Posted by Nik on Jan 26, 2010 in
Salesforce That old adage – “it’s the little things that kill” can be oh so true. I’ve decided that a blog entry each month will be based around a time saver that some people may know, but it is one that can be a time saver, and be one of those little Salesforce.com customizations that can be a killer for the end user. The first one is a time saver I create for the highland dance association here in Ottawa – how to make an email link on a record so that it uses a template.
Previously, they were using the Send An Email button, choosing the template that had been created, and then completing any further personalization before pressing the send button. The email was a confirmation registration for dance competitors in an upcoming dance. This is a very easy process, but to send the email it was 4 mouse clicks. Not too many, however when you receive a dozen entries a day, it can get tedious.
To speed up the process, I created a custom page link, which would in one click open the Send An Email page, fill out the Contact detail (the who), the Association to the custom object (the what), and use the template for registration confirmation. How? Quite simple, actually…
The syntax for the link is as follows -
/_ui/core/email/author/EmailAuthor?p2_lkid={WHO_ID}&p3_lkid={WHAT_ID}&template_id=TEMPLATE_ID&rtype=003&retURL=%2F{RECORD_ID}
The WHO_ID is the ID of the contact you wish to send it to, while the WHAT_ID is the object you wish to associate the email to. The Template ID is likely the hardest ID to find, as you have to go to the URL of the template in the admin side to find it. You can find the template ID by clicking Setup, Admin Setup, Communication Templates, Email Templates, then clicking on the template itself. In the image below, the template ID is highlighted.
Once you have all this information, you can use the ID’s you have to create the link on the object. Below the image shows the setup for the email link I created on a custom object:
Other uses for this type of link? A follow up email to a main contact for an account you haven’t spoken to in a month or two. A reply you typically send at the onset of an opportunity. A thank you email for your prospects time after a lead qualification call. Any email you send out, and have a template for you could use a link to – and the more you send it the more help the link could be. I know with the highland dance association, the link cut the time spent in sending confirmation emails out by over 50 percent!
Hope this simple time saver helps!
Nik
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Tags: Salesforce, Time Saver
Posted by Nik on Jan 4, 2010 in
Personal Hey all,
Hope you had a great holiday season, and rang in the new decade with pomp, circumstance and most of all safety! First blog post of the new decade, and I thought I’d look back at the last 10…nothing to do with Salesforce this time – just some good ol’ music talk!
Now, those who know me realize that music plays a large part in my life. I now listen to music almost all the time, but at one point and time I used to write and play music as well. I still do play, just not in a band, and certainly no longer up on stage – my days of that have long since past, much like my hair I used to have back then has gone as well! I spent some time thinking back to the songs that really stood out from the ‘naughties, and I’ve come up with a list of 13 – the top 10, and 3 honourable mentions!
10. Queens of the Stone Age – Song For The Dead
One of the best live bands I have ever seen. Period. (And easy to go see for my wife, as she is drop dead in love with Josh Homme…)
9. Bloc Party – Helicopter
How I wish Bloc Party was still awesome, and didn’t put out their last album of suckitude. I think Q said it best – “Remember when Bloc Party didn’t suck balls?”. Yes…yes I do – and this song is when they didn’t.
8. Postal Service – Such Great Heights
Yes – it’s now a UPS song, which demerits it slightly, but the song (and the album) is super awesome amazing. How they recorded the album is just as amazing too (the band’s name was chosen due to the way in which it produced its songs. Tamborello wrote and performed instrumental tracks and then sent the DATs to Gibbard, who edited the song as he saw fit (adding his vocals along the way), sending them back to Tamborello via the United States Postal Service. - from Wikipedia’s note on the band)
7. Wolf Parade – Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts
A Canadian band from Vancouver and Montreal, this song from their first album sticks out as their best, and also as one of the best of the decade.
6. Johnny Cash – Hurt
One of the top 10 songs of the 90’s becomes one of the top ten songs of the naughties thanks to this haunting cover by a cowboy legend. The video can drive you to tears.
5. Radiohead – Everything In It’s Right Place
So, at the beginning of the decade, OK Computer was still fresh in everyone’s head as one of the albums our generation has to own from the 90’s. Radiohead could have ruled the world. Kid A was announced, and….it completely took a left turn from where OK was, and solidified Radiohead (to me) as a band that can do what they want, and still be absolutely awesome doing it!
4. Interpol – Evil
Not one of their biggest hits, but it has everything in it as to why I love Interpol as a band. The lyrics, the syncopation, the build, and the craziest video I have seen in some time.
