Hacks, habits and helpful hints the admins guide to steering a successful salesforce ship

HABITS, HACKS, AND HELPFUL HINTS The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship Salesforce can be the backbone to your organization and its infrastructure, but like any great ship, it needs an experienced captain This means you, mighty Salesforce Admin, have more potential impact than ever You not only steer this massive ship, but you keep it afloat, take it to new places, and bring your organization and its employees along for the journey Yes, perils abound: Adoption woes The sea of budget blues A mountain of information to absorb Pirate attacks Have no fear, we’re here to help you overcome these issues so you can stake your claim as office captain Steer your Salesforce ship toward CRM Adoption Island, the Education Passage, and the Big Mountain of Company Growth The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship This guide is organized for our fearless captains Captain’s Daily Habits Captain’s Weekly Habits Captain’s Monthly Habits Captain’s Quarterly Habits Captain’s Yearly Habits The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship CAPTAIN’S DAILY HABITS Talk to your shipmates Write these tips down in your captain’s journal and use them every single day They’re all about engaging and interacting with your users, to help them improve their day-to-day Salesforce adventures The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship DAILY HABITS Watch, learn, teach The best way to learn how Salesforce is being used in your office is pretty straightforward: Lean in and say, “Ahoy Matey!” Ask them how it’s going Give them tips See if they have questions for you Oftentimes, your users have questions; however, they don’t take time to ask Take your expertise to them The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship DAILY HABITS Be a social leader Someone needs to be at the Salesforce helm, so you won’t always be able to walk the deck Instead, set up a Chatter group for Salesforce users, and make yourself a virtual resource But you’re not the only resource: Every user in your office has Salesforce knowledge and tips to share If you get your users in the habit of using Chatter as a socially-driven resource, they’ll start helping each other It’s like creating a bunch of little captains to help solve problems, which will give you more time to focus on your Salesforce vessel The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship Hack Use Quick Actions to allow users to submit feedback and log cases CAPTAIN’S WEEKLY HABITS There’s a lot to be learned, so explore! Focus on upping your own Salesforce knowledge on a weekly basis (which spreads to your users) There’s much to learn out in these wide open waters, so grab that spyglass telescope and be a knowledge seeker The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship WEEKLY HABITS Land ho! The AppExchange is adding apps every single day for every industry and department, all built to address common challenges and opportunities Visit the AppExchange regularly Get inspired by to learn and get better at your job When you study solutions, embarking on you start to develop an eye for spotting issues in your own org the AppExchange It’s inspiring! Next thing you know, you’ll start recognizing areas where your Salesforce ship’s prow and port can improve Hack Download the AppExchange Dashboard pack The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship WEEKLY HABITS Belay there! Explore the Salesforce Community The social-savvy crew of Salesforce experts and evangelists have created a wealth of resources that you absolutely cannot lose at sea You owe it to yourself and your users to keep these tools on board Here are some ways to stay up-to-the-minute on all the latest apps and AppExchange news: The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship Hot Product Tip Excel-erate productivity and Salesforce adoption with Apttus X-Author for Excel “Once we saw what Many of your users have been using Excel and Salesforce for years With Apttus X-Author, they can continue using Excel while increasing Salesforce user Apttus X-Author adoption X-Author transforms the familiar Microsoft Excel into a fast and Excel was capable secure interface for Salesforce Even better, it’s easy to install No extra clouds, of, we knew it was a third-party software, or local logic needed perfect fit for us, and now we use Excel as a calculation engine With X-Author for Excel, you can: for Salesforce.” Boost productivity 10x – 100x and delight Salesforce users by enabling them to safely work using Excel while in Salesforce CHAD PRATT Move data between Salesforce orgs up to 80% faster Senior Business Analyst IT Sales Motorola Mobility Deliver all of the Excel capabilities that users want while maintaining Salesforce data, permissions, reporting, routing, and controls The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship 10 CAPTAIN’S MONTHLY HABITS Communicate big ideas with those around you All of your new daily and weekly habits come into play in a big way on a monthly basis Without all the knowledge gained day-to-day from brain exercises, you might as well call yourself a landlubber