage the complexity effectively. Without this range of skills, critical aspects might be overlooked.

Why is selecting the right Salesforce product challenging?

Salesforce offers numerous products (like Sales Cloud, Service Cloud) with distinct features, and each product comes in different versions (Essentials, Professional, Enterprise, Unlimited) suited for various business sizes and needs. This variety means companies must carefully evaluate their specific requirements against the available options to avoid purchasing functionality they don’t need or missing features that are important for their operations. Making the wrong choice can lead to unnecessary costs or a system that doesn’t fully support the business goals.

What risks are involved in migrating data to Salesforce?

Moving data from an old system to Salesforce can be risky, particularly with large amounts of information, as mistakes can lead to lost or corrupted customer data. Such errors might disrupt business operations and damage the company’s reputation with its customers. Proper planning and execution by experienced data migration engineers are necessary to ensure a smooth and secure transfer.

How much customization does a typical Salesforce implementation need?

The required level of Salesforce customization varies based on individual business needs; some adjustments are usually needed to align the platform with specific workflows or integrate it with other software like ERP systems. However, both too little customization and excessive customization can cause problems. Finding the right balance based on clear business requirements is key to an effective setup.

Is it true that Salesforce implementation is only successful if employees use it daily?

Yes, user adoption is a critical measure of success because the value of a CRM system comes from its consistent use by employees in their daily tasks. If the team doesn’t integrate Salesforce into their workflows, the company won’t see the expected benefits in efficiency or customer relationship management. Low adoption indicates the investment isn’t delivering its potential return.

How can a company improve Salesforce user adoption?

Improving user adoption requires a solid strategy focused on training and ongoing support. This includes general platform education, role-specific training showing how Salesforce helps individual jobs, and potentially personalized learning paths. Providing continuous support and in-app guidance after launch also helps users become comfortable and proficient.

What is the first step to ensure a smoother Salesforce implementation process?

Identifying clear requirements early is the most effective first step. This involves reviewing current business processes, analyzing existing tools and data, and understanding stakeholder needs. Well-defined requirements guide product selection, customization scope, and the overall implementation strategy, preventing confusion later.

Can investing in team training really overcome skill gaps for Salesforce setup?

Investing in professional development for your internal team can significantly address skill gaps related to Salesforce implementation. Providing access to relevant online courses, conducting internal workshops, and encouraging Salesforce certifications helps build the necessary expertise within your company. This prepares your team to handle the technical and procedural aspects of the project more effectively.

Do companies need to handle all Salesforce implementation challenges alone?

No, businesses do not have to face every implementation challenge by themselves. Partnering with certified Salesforce implementation experts, like the article source Itransition, can provide valuable assistance. These partners bring experience to help navigate complexities like customization, data migration, and user adoption, potentially saving time and reducing risks associated with learning on the job.