Yes, You Need an Admin: Here's How to Find One
We recently outlined why it's so important to have a dedicated person who can learn the Salesforce platform and manage your system (even if that person is you). But what if you don't have the time or the skill to be that person? Here are some ways you can find help without having to become the admin.
Hire a Human
If you can hire a human to be your Salesforce admin, then do it. Here's a great blog post about how to find and retain top talent. A few key points include:
Knowing what you want and need for the role.
Understanding the salary requirements.
Investing in your employees' learning.
You should hire your own Salesforce admin if your organization is large enough. According to the Salesforce Achieving Oustanding CRM Administration knowledge article, Salesforce has the following recommendations:
Source: Salesforce Best Practices: Achieve Outstanding CRM Administration
If you determine what you want and need for the new role, you might ask, "How can I find a great administrator?" LinkedIn is a great place to search. Your local network is also a great place to start. You should attend a local Salesforce User Group meeting and get to know people in your area who might be able to help. A User Group Leader will know people to connect with, or you might meet your future employee at a meeting.
Hiring is right for you if:
You have time to find a good candidate.
You know what kinds of activities this person will do each day.
You have the skills to manage and guide this person in their career as an Admin for your organization.
Hiring is not right for you if:
Your Salesforce knowledge is limited.
Your time is limited, and you wouldn't be able to invest in the person you hire.
The amount of work you have isn't a full-time job.
Your goals are big and the time you have to get it done is short.
If hiring is right for you, but you're not very familiar with Salesforce, you may find it challenging to create a job description. If you'd like help creating the perfect job description, click the button below and we'll set you up for success:
So, what should you do if you don't need a full-time administrator, or if your goals are big and time is short? Read on.
Work with a Freelancer
If hiring someone is not right for you, working with a freelancer might be the way to go. You can find local people who are freelancers by going to your local user group, or you can use a freelancer technology-enabled service like Upwork. The advantage of using a service like Upwork is that everything is taken care of for you. Things like paying for services, tax compliance, reviewing and verifying work, finding talent that matches your needs, and sharing sensitive files, data, etc. are covered.
Freelancing and the gig economy are on the rise. Some people are making this their full-time work life, but others are working as freelancers as their "side-hustle," which means that they have something else going on during the day. In those cases, you might not be able to get help during your work day because your freelancer has something else as their primary responsibility and source of income.
Freelancers are right for you if:
You can regularly interact with your freelancer.
You are okay with work and interactions occurring outside of your regular business hours.
Your needs are not urgent.
Freelancers are not right for you if:
You don't know what you need and cannot articulate your goals.
You have a lot of work that needs doing.
Find a Partner
If you've just purchased Salesforce, you should find a partner who can help you with your implementation. Salesforce has done a lot to help you with self-implementation, but it's going to take a while to get it right. Implementing Salesforce yourself will take you away from focusing on your business or your job. Instead, working with a partner will fast-forward the process and minimize mistakes in your implementation. To find a partner, you can google "Salesforce Consultant," you can go to Appexchange and search for an official Salesforce partner, or you can contact us.
Beyond your initial implementation, you may consider hiring a partner if you have a big goal and a short time frame to get that goal accomplished. Perhaps you have Salesforce already and are looking to implement a specific feature or solution like Live Agent or CPQ. In these cases, working with a partner is a good idea since they will have an experienced team. They will help you avoid the pitfalls that often occur when you're learning these solutions for the first time.
If you've already implemented Salesforce and have a backlog of things to accomplish, but aren't ready to hire someone, you might want to find a partner who can play the role of your internal administrator. Many partners offer recurring services that provide administration and development assistance (also called Salesforce Managed Services, Support, or Fractional Salesforce Administration. We call it Admin-as-a-Service).
Ongoing services allow you to have a more extended relationship, beyond a project-based engagement. We feel this is the best way to work if you are new to Salesforce and cannot yet afford to hire another person. It's also really great to work this way if you know Salesforce is valuable but are not sure where to start. Many people who have used a "Quick Start" implementation, or who have self-implemented, have benefited from a managed services approach. Opting to work with a partner in an Admin-as-a-Service approach helps you to get back on track with things that did not go well the first time, like fixing your Sales process, cleaning up data-related issues, and improving adoption and usage.
Partners are right for you if:
You know that Salesforce is valuable, but you are not sure where to start or how to make it awesome.
You need an outside perspective to identify your goals and elicit your requirements.
For a project-based engagement, you can articulate your requirements clearly, and then review the work regularly, to ensure that you are getting what you paid for.
For an ongoing commitment, you will have the time to engage with your partner.
Partners are not right for you if:
You do not have time to work with a partner so they can create a plan for you, or to provide input on the solutions that they create for you.
You already have an internal team who can do this work for you.
All these choices require some level of time from you. If you have enough time and knowledge, then hiring and managing a person to do the job is the right choice. If you have some time, some experience, and not a lot of Salesforce work, then a freelancer is likely the best choice for you. If you have less time, little experience, and a lot of Salesforce work to complete, working with a partner makes the most sense.
Interested in our Admin-as-a-Service delivery model? Contact Us!