The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship 11 MONTHLY HABITS Connect with your mates About once a month, it’s time for a gut check with your mates, or internal stakeholders In other words, talk to the team managers using Salesforce Take time to sit down and ask how it’s going in their department Come prepared with ideas on how to improve their processes (If you’ve been visiting the AppExchange and other resources, you should have plenty.) The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship 12 MONTHLY HABITS All hands hoay! “All hands hoay” means making time for all of your stakeholders to come together once a month for governance This is when you all set the forward path, as a Salesforce ship crew One of the beauties of Salesforce is how well it works across departments, so it makes sense that stakeholders and leadership have the opportunity to discuss Salesforce-related initiatives together The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship 13 MONTHLY HABITS Me hearties! Share with the Salesforce Admin Community RELATED TIP: Don’t be afraid of uncharted waters To get even more involved and learn new things, travel to a Salesforce Admin group at least three From stories of new apps to stories or four times a year, and present something to the of life at sea, the information in the group Public speaking is nerve-racking for a lot Salesforce Admin community is there of us, but it’s a great skill for your arsenal User group to share the latest app tales Give the meetings let you compare your org’s progress to world your tips and tricks in an admin other orgs, so you can see how it stacks up group Does one of your users make you say “Yo ho ho!” as a result of your help? Share the success story not only in your internal Chatter group, but with other admins out there The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship 14 CAPTAIN’S QUARTERLY HABITS Focus your efforts Our quarterly habits are all about running a tight ship We get it It’s really easy to get caught up in the day-to-day, but it’s incredibly important to block off some time to tidy up and some prepping for the future The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship 15 QUARTERLY HABITS PLAN FOR New releases New releases — whether seasonal updates from Salesforce or an app implementation from you — can be ugly as a scallywag if you’re not prepared It can require a lot of reading, but you need to study those Salesforce release notes and communicate the most relevant changes to the users who are depending on you That goes for your internal changes as well Always test internal changes in your sandbox and then demo them to your users You can demos live or via a video posted in your Chatter user group The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship 16 Hot product tip Tame Your Release Notes Eat and Delete Print out new Salesforce release notes Schedule time to meet with groups of your users, give them lunch, and go through report folders to see what is and isn’t being used If it’s not being used, throw it overboard (a.k.a archive it) Mark new features that are automatically turned ON, so you know you need to take action Mark stuff that can be turned ON in another color Evaluate with stakeholders and your team if you think it will support your users The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship 17 QUARTERLY HABITS MEET WITH Shipowners Beyond your crew, mates, and stakeholders, go up the ladder and meet with your company’s high-level decision makers, such as C-level executives Get key insights on the company’s overall direction, such as planned increases in headcount, changes in product offerings, or new pirate hats Also ask if there’s anything you can to help or share your Salesforce-related, big-picture ideas The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship 18 CAPTAIN’S YEARLY HABITS Run Salesforce refresher training for crewmembers Despite doing your best to keep users up to speed, some things can slip through the cracks Interestingly enough, one of the things that slip is knowledge of the basics It may have been several years since some users were trained on how to use Salesforce We all forget stuff, so retrain them You’ll be surprised how many “Aye!” and “Arr!” and “Oh wow! I didn’t know I could that!” moments they’ll have The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship 19 YEARLY HABITS Review and update your Salesforce Help Text The Hover and Discover feature can be really helpful to users, so you should make sure what they’re discovering is current and relevant Create an app to track how long each user has been trained If you’re a new admin, it’s a great way to get you into building your own apps The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship 20 YEARLY HABITS Head to Dreamforce Dreamforce offers amazing experiences, and the return on investment has been proven time and time again Make it a goal to present at Dreamforce Every presenter was once a young lad (or lass) The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship 21 Get certified! Salesforce certifications aren’t just about showing what you know or going for a raise It’s also about how your users, stakeholders, managers, and other crew members feel about you And it’s about how YOU feel about you It instills confidence in your ability to get the job done Certifications say that you’re passionate about your job, you’ve got what it takes, and that there is smooth sailing ahead Bottom line: certifications are undisputed proof that you rock, and give you the right to dress like a pirate to work Visit appexchange.com to stay up-to-date on all of the latest apps VISIT US The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship 22 [...]