3. Arcade Fire – Wake Up
Although they were super-hyped, this band (whom we saw open for U2, and blew me away for the few songs I heard) lived up to it. Although they seem to have fallen off the face of the earth (I believe they were working on a soundtrack or something) their first album is one of the best Canadian albums ever released! (BTW, the lead singer still reminds me of Patrick Roy every time I see him).
2. Muse – Stockholm Syndrome
I am so excited to finally be able to see Muse live in March (in Montreal). This is the song that made me run out and buy every album I could!
1. Arctic Monkeys – I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor
This song just makes me want to jump around, and from the look of the lads who play, they look like they’ve had some fun before recording as well (with a pint or five!). Why is it number one? Just cause I find myself still singing it every once in a while.
So, there is my top ten. As for the extra three – there are three songs that could have been #10, and so I add them as honourable mentions:
Green Day – Holiday (the best Green Day song. ever. period.)
Slipknot – Vermillion Part 1 (Slipknot is a guilty pleasure, but this song has some very powerful lyrics)
Billy Talent – Try Honesty (the first single ever by one of the best Canadian bands of the century…so far!)
So, there you have it – the top 13 of the naughties, in my humblest of opinions. But now, time to get back to work….
Take care all,
Nik
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Tags: Music
Posted by Nik on Dec 7, 2009 in
Development,
Salesforce So, for the past year, one of the items on my list has been “get an introduction to Visualforce (also shortened to VF by many) and Apex”. As you have likely heard, these two development languages are slightly important in the cloud world known as salesforce.com – with these you can build all sorts of triggers, pages and even external websites for your clients, and your own company as a Salesforce user. Alas, like all great plans, this hit the backburner – either due to work, family, or everything combined, there just never seemed to be enough time.
Last week, I started thinking about Apex and VF again and while at Chapters (the Barnes and Noble of Canada for those unsure) I saw the Teach Yourself series. This got me thinking about my lack of drive to really delve in. That’s when it hit me. The documentation out there, right now, is all created for experienced developers. The 101 assumes you know your class from your variable, so to speak…and of course, I am in no way, shape or form, a developer!
While chatting with others on Twitter and facebook about this, David Schach (@dschach) confirmed my belief stated above, by saying:
IMHO, Java or C++ is essential for Apex. Before, could only modify others’ code.
My concern with this, however, is how it fits into the whole mantra and philosophy of “quicker, easier, cheaper”. Many of my clients have been absolutely blown away with the low cost of implementation and configuration using native salesforce.com – but when you think of the amount of marketing and discussion that has gone into such advances as Apex and Visualforce, or more importantly Sites, there has been little discussion to the end user about what is required. Now, for the administrators to really become the masters of their own domain, they need to learn a language such as Java, or C++, then take the books lovingly put together by salesforce.com on Apex and Visualforce, and learn the differences. If they do not, they are in the same boat as they were with their on-premise CRM applications of the past. They become slaves to consultants such as myself. And honestly, that’s not what I want!
Now, does this mean that I believe Apex and Visualforce should only be used by large enterprise clients who have development staff on hand who could learn the necessary quirks of a similar language? Of course not. One of the major advantages of salesforce.com’s multi-tennant architecture is the ability for small and medium businesses to have access to and the ability to use the same functionality as the big boys do, for the same price! Where I do think that salesforce.com (or a very industrious developer and writer) could really make an earth shattering advance in salesforce.com is in the creation of a “Teach Yourself Apex and Visualforce in 21 days” type book. In other words, write the manual that helps non developers get up to speed, without the need to learn Java or C++. Teach us about classes, methods and all the basic needs to begin, using Apex as the language to teach. Move into how to load Eclipse, the IDE, and how to develop, and finally finish some actual introductory programs for us to work out the basics, both with Apex and VF….even help people make their first sites page!
A book like this would do a couple of things, in my opinion. First and foremost, it would give a non-developer looking to advance their ability to utilize their Salesforce.com a single book to purchase, with a single path to follow in the quest to learn how to step into the force.com development world. In a second, and just as important to me – it allows small to medium companies who wish to move into the world of Apex and Visualforce a simple means to step up to the plate, and not become locked into a heavily configured salesforce.com without any ways or means to either take control themselves or monitor what is being done. I have, in the past seen CRM setups turned into a glass menagerie, only touched (at a very expensive price) by the handful of people who have created it. This is not what I ever dreamed salesforce.com to be, and don’t believe it ever should!
