So You Learned a Lot at Dreamforce
Find out how to apply what you learned right away
With over a thousand sessions to choose from at Dreamforce 2022, you probably learned a lot, whether it was a big announcement in a keynote or notes you took during a theater session. There are some announcements and things you learn at Dreamforce that you just can’t wait to put into action. This year, one of the biggest announcements was the introduction of a new character, Genie, and a set of tools that sits on top of CDP. With big announcements like this, I didn’t even have to wait until the keynote was over before I was on Trailhead Go doing the Salesforce Genie: Quick Look module and learning more.
Then there are other announcements that are part of forward-looking statements, requiring you to wait a bit. These are things like new products or features that might still be in pilot or even under development. No matter your role, you’ve likely learned at least 10 things at Dreamforce that you can implement right away, making the learning one of the top reasons to attend. Every year I find myself pinging my boss or coworkers with messages like, “OMG we need to do this right now!” or “That would save us so much time” or “OMG why are we not using that?”
Below are some tips for going from “we need this right now” to “look at this awesomeness I just implemented!”
Make a plan to get it done
For me, this looks like creating a Jira issue or a new epic so that it’s more than just a note in my notebook that says it’s a good idea. I’ve lost so many good ideas by just letting them die on notebook pages. Set up time for yourself to explore it more, do some Trailhead modules, or just document your ideas more thoroughly. Once you’ve done more brainstorming, set a goal and a timeline for when you’d like to have it implemented. Try to be realistic, but don’t put it off for so long that you forget about it.
Tell people about it
On this same note — don’t let your big ideas stay with just you. Talk to people about them! Bring them up in your next 1:1 or staff meeting. Create a Dreamforce recap document and share a list of your ideas with your team so you can start getting buy-in. A document that outlines all the amazing things you learned and can now implement will also be a great way to sell going back to Dreamforce next year.
Start with out-of-the-box functionality
You likely saw some amazing customization demoed at Dreamforce. To replicate what you saw, start with functionalities that already exist, such as Flow templates or an AppExchange package from Salesforce Labs. From reports and dashboards to complex flows and Apex, templates and starter apps are a great quick win to make big functionalities seem less overwhelming. Just make sure to test your big idea in a sandbox or playground first!
Spin up a playground or developer environment
Did you see something cool with a product that maybe your company doesn’t have yet that you really want to play with it? Chances are, you can play with it in a playground connected via Trailhead, or in a developer org. Did you know that you can create a developer org that has CRM Analytics fully enabled? And Einstein Bots? And Commerce? Most products — apart from Marketing Cloud — are available for you to try right away. If for some reason you’re unable to get a trial license in your customer org, this is a great way to put together a proof of concept to wow your boss. I’ve also found myself spinning up a new org just to test out some of the things I saw and learned.
Run Salesforce Optimizer
Chances are high that you attended a session about maintaining or cleaning up your org. The easiest first step is to run Salesforce Optimizer (and schedule it) to get a report of all the things you can clean up right now. The best part is that it tries to estimate the amount of time it will take you to complete each task. Start with the quick wins, like deleting profiles that aren’t assigned to anyone, and then move on to the bigger things.
Check your setup menu
There are a lot of great features and functionalities that can simply be turned on inside of your setup menu. This includes things like Case Merge to manage duplicate cases and Inline Editing for reports — both are just check boxes in their respective settings pages. You’ll find a lot of these quick wins that serve up amazing value to your users. Just make sure you’re testing them in your sandbox first!
Don’t be afraid to think big and out of the box
Maybe your company isn’t ready for CPQ, there are some smaller things you can implement that are inspired by CPQ (such as Quotes). Or maybe you want to implement something like CPQ in the future, so your quick wins are to start cleaning up your products and price books. Even if you can’t afford to add on Revenue Insights, you could enable Collaborative Forecasting to get buy-in from your leadership team for Revenue Insights in the future. Take your big idea and break it down into bite-size pieces that are more actionable, and perhaps more sellable.
Enjoy the ride
My biggest piece of advice? Have fun! The things you learned at Dreamforce will inspire you to learn more, think bigger, and interact with your teams in new ways. If you’re anything like me, you went home reinvigorated and excited for what comes next.
Slalom is a global consulting firm that helps people and organizations dream bigger, move faster, and build better tomorrows for all. Learn more and reach out today.
