April 04, 2022

John Lange | Senior Manager, Product Marketing 

We’re serious about Salesforce at Spinnaker Support, which is why we commissioned a third-party research project titled, “Winning Strategies to Achieve Salesforce Success.” Our team of Salesforce professionals certainly have time-tested ideas about what it takes to make Salesforce hit on all cylinders. But we also want to hear from other Salesforce decision makers, architects, developers, and administrators about how they approach Salesforce projects. 

In Part One of this blog post series, we reviewed the high-level findings from this report. In Part Two, we drilled down into the first winning strategy: how to kick off major Salesforce projects. In Part Three, we broke down the importance of the second winning strategy: the importance of having an Agile mindset. 

In this post, we review the third winning strategy that highlights the importance of user engagement in the development process. Let’s dive in and review what other professionals recommend for Salesforce project success. 

Winning Strategy #3: Keep Users and Stakeholders Continuously Involved  

Often during an implementation project user input happens at just the beginning or the end of a release cycle. However, the respondents to this market survey were loud and clear that requirements gathering and project communication is a non-stop process. Discovery should not be relegated to just an initial exercise, and feedback is not meant for the time after the solution is in market. Respondents were emphatic: developers and project managers should seek opinions throughout the deployment.  

And the research indicates that multiple users should be involved in every release cycle – don’t just rely on a single point of contact. You should update all parties on the progress, challenges, and delays through frequent engagement. Sharing ideas and innovations on a consistent basis can offset the times when development hits a snag. 

Here’s What Survey Respondents Had to Say: 

“Take your time with users at the beginning and all through the project. Appoint someone who likes talking to them and understanding their challenges and needs. The best of what’s possible with Salesforce comes out of these in-depth discussions.” 

“The more users and stakeholders you include from all levels when planning and executing, the more holistic your solution will be.” 

“Think of every Salesforce project as a business initiative, not a technology or an IT initiative. Involve senior managers and everyday users from the start and respect their feedback. Try to instill this mindset in all Salesforce admins and developers so everyone is paying equal attention to user needs, user feedback, and the end goal.”  

Access the Full Research Report 

This report, “Winning Strategies to Achieve Salesforce Success,” provides you with know-how from Salesforce professionals who are achieving Salesforce success.  

Spinnaker Support sponsored this research to provide the wider market with important insights about how to achieve their Salesforce roadmap and achieve maximum ROI. 

Download the complete research 

Let Us Help You Realize the Full Power of Salesforce 

To learn more about how we help businesses capitalize on their Salesforce investment, check out our managed services offerings and consulting capabilities.