As the Salesforce administrator, you play an absolutely integral role in the success of your business. With more and more companies turning to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software like Salesforce to help organize their data and accounts, track marketing campaigns, keep an eye on opportunities and a whole host of other features, it is imperative that the Salesforce admin is well-versed in what he or she does. After all, the rest of the company is not likely to be particularly adept at navigating Salesforce’s many capabilities. Therefore, it is critical to make sure that you have adopted Salesforce admin best practices.
Here are 5 best practices that all Salesforce administrators should practice.
Never stop learning
Even as a certified Salesforce administrator, there is always room to grow and always more new lessons to learn. Salesforce constantly goes through upgrades, adding new features, workflow rules and formulas and it is on you to stay up-to-date. Whatever Salesforce-specific rule you play within your organization – be it as an administrator, a developer, a solution expert or an end user – there are training options and classes tailored specifically for your needs. Free classes and a wealth of videos on YouTube covering various niche Salesforce topics makes your continued Salesforce education an attainable goal. Check out the Salesforce Training page today!
Hang out on the AppExchange
The Salesforce AppExchange was launched in 2005 as a marketplace for cloud computing web applications that users can integrate with their existing Salesforce operations. Today, there are thousands of apps – ranging from do-it-yourself email marketing to…a free sales funnel! – that Salesforce administrators and users can benefit from. With so many developers regularly introducing new applications into the marketplace, it is important for Salesforce administrators to hang out here regularly and stay abreast of all new developments. You never know if the next new app could dramatically improve your company.
Have great analytics and reporting
Companies use CRMs to get information and actionable insights out of it, but you can’t do this if you’re limited in your reporting and data analysis capabilities. As a Salesforce administrator, you have to know what kinds of Salesforce reports are available to you. If the reports that you need cannot be generated within Salesforce itself, perhaps you should consider looking for third-party alternatives, such as InsightSquared! Figure out what key decision-makers such as your Sales VP are looking for or trying to learn from their data, and craft these reports to suit their needs. Know your reporting tools backwards and forwards, send regular reports out to users and make sure they’re visual and easily-digested.
Connect with Salesforce User Groups and community
With hordes of Salesforce users around the world, you are not alone. Salesforce users love sharing what they know and learn, and chances are if you have a question, someone else has already asked that question and had it answers. Reach out to and join your local Salesforce User Group. Exchange ideas and best practices. Communication and collaboration doesn’t have to stop there, however. Interact with other Salesforce admins and users on Twitter and LinkedIn. Working together, the global Salesforce community can be extremely powerful and tackle any Salesforce issues that arise.
Communicate and built trust
As a Salesforce administrator, you might cast a lonely shadow at your office. Don’t let this be the case! Many people in various departments of your company depend on you and the reports you produce from the company’s CRM data. They need the information and actionable insights within these reports to enact change and improvements at the business. Build trust in your organization by ensuring a consistently high level of clean data quality and easy-to-understand reports. Communicate with various departments regularly on what you’re working on, any changes to Salesforce and how they might be affected. A weekly email or newsletter from their friendly neighborhood Salesforce admin can go a long way in bridging gaps within the office.
