5 Tips For Choosing The Best Salesforce Consulting Partner

Hiring the right Salesforce consultant is one of the best decisions your business can make, to get the most out of the platform. Implementing Salesforce solutions demands an active commitment and expertise in all things Salesforce. Choosing the right partner can sometimes be trickier than it seems. These 5 tips will help you choose the best partner for your business. 

• Experience - Hiring a Salesforce Consulting Partner with Salesforce knowledge is a given, but there are a couple of other crucial skills that can help provide a fruitful partnership.
  • Project Management - The practices that are introduced within your Salesforce Org doesn’t just exist inside your computer, they have real-world significance across multiple departments and teams. A great Salesforce consulting partner has project management experience and can help you ensure your Salesforce project makes sense online and offline. They have experience running phases and iterations to ensure the project stays on course, delivery is executed, and post-implementation training and adoption are successful. 
  • Related Technologies - One of the biggest reasons companies hire Salesforce consultants is to assist with integrations. It’s important that any partner you choose has experience across a large number of technologies that integrate with Salesforce. You want to consider if your partner can properly fit Salesforce solutions into your technology roadmap.  If not, you may want to keep looking.
• Approach - When you are looking to hire a Salesforce partner that is best for your business, it is important you understand the partner’s approach to conducting projects. Agile-based delivery is a great practice, as it accounts for phases and iterations, which help ensure that your project stays on time and within budget. This approach also ensures a good deal of collaboration between your team and the consultants. Meaning, by the end of the project you understand what just happened inside your Org, and you were involved in all of the decision making. 

• Ongoing Support - Before you sign on with a Salesforce consultant, talk to them about what happens after the project is complete. Will they support your business moving forward or once your work has been pushed to production are they going to cut and run? Make sure the partner will not de-prioritize your support needs over the needs of other larger projects. Endiem offers designated Salesforce Managed Services that solely focus on customer’s ongoing support and maintenance. This is the best type of partner to have.
• Pricing - When it comes to Salesforce projects, prices are all over the place. It’s important to introduce your budget during the initial discussion, so you can focus on partners that are within your range. It would be unwise to just agree on a number and choose the first partner that falls in that range. The most expensive choice is not necessarily the best and the cheapest doesn’t mean they are the least qualified. Even without a formal statement of work, you can learn a great deal about the partner. Ask questions about other projects they have carried out for other customers that are similar to yours. Ultimately, you want to pick a partner that falls within your price range that is going to offer the best process and support you can get for the budget. 
• Enthusiasm for the work - Your business is spending a significant chunk of money on whatever Salesforce project is being implemented, so you want to pick a partner that understands that and has a passion for the work they doing for your business. You want to make sure they have an enthusiasm for your success and the technology they are leveraging. 

Finding the right Salesforce Consulting Partner can be intimidating, and as consultants seem to be popping up all over the place, it can be hard to come to the best choice for your business. Keeping these five tips in mind during your search can help you find the best Salesforce Consulting Partner for your business’ needs. When you’re ready to work with a stellar partner that encompasses all of these qualities, Endiem is ready to help with all of your Salesforce needs.