Salesforce CRM
Admin Skills
Built from scratch and improved what exists.
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How Used in Prior Companies
9 different revenue models; 4 companies; 2 sectors in B2B and B2C; 1 approach — build custom workflows around how the business actually generates revenue.
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Approach to Structure
I structure Salesforce around workflows, first mapping them using BPM and Lean techniques, then representing them on the platform as processes.
The layout approach I use depends on the company and the type of user on the platform. The structure should align with user needs while staying organized and easy to scan and read.
Every field exists to do one of three things:
Grow and retain revenue
Measure performance with KPIs
Support cross-functional activity.
Some setups placed the most-used fields at the top of the page for convenience; other pages match how users actually move through a call. We collected additional primary, secondary, or tertiary information below in sections.
In addition to including default standard sections, other setups stack sections by data-collection priority, cross-functional/department or team workflow needs, or by category.
A few customization examples:
Upsell and cross-sell pathways mapped to an organization’s full products and services portfolio
Opportunity pages and workflow created around a specific sales methodology
An organization’s business model frameworks added to account pages, e.g., Business Model Canvas, SWOT, PESTLE, Value Chain Analysis, and others as needed
Company demographics, e.g., sector, market, industry, time zone, classification, size, and more based on need
Contact data captures personal demographics and behavioral demographics (used mostly for B2C)
Supporting Adoption
Architecture is half of the task. The other half is getting a team to use it.
What works best is building a culture where the team understands why the data matters, no matter how tedious the task feels, so they collect it because it helps them do their own work.
I’ve helped facilitate adoption through training, reiterating the importance of the data, and by showing the outcomes of collecting data, e.g., the ability to see patterns in sales activity (good and bad) they would not otherwise recognize, to pursue opportunities that have lost momentum, to create new opportunities through pattern recognition, and to achieve more accurate forecasting.
I have created shared resources to support adoption, disciplined use, and continuous process improvement of the platform.
Provided professional training
Visual workflows for each stage
SOP’s on how to use each feature
Videos on how to use each feature
Glossary of terms to avoid ambiguity
Style guides for data input and hygiene
Mapped workflows using BPM and Lean
Mapped KPIs and reporting
Integrated external company apps for reporting
My goal with CRM use is to increase team adoption, increase the value of the data, and achieve accurate forecasting so the team understands where they are, where they need to be, what they can do to achieve the goal by the end of the fiscal year.