Agent of Change

“I want to maximize adoption and optimize the success of my Salesforce implementation.”
 
As a Salesforce implementation partner, I hear this all the time from my clients and am always thinking about the best place to guide them in focusing their energy while trying to build up some momentum within their company.
 
And it all comes down to understanding business value and outcomes.
 
Your company, (all companies!), plan initiatives and projects to deliver the business value they are looking for to meet strategic goals. They will work to get these goals met no matter what, it is how they survive and grow!
 
Your focus should be targeted to understanding these goals and translating them into measurable outcomes.
 
Here’s why:
 
– Outcomes by nature are specific changes in human behaviors that bring different results (more/less of an action that a customer is doing today, a prospect, an employee, etc.)
 
– If you can define the outcome that maps back to the business value leadership is looking for – you make it more likely to get the buy-in to move forward with your ideas
 
– Outcomes are not “the how”, they are just the end result (which is why outcomes should be what you shout from the rooftops, not the how/ features)… so your next job is to hypothesize about how you can get that shift in human behavior (hint: likely with Salesforce + process changes!)
 
– Leaving the “how” out opens up collaboration among technical solution teams so everyone can be creative and hypothesize their ideas to come up with solutions that can create the new outcome
 
– At the end of this, because you are bringing value and talking outcomes, you can put measurable success criteria around everything to help managers and teams see the results of the behavior changes happening — which directly targets your ultimate goal of maximized adoption!
 
And here is how to start now:
 
– Talk to leadership / managers to make sure you understand the strategic goals and business value they are looking to get for 2024
 
– Define impacted personas (customers, partners, etc.)
 
– Pinpoint key experiences these personas have as they interact with your company
 
– Talk to people who interact with these personas and understand their ultimate goals for the interaction (what does a successful interaction look like) and understand the pain points in the current process
 
– Take everything you have learned and visualize it into something you can talk to, telling a story of what you have learned and the areas you think a behavior change could impact back to the business value leadership is looking for (and why)– but again, NOT THE HOW!
 
None of this is wasted time, even if you can’t get the approval you need for a project just yet. All of this data can be used to keep trying and keep advocating as an agent of change in your company! 😁 😎