Plan Your Salesforce Rollout

Before you roll up your sleeves and start setting up Salesforce, take a look at the resources available to help you plan your rollout.

If you're wondering how to get started, you might consider working with a consulting partner to take full advantage of the product. Consulting partners are firms that employ Salesforce-certified consultants. Consultants work with you to learn what your company needs, design and build your Salesforce organization to meet those needs, and test the organization before you roll it out to your teams. Consulting partners have one goal in mind: Your success with Salesforce.

Rolling out an effective Salesforce organization takes time and thoughtful planning. Working with a partner can help your company harness the power of Salesforce in a way that can be difficult and time-consuming without expert guidance.

Not sure if your company needs expert guidance? Consider how you would respond to the following questions about your company’s sales goals.

• Does your company have the internal resources with the time, expertise, and experience to develop the appropriate Salesforce features to solve your business needs?
• Is your company expanding into new business, countries, or industries?
• Do you need a decisive, objective perspective when making business decisions?
• Do you want to see results in weeks, not years?

Still on the fence? Check out this comparison between rolling out Salesforce yourself and rolling out Salesforce with a partner.

Compare	Rolling out Salesforce Yourself	Rolling out Salesforce with a Partner
Qualifications	Sometimes companies have Salesforce-certified employees who can assist with setup.	Consultants are Salesforce-certified.
Experience	Usually employees have little or no Salesforce experience.	Consultants have set up many Salesforce organizations and are knowledgeable about best practices.
Availability of resources for setup	Usually setup competes with your employees’ other projects and priorities.	Consultants commit to and deliver on a scope of work for your Salesforce rollout.
External support	Salesforce offers basic support for all Salesforce organizations. Support includes access to self-help (online help articles) and Customer Support agents (guaranteed to respond within 2 days).	Consultants are experienced and well-connected, and can offer personalized support to companies during setup and rollout.
Time commitment	Usually rolling out Salesforce yourself is a significant time commitment unless experienced resources are available.	Usually rolling out Salesforce with a partner is faster, because experienced resources are fully engaged in your project.
Salesforce adoption by your sales teams	When Salesforce isn’t rolled out properly, companies run the risk that their sales teams don’t recognize the products’ value, and don’t adopt the product wholeheartedly.	When consultants roll out Salesforce, there is a greater chance that sales teams adopt the product from the start because its value is obvious.
Training resources	Companies are required to customize and roll out their own training plans for employees without mentorship from expert resources.	Salesforce partners can offer experienced mentorship and pre-designed training materials.

To learn more about consulting partners and how to connect with one, check out our website, Successfully Implement with Salesforce Partners.