4 Questions to Ask Yourself When You Start a Salesforce Business

Salesforce is a powerful platform with an ecosystem comprised of thousands of partners who are projected to generate $26.01B in revenue for FY22. More than 150,000 companies and 40,000 nonprofits currently use the platform to create impact and transform value. The International Data Corporation (IDC) has ranked Salesforce as the #1 CRM for nine consecutive years and projects Salesforce to create 4.2M jobs worldwide and $1.2T in new business revenue by 2024. Since Salesforce customers spend on related ISVs and services, the ecosystem will soon become six times bigger than Salesforce itself.

I discovered the power of the platform almost 16 years ago, and have had the pleasure of watching it grow over time. Here are questions I think you should ask yourself (and answer) prior to starting your own Salesforce business.

1. Do you want a job or a business?

I don’t typically share the story about how and why I started Cloud for Good. When I first moved to the United States in late 2009, I was looking for a job. My plans, at that point in time, did not include starting my own business. I interviewed with numerous consulting firms focused on Salesforce for nonprofits, but I did not receive offers to join any of their teams.

In January 2010, after an intense three-month period full of interviews, I realized that I wasn’t going to obtain employment with these firms and decided to start consulting as a freelancer. In my first four months, I made about $500 cumulatively (yes, that’s about $125 per month) but closed out the first year with almost $200,000 in sales. As the demand for my services grew, I had to ask myself, did I want a job, or did I want to run a business?

When you start a company, this needs to be the first and most important question you ask yourself. Do you want to be an employee or an entrepreneur? The answer to this question will determine the future of your business and your role in it. It will influence your answers to the next three questions.

2. Are you ready to hire?

As part of growing the company and working on the business (i.e., driving growth) versus in the business (i.e., working on projects), I had to hire a team. I hired my first employee when I had too much work to complete on my own. As we grew, we shifted from hiring based on the existing demand, and instead started hiring based on the demand that we were creating for our services.

As a consulting firm, talent is our biggest asset. Early on I decided that I needed to hire rock stars — people who were not only strong technically, but had consulting experience, and were passionate about our mission. It’s essential to hire people that make your company proud, while implementing solutions that make you proud to have in your growing portfolio. I encourage you to ask yourself if you are proud of everyone who is working for you.

3. What is your process?

As your business grows you can no longer “wing it.” To replicate your success, you will need to have processes in place. Here are a few examples:

· What is your hiring process?

· What is your onboarding process?

· Do you have an implementation methodology?

· What is your feedback process (both internal and external)?

One of the main reasons Cloud for Good continues to grow is because we took time early on to document and create processes, and we constantly evaluate and modify them. It is difficult to spend time on methodology early in the startup phase, but it is a must to continue growing.

4. Where are your deals coming from?

Salesforce is an Account Executive (AE) centric organization. In many cases, AEs are driving the business for both consulting firms and ISVs. Learn how to work with them and not against them.

• AEs want to sell licenses. They want to sell them today and not next month.
• AEs do not want red accounts. Remember that you may have a red account once in a while, and that is OK, but what matters is how you handle that account.
• AEs often want to own the client relationship — don’t create frictions.
• Be responsive.

It is great if you get a larger percentage of your deals directly from Salesforce, but can you stand on your own feet? For me, at Cloud for Good, it was very important to source our own deals and not be fully dependent on another referral source.

The best way to generate interest and create demand is to give back to the community. Ways to do this include:

• Salesforce Community Groups: Join your local community group to learn, share, and network.
• Trailblazer Community: Join the Salesforce Trailblazer Community to listen and share knowledge.
• Partner Community
• Salesforce.org Hub
• Speaking engagements (Dreamforce, World Tours)
• Write blog posts, initiate webinars, and publish white papers.

These are my key takeaways from almost 16 years in the Salesforce ecosystem. Do you have additional tips? Please share them in the comments below.

Check out Cloud for Good on AppExchange.