John Lange, Senior Manager, Product Marketing
In our ongoing Employee Spotlight series, we are pleased to introduce you to Aaron Pacheco. As a Technical Solution Architect on our Salesforce managed services team, he plays an important role in delivering continuous CRM innovation to our customers.
Aaron has spent nearly a decade designing and building custom applications on the Salesforce platform for a broad range of industries that includes technology, hospitality, finance, higher education, and non-profit. He has implemented technical solutions for sales, marketing, and service teams at businesses and non-profits of all sizes. His certifications include: Salesforce Certified Platform App Builder, Salesforce Certified Platform Developer I, and the Apex Specialist Superbadge.
Let’s get to know Aaron a bit better.
Hi, Aaron. Tell us about your role at Spinnaker Support.
I like to think of myself as a creator and a problem solver. When a customer says, “I want Salesforce to look like this and do these activities,” I go make it happen.
As an architect and developer, I design and build tools that help companies operate more effectively and efficiently. My job includes business process analysis, project management, and the development of custom Salesforce solutions. I really enjoy seeing how my work helps our customers achieve their goals.
What is your background?
I originally pursued mechanical engineering but transitioned to software. My fascination with Salesforce started a bit randomly when I agreed to “take a look” at a Visualforce page at a former job. Once I resolved that issue, they had a whole list of Salesforce work for me. That was the beginning of my Salesforce journey, and I haven’t looked back since.
What do you like about Salesforce?
Salesforce occupies a unique space in the tech stack of most companies. It’s an enterprise system that often sits outside of the normal IT infrastructure of a business. This gives professionals like me the opportunity to work directly with sales, marketing, and service stakeholders at a variety of companies.
What I really like about Salesforce is its rapid pace of adding new features and services. Salesforce gets rid of what I call “traditional IT busy work,” such as maintaining servers, operating systems, compilers, etc. So, I get to focus on the fun part (for me): the code, the data, and the user experience.
Do you have a Salesforce specialty?
I excel at building custom applications that deliver a Customer 360 experience. My specialties include Apex code, custom Lightning components, integrations, and workflow automation tools. I really like using core Salesforce customization tools for interfaces and business logic workflows.
What do you most like about working with Spinnaker Support customers?
We have great customers who share the desire of continuous Salesforce development through long-term partnerships. That’s why I like our approach to managed services. I work with the same customers every month to help them advance their Salesforce vision.
Do you have a recent example of going “above and beyond” to help a customer?
I’m really proud of the work we did for Cobham Missions Systems. They needed help quickly. We implemented a new Salesforce environment for their global sales team in less than two months. It was intense, but we delivered.
Cobham highly values the partnership they have with Spinnaker Support. Through our managed services practice, I help them each month to further build out and refine how they use Sales Cloud. Being an integral part of their Salesforce success is one of the many reasons I love what I do.
What’s the best advice you would give to a Salesforce customer?
- Stay up to date on the three yearly releases – which can be over 700 pages. One little paragraph can solve a major business problem. Read every release’s highlights and digest at a minimum.
- Take advantage of Salesforce’s Trailhead learning platform. Salesforce has worked hard to make it easy to learn how to use their systems. The reason they have invested so much in developing Trailhead is because finding Salesforce talent is difficult. They want to help their customers get the most out of their investment. Trailhead is a great way to learn on your own.
- Use the Sandbox feature in Salesforce. It’s almost impossible to make mistakes in the Sandbox with any real consequences. We use it all the time to make sure our solutions work as intended before deployment.
- You’ll likely need extra help with Salesforce at some point. If you aren’t asking for extra help, then you might be missing out on some great functionality. And, if you don’t invest in the improvement of your Salesforce environment, then you’ll be at a disadvantage against your competitors who are making the investment. There should be a fear of missing out if you aren’t consistently improving your CRM.
What do you like to do outside of work?
I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, of course. I’ve lived in Colorado and New Mexico most of my life, so being outside is important to me. Snowboarding, hiking, camping, and fishing are my favorite outdoor activities. Live music, especially seeing shows at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, is something I’ve really missed during the pandemic. My newest hobby is barbecuing. And, of course, reading the release notes from Salesforce!
Learn more about how great professionals like Aaron can be a part of your Salesforce plans through our game-changing managed services packages.