Is it a lofty idea? As the non-programming salesforce.com lover in the house, I don’t think so. But let me know what you think? Until then, enjoy the dream cover, and take care!
Nik
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Tags: Apex, learning, Visualforce
Posted by Nik on Nov 26, 2009 in
Salesforce So, it is Thanksgiving Thursday. Well, that would likely mean much, much more if I lived south of the border, but I still have been able to work while watching 3 absolute football blowouts, and the Senators hockey game on TV!
As it is Thanksgiving, it’s been fun to sit an watch Twitter, to see what people were talking of when they were tweeting about what they were thankful for. And, as I watched, it gave me an idea, especially with the previous post of all the Force.com applications. So, without further ado, here are five free force.com apps that I am thankful for.
1) Services Project Manager: While there are some really awesome applications for services companies using salesforce.com to utilize apex, visualforce, and all sorts of web wizardry to manage their business (which is projects!), the Force.com Services Project Manager makes great use of native functionality within salesforce.com to give you an easy, intuitive and scalable application to manage your work efforts. Many services-based clients have had this configured by xLerate for this, and it is what I have overhauled to run our business. Without a doubt, it is the most important application I use!
2) AppExchange Dashboard Pack: It amazed me how scared people are of reporting and dashboarding in Salesforce! It is like we’ve all been affected by years of the pains of Crystal Reports or something (grin…)! With each and every new client, I install this lovely application to give users an idea of what you can do. I have found that between the addition of custom reports and dashboards, and a training session on reporting and previous fears and conditionings disappear! Just a note, however – you need to have campaigns in your org to install this. If you do not, the application can be installed separately.
3) Auto Complete Lookups: As simple as it sounds. I am as lazy as the next person…the idea of having to click a lookup icon, type in some name, and click Go…well, it drives me batty. Enter the auto complete. Simply start typing in the object you wish to find, and….voila!
4) Opportunity Primary Contact Required: I absolutely believe that the Contact Role related list on the Opportunity is one of the most under-utilized lists in Salesforce. You may have an opportunity with an account (which is a required lookup), but you sell to people and the contact role list allows you to define this. I truly believe that all people should be forced to use the Contact Role – thus my love of this application. However, there seems to be a catch. After the critical update to the Opportunity save was released back in late summer, people cannot install this properly. I can tell you that you can deactivate the critical update, install the application and reactivate the critical update without issue. As of December 15, 2009, I am not sure what will happen.
5) PRM Home Page Components: OK, so this is not available publicly – you need to access it through the Partner Networks blog. But this application allows you to add a Lead Inbox table, Approval Request table and Channel Manager component to your PRM home page, and all of them are used by Visualforce!
So, there you have it – 5 apps that I am thankful for. And, in the spirit of Black Friday, the price is right for each one – they are absolutely free! Did I miss one you like? Let me know.
To end – Happy Thanksgiving, to all my American friends. I hope you had a safe, and filling holiday filled with family and friendship!
Nik
Nik
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Tags: AppExchange, Salesforce
Posted by Nik on Nov 17, 2009 in
Salesforce So, I just noticed that it has been over three months since the last blog posting. Bad Nik…bad bad Nik!
Of course, this week is Dreamforce ‘09, and while I cannot be there in person, I plan on following vicariously through tweets and at www.dreamforce.com as much as possible. One of things I loved the most about the last two DF’s were walking around the exhibition floor and just talking with people about how they use Salesforce, and also meeting the vendors at the show (I know they are selling their wares, but make an effort to hit them – if not for any reason but to help them feel like the left arm they gave up to have the booth was semi-worth it) to see their applications to enhance Salesforce.
Which leads to another wandering thought of mine – the new AppExchange has been up for a while now, and one of the areas I loved the most before was the link on the last tab to all the applications a vendor had. This came in VERY handy, especially with Force.com Labs – a collection of applications created by developers at Salesforce (and FREE!). Now, with the next button taking forever to load, it is very hard to see all 175 applications force.com Labs has put out. So, for your viewing pleasure, here is a list – they should also link tho the actual appexchange detail page. Over the next bit, I will be pulling some of my favourite apps out, and detailing them a bit more for you.
So, there you have it – all 175 apps as of November 17th. Until next time – and for those in San Francisco, say hi for me! Even better, if in Foley’s, maybe even toast a pint to the northeast…I’ll return the favour here!