... HABITS All hands hoay! “All hands hoay” means making time for all of your stakeholders to come together once a month for governance This is when you all set the forward path, as a Salesforce ship crew One of the beauties of Salesforce is how well it works across departments, so it makes sense that stakeholders and leadership have the opportunity to discuss Salesforce- related initiatives together The admin’s... long each user has been trained If you’re a new admin, it’s a great way to get you into building your own apps The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship 20 YEARLY HABITS Head to Dreamforce Dreamforce offers amazing experiences, and the return on investment has been proven time and time again Make it a goal to present at Dreamforce Every presenter was once a young lad (or lass) The admin’s... retrain them You’ll be surprised how many “Aye!” and “Arr!” and “Oh wow! I didn’t know I could do that!” moments they’ll have The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship 19 YEARLY HABITS Review and update your Salesforce Help Text The Hover and Discover feature can be really helpful to users, so you should make sure what they’re discovering is current and relevant Create an app to track... admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship 13 MONTHLY HABITS Me hearties! Share with the Salesforce Admin Community RELATED TIP: Don’t be afraid of uncharted waters To get even more involved and learn new things, travel to a Salesforce Admin group at least three From stories of new apps to stories or four times a year, and present something to the of life at sea, the information in the group... internal Chatter group, but with other admins out there The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship 14 CAPTAIN’S QUARTERLY HABITS Focus your efforts Our quarterly habits are all about running a tight ship We get it It’s really easy to get caught up in the day -to- day, but it’s incredibly important to block off some time to tidy up and do some prepping for the future The admin’s guide to steering. ..CAPTAIN’S MONTHLY HABITS Communicate big ideas with those around you All of your new daily and weekly habits come into play in a big way on a monthly basis Without all the knowledge gained day -to- day from brain exercises, you might as well call yourself a landlubber The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship 11 MONTHLY HABITS Connect with your mates About once a month, it’s... folders to see what is and isn’t being used If it’s not being used, throw it overboard (a. k .a archive it) 2 Mark new features that are automatically turned ON, so you know you need to take action 3 Mark stuff that can be turned ON in another color Evaluate with stakeholders and your team if you think it will support your users The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship 17 QUARTERLY HABITS. .. for a gut check with your mates, or internal stakeholders In other words, talk to the team managers using Salesforce Take time to sit down and ask how it’s going in their department Come prepared with ideas on how to improve their processes (If you’ve been visiting the AppExchange and other resources, you should have plenty.) The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship 12 MONTHLY HABITS. .. to steering a successful Salesforce ship 15 QUARTERLY HABITS PLAN FOR New releases New releases — whether seasonal updates from Salesforce or an app implementation from you — can be ugly as a scallywag if you’re not prepared It can require a lot of reading, but you need to study those Salesforce release notes and communicate the most relevant changes to the users who are depending on you That goes for... internal changes as well Always test internal changes in your sandbox and then demo them to your users You can do demos live or via a video posted in your Chatter user group The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship 16 Hot product tip Tame Your Release Notes Eat and Delete 1 Print out new Salesforce release notes Schedule time to meet with groups of your users, give them lunch, and go ... our fearless captains Captain’s Daily Habits Captain’s Weekly Habits Captain’s Monthly Habits Captain’s Quarterly Habits Captain’s Yearly Habits The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce. .. users, to help them improve their day -to- day Salesforce adventures The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship DAILY HABITS Watch, learn, teach The best way to learn how Salesforce. .. Hack Download the AppExchange Dashboard pack The admin’s guide to steering a successful Salesforce ship WEEKLY HABITS Belay there! Explore the Salesforce Community The social-savvy crew of Salesforce