There’s huge demand globally for experienced Salesforce Consultants, but consultancies report being unable to find qualified candidates with the relevant skills. There may be a disconnect and lack of awareness around Salesforce Consultant skills, making it more complex to land that #DreamJob.
At Salesforce Ben, we’ve created our Salesforce Consultant Skills Kit to demystify the skills required to be a superstar consultant.
What Is the Salesforce Consultant Skills Kit?
The Salesforce Consultant Skills Kit is a blueprint detailing the 18 key skills needed to be an all-star consultant with the best chances of scoring a job and excelling in it.
The Salesforce Consultant Skills Kit should be used by:
- Job Seekers: Use the Skills Kit to create an amazing resume that will help you stand out and address common business needs.
- Employers: The Skills Kit can be used to create job descriptions or to plan interview questions.
- Salesforce Consultants: The Skills Kit can be used to help you prepare for performance reviews or to showcase the multitude of ways you are adding value to a business.
Looking for an Admin Skills Kit? Salesforce has created one right here!
18 Skills of a Successful Salesforce Consultant
Salesforce projects are an art, with numerous contributing factors balanced to either make or break the success of a project. Organizations won’t trust just anyone with the keys to their Salesforce org; they will look for consultants that possess a number of skills – including ‘soft’ skills.
- Empathy: Actively listen to client needs and empathize with them. This is one of the most valuable attributes, but not one that’s easy to learn.
- Communication: You’ll be interacting with clients, team members, and stakeholders, so the ability to explain technical concepts to non-technical audiences and actively listen to client needs is crucial. Written communication is fundamental to the role, while verbal communication will differentiate you from your peers.
- Stakeholder Management: Manage your client’s expectations! It’s incredibly frustrating for a client to have something delivered that’s different from what they were expecting. It’s better to underpromise and overdeliver than vice-versa. Juggling multiple stakeholders and conflicting requirements can be stressful, so the ability to handle pressure is a must!
- Accurate Scoping: A good consultant will accurately and realistically scope a project, minimizing conflicts by addressing expectation mismatches. You should be able to push back on scope creep for the greater good of the client.
- Requirements Gathering: Gather clear, concise, and accurate requirements that the client accepts (signs off on). Failure to do so can lead to ‘scope creep’ and a lack of direction.
- Business Analysis: Strong business analysis skills will enable you to gather and document client requirements accurately and translate them into Salesforce solutions.
- Problem-Solving: Being a successful consultant requires strong problem-solving skills to design effective solutions that address those challenges.
- Industry Knowledge: Understanding the specific industries you work with can be highly advantageous. Knowledge of industry-specific processes, regulations, and best practices will enable you to tailor Salesforce solutions to meet the unique needs of different businesses.
- Salesforce Technical Expertise: A deep understanding of the Salesforce platform, including its clouds, features, and capabilities is essential. This includes knowing how to configure, customize, and manage Salesforce to meet specific business needs.
- Solution Design: Solutionizing is all about stitching together multiple features, automation, and often other apps, to build a process end-to-end. Always pause to think about the considerations of your design and factor in system limits.
- Designer’s Mindset: Having design skills to customize the platform’s look and feel can enhance the overall user experience and increase adoption.
- Project Management: As a consultant, you’ll work on projects of varying sizes and complexity. Knowing how to manage timelines, resources, and stakeholders is crucial for delivering successful projects on time and within budget.
- Data Management: Salesforce Consultants must be adept at handling data within the platform. This involves data modeling, data migration, data cleansing, and ensuring data security and privacy compliance.
- Data Analytics: Being proficient in data analysis and reporting allows you to help clients gain valuable insights from their data and make informed business decisions.
- Release Management: Knowledge of change management principles can help you guide clients through the transition smoothly and overcome resistance to change.
- User Training: Being able to conduct training sessions and create user-friendly documentation helps ensure that clients fully embrace and utilize the Salesforce system.
- Time Tracking: Tracking is core for project management (to keep project profitability from going ‘into the red’), and also to build your own self-awareness of how long you need in the future.
- Learner’s Mindset: Successful consultants stay updated with the latest releases, best practices, and industry trends through continuous learning.
Summary
Don’t forget that this is just a guide – you don’t need to have all of these skills to be a Salesforce Consultant or to get your first Salesforce Consultant job! See this as a great way to better understand the role and the areas for professional development and growth.
If you’re ready to start crafting your resume, check out our guide and free templates.
If you’re interested in learning about other Salesforce jobs, check out our post on Salesforce roles and responsibilities.