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Tags: AppExchange, Dreamforce
Posted by Nik on Jul 30, 2009 in
Salesforce A question came across Twitter today – how can I mass delete from a related object. A great, free little application on the Salesforce.com Appexchange – Mass Delete – helps out with this, but it only comes with standard objects. Also, with the increase of wonderful, popular appexchange apps, some are running into limits for the number installed. So what is one to do? Well, here is some javascript, and how to set up a button for your related lists so that you can mass delete in just a couple of clicks.
How Do I do this?
- First, go to the object you wish to create a list button for. If you wish to do this on accounts (or any standard object), click Setup, Customize, Accounts (or the standard object you wish to use), Buttons and Links. For a custom object, click Setup, Create, Objects and then click on the object you wish to.
- Under the Custom Buttons and Links related list, click the New button.
- Enter the following information for the button:
Label: Mass Delete
Name: Mass_Delete_Object (ie: Mass_Delete_Account)
Display Type: List Button, and check off “Display Checkboxes”
Behaviour: Execute Javascript
Content Source: OnClick Javascript
Mass Delete button setup
- In the detail box, enter the following:
{!REQUIRESCRIPT(”/soap/ajax/15.0/connection.js”)}
var records = {!GETRECORDIDS( $ObjectType.ObjectAPIName )}
if (records[0] == null) {
alert(”Please select at least one record.”) } else {
var errors = [];
var result = sforce.connection.deleteIds(records);
if (result && result.length){ var numFailed = 0; var numSucceeded = 0;
for (var i = 0; i < result.length; i++){
var res = result[i];
if (res && res.success == ‘true’){
numSucceeded++;
} else {
var es = res.getArray(”errors”);
if (es.length > 0) {
errors.push(es[0].message);
}
numFailed++;
}
}
if (numFailed > 0){ alert(”Failed: ” + numFailed + “\nSucceeded: ” + numSucceeded + ” \n Due to: ” + errors.join(”\n”));
}
else {
alert(”Number of records deleted: ” + numSucceeded);
}
}
window.location.reload();
}
Now, the only part you need to change is the second line, where it says $ObjectType.ObjectAPIName. If you were doing this on accounts, you would use $ObjectType.Account. For a custom object, find the API Name on the top of the main object page (For a custom object called Projects, with an API Name of Projects__c, you would enter $ObjectType.Projects__c.
- Click the Save button. You will know have this button available on all lists.
- The final step is to add this to all your lists. To do so, you must edit the page layout for the object you would be on to see the list. As an example, if you wanted to delete projects from an account page, you would edit the Account page layout, go to the related list, edit the Project related list, and add the Mass Delete button. Save the layout change, and you are done.
Using the Mass Delete Button
Mass Delete Success Alert
When using the button, check off the checkbox beside the record(s) you wish to delete, and click the Mass Delete button. Upon it finishing, a pop up will alert you to the number of records which has been deleted, and then refresh your page.
Hope you find this useful – and one final caviat. Please delete with care…although the records will be in your recycle bin, make sure you know what you are deleting before doing so!
Enjoy the week!
Nik
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Posted by Nik on Jul 16, 2009 in
Personal Wow – two months since my last blog. Apologies folks – for those of you who came back to see if anything was new. Lots is….
Where have I been? Well, it is the summer time, and as a dad, there have been MANY weekends where I have been travelling with my daughter to her Highland Dance competitions (she loves to dance! and is not too bad at it either), which seems to take up a boat load of time. And then there was work, which while starting to slow to a much more manageable level was capital-C crazy for a while. During that crazy time, no blogs – but also, for a wee bit, no tweets either….and while I was gone, man did things change!
It seems that celebrities, media, and even many people I know grabbed onto the twitter bandwagon, and registered. Reading through many tweets when coming back, I found some who loved being able to follow their favourite band (being able to say something back and maybe – just maybe having them read it, let alone reply was an amazing thought!). Companies joined in the fray, using twitter to spread the word on their product or service (albeit sometimes in a spam-like manner). Many used it as a micro-blog on their day (this is not new, more of an increase – including tweeting on the contents of their morning breakfast, business meeting or tea-leaf reading). And others reminisced on a day when twitter was much simpler, and was not filled with celebrities, companies, and other.
This has changed Twitter’s topography – especially if you look at who follows people, and the tweet levels of searches. Looking at twitterholic.com (a neat little site to keep track of who you are following or being followed by. Here you can see the top Tweeters based on followers (which is important to some). The top 5? Ashton Kutcher, Ellen DeGeneres, Britney Spears, CNN Breaking News and Oprah.
And of course, with change comes sentiment and opinion. Some have left twitter for friendfeed (very popular to early Twitter adopters such as Robert Scoble). Others now send messages to friends or celebrities on hopes of starting a flame war or gaining attention (there are a few examples which popped into my head, but i don’t feel like giving them airtime). Others lurk much more, while many continue to do what they did.
Me? I still tweet, and when I have time I follow what people are saying on Twitter. Those who know me know my love of music, and during Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest, I’ve passed along pics or thoughts, and even heade over to a stage or two after reading other commenting on a hidden gem. I still have my Salesforce search, and will answer questions when people have a query I think I may be able to help. And yes – I am sure you’ve seen a comment or eight about bagpipe sounds, soccer, TV or anything else on my mind. Do I get responses all the time? No – but that’s ok. To paraphrase the Arrogant Worms (a great Canadian band!) Twitter is really, really big. And as a user of this really, really big application, if I don’t like what I see, I can just move on. I’m just happy to be part of the pod.
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Tags: Twitter
Posted by Nik on Apr 15, 2009 in
Personal,
Salesforce Wow – as I look at the calendar today, I realize the importance of the 15th of April… Today, xLerate turns one year old. And with that, I feel very proud. Looking at numbers and statistics (ah, how we love and loathe them all at the same time) people passed on to me when I first started down this venture, the numbers were astonishingly horrific. Thanks to an article in Entrepreneur Weekly, it was stated that 70 to 80 percent of all small businesses fail within the first year. (I would like to add that this magazine is no longer in publication as of today…). That is a massive number, albeit one that I always thought was slightly inflated…
Looking back over the year, I am extremely proud of what has been accomplished. We have been able to :
- assist over 40 companies with their Salesforce.com implementations, with a focus on the small to medium business sector.
- use our experience and expertise with the application to act as advocates in the Ottawa area through the user group and through emails/phone calls from people using the system and just wanting to ask a quick question.
- without much in the way of a marketing budget, been able to piece together a web presence, business collateral and local reputation for getting a quality job done for our clients.
Of course, making enough revenue to pay the bills, and continue to plan for the future also helps, and for that I thank my clientelle.
What’s next? Well, those who know me will let you know that I have a hard time keeping still. And this is the main drive for this year at xLerate. Over the next twelve months, planned actions will occur, to assist xLerate in bringing more quality to both our own clients and Salesforce.com users globally, as well as hopefully allow us as owners, professionals and people to grow as well.
As a first step, xLerate has applied for, and been accepted as a member of the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation, or OCRI as it is known locally. We hope that this membership will increase our visibility in the local business community, and personally, I hope to be able to learn much from executives who have successfully paved their own successes previously. We also will tie our commitment to the Salesforce Foundation through activities to charities that are tied to the Ottawa area (such as OttawaReads).
Of course, other plans are ‘perculating’ … as things become a reality, I will be sure to share them here! Until then, thank you to all of our clients, colleagues, friends and most importantly my wife Stephanie and kids for making this first year such a resolute success!
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Posted by Nik on Apr 5, 2009 in
Salesforce So, with the beginning of April comes a little spring cleaning from Salesforce.com. Received a couple of emails around some enhancements to the Salesforce application, one incorporated now, and another released on Monday, April 6.
1. – Changes to Email detail page in Customer and Partner Portal
Currently, there is no differentiation between the email message detail page, whether viewed through Salesforce.com or the Customer or Partner Portal. To fix this, Salesforce.com set the default on the email related list to be off. IF you wish for your clients or partners to have access to all emails through a case in one of the portal applications, simply edit your page layout and add the email related list. You can get here by clicking Setup | App Setup | Customize| Cases | Page Layouts.
2. Opportunity Save Change – affecting Workflow Rules and Triggers
With the Spring’09 edition of Salesforce.com, a change in the application “ensures that standard and custom opportunity save logic is triggered when updates are made to the Opportunity, Opportunity Products or Schedules that cause an update to the parent record”. Or, in laymans terms – changes to the products associated with an opportunity, or the revenue or product scheduling finally allow worfklow rules or apex triggers to fire on the parent opportunity record (as if the record was edited!).
This, however, could mean issue with existing workflows or triggers. If your organization uses:
- Opportunity/Opportunity Product Custom Validation Rule
- Opportunity/Opportunity Product Apex Trigger
- Opportunity/Opportunity Product Universally Required Custom Field
- Opportunity/Opportunity Product Unique Custom Field
- Opportunity/Opportunity Product Workflow Rule (Field Update/Email/Task)
then you may need to reassess the workflow/trigger, so that an endless loop workflow or trigger cycle doesn’t occur (and those are always bad things…). Good news is, Salesforce.com has given you an idea on whether or not your instance of Salesforce is affected or not. The email you receive will let you know whether or not they believe you are affected right under the How will this change impact me? header.
If the email your administrator receives says “Based on our analysis, the change will not affect your application.”, nothing needs to be done. The critical update will be installed and activated. However, if it says “Your organization has a customization that may be affected as a result of this update”, then the critical update will be available but deactivated.
If you need to test out your workflows, I would recommend the following:
- Click through to the Critical Updates page (Setup | App Setup | Critical Updates)and read the release notes on the critical update.
- If you have EE/UE, use a sandbox to test the existing workflows and triggers to ensure that nothing nefarious occurs when the update and your customizations play together.
- If you are on PE, I would work with the administrator and/or developer to ensure that the critical update and workflow or trigger work together.
There is some time before the critical update will be activated for all customers on December 15, 2009. So, hopefully eight months warning is is sufficient time for those affected to make any changes required.
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Posted by Nik on Mar 21, 2009 in
Salesforce So, with March and family comes the joys of March break, and if you’re lucky, a nice little vacation to ring in the new spring. My family was lucky enough to visit Myrtle Beach for two weeks. However, my vacation was much shorter – a long weekend to relax and have some fun. It was much needed.
While there, we did the usual…mini gofling, alligator adventure, food and of course, grazing at the beach. The weather has not been the nicest, and while there it was 11 to 15 degrees everyday. But, being a Canadian, it was plenty warm enough for me to break out the shorts and enjoy the sounds and smells of the breaking waves. This trip is turning into a family tradition, and memory was telling me the beach looked a little different from the previous year…
The condos we stay at are right by a swash – a small rivine which moves water from inland to the ocean. It snakes out in an S shape, before finally mouthing open to the Atlantic. It looked further away from the dunes than the previous year. In asking a local Tennant at the condo, I found that people were concerned that the ocean was “once again eating away at the Dunes, so we had to recreate the swash we want by dumping sand”. In furthering the converstion, I found the condo spent a massive amount of money every 2 years through dumping sand because they needed their swash to be what they wanted. “We should likely try something new, cause Lord knows – the ocean has it’s plan”.
This fascinated me, yet I couldn’t quite figure out why. On my last day, before flying back to the real world, I stood at the mouth of the swash, watching the tide rise. Lines of erosion were already being drawn along it’s lip, and I sat and watched small mounds of fresh sand dropping into the water, to be dragged away with the ebb and flow. And that’s when it hit me – I watch this action on a regular basis, with clients new and old.
A common theme I’ve heard from both prospects and clients is “our CRM doesn’t work for our business. We spent (enter dollar figure here) on this app, and it’s still isn’t doing what we do”. Another thing I hear quite a bit is “I thought having a CRM would give us a way to manage sales, but we don’t see how to get what we want out of it”. Sitting on the beach, wathing the water eat away at the new sand, I could see the parallels. Just replace CRM with sand and your business process with the ocean. And the condo was attempting what many companies try and fail at – placing a CRM into their organization without and understanding of their process, or worse – to be the process.
When starting a new project, the hardest aspect I have experienced with clients is sitting down and getting an understanding of their business before talking about the application. I believe this is caused for two reasons – one is that technology has advanced so much in the past years, and the urgency to “get it in” is so high that they just want to go forward now. The second I find it a byproduct of the first. With such amazing technology, and with such good information about how other companies succeed in weeks not months, we want to skip by the intoduction and get right into the end game. And, in all honesty, I have even found myself in that boat, especially with new features and functions with our own solution.
However, the surest way to success is a small step. We’ve heard it all beforw, but CRM is a strategy, not just an application. And it is a mixture of people, process and application, not just the application itself.
Step away from the beach, and look at what your ocean is. Know how you want the tide to flow, and plan accordingly. Having a firm, strong understanding of how you run your business, what your steps are in accomplishing your goals, and knowing how to measure the key metrics of success are absolutely needed before you implement any CRM. Without this knowledge, your simply dumping sand on the swash.
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Tags: Business planning, Salesforce
