I believe the title raises two questions.
- Why and how I felt in love with Salesforce in first place?
- What has changed and how did I realize that I am still in love?
You can’t blame gravity for falling in love.
Albert Einstein
A few years back, I had written a post on why I felt in love with Salesforce and why I believe that it’s a great platform. You probably expect a link redirecting you to this post now. Unfortunately, I have to admit that I have lost it over the years (always back up your data).
The post pretty much described how I had noticed the value of the platform, as it had helped our Sales team becoming more efficient, simply because we enabled them seeing relevant information about their clients, by setting up a few integrations and pushing data into Salesforce. I was impressed on how quickly we were able to do so, even though we didn’t have a lot of know-how and resources in our team. Shortly after, management noticed the increase in effiency and transparency too and have started investing into Salesforce more and more. A great success for the growth of our team and our reputation.
I could spend hours talking about this and other experiences but the intention of this post is a little different, so let’s keep it short. I felt in love because of the technology and simplicity the platform provides, compared to other platforms.
A few years into the job, I am still learning as much about the platform as I did on day one. What I already knew, is that technology is great and helps our clients solving real life business problems. However, there are some values that are a little more difficult to measure and may not always be as obvious. The Community and people around the product.
Learning is the only thing the mind never exhausts, never fears, and never regrets.
Leonardo Da Vinco
I believe this answers the first question on why I started loving Salesforce in first place. To answer how I realized that I am still in love, let me start with a story.
I received a message on LinkedIn a few weeks back and was approached by someone who wants to pursue a career in Salesforce Consulting. He said that he received my contact details from someone I have worked with in the past and wanted to find out if I could provide some support. After a short introduction on the phone and him describing his situation, I told him that I would keep my ears open and try to help as much as I can. We also talked about what he wants to improve on, as he didn’t get the chance to work on certain topics at his old company.
In the meantime, I had also published a post on LinkedIn, simply saying that a friend of mine wants to start a job in Salesforce Consulting. People started showing interest shortly after. Eventually, 3 weeks after we have first talked, he has managed to get up to speed with some of Salesforce’s fundamentals such as data modeling, security, and performance topics thanks to trailhead in combination with screen sharing sessions between him and myself. He was invited to a few interviews, and managed to land a job with a large Consultancy. Congratulations my friend!
Why am I sharing this story with you and how does that answer question number 2?
This experience re-opened my eyes and made me realize something. Most companies evaluate Salesforce based on its technical features, which is very important for sure. However, another great value, which may seem less relevant at first, is its great Community and you should make no mistake in underestimating it. At the end of the day, a platform needs to be maintained over time. With the Force.com platform, you can rest assured that you will always find someone knowing what she does and is willing to help. In cases where you will hit a wall, chances are high that someone else hit the same wall in the past and provides a solution. If not, there is still an option to find an app on the AppExchange or raise an idea with the Salesforce product team.
From LinkedIn posts, to blogs, YouTube channels and user group meetups you will always be able to benefit from a group of people who simply love what they do and are willing to share their knowledge with others. And let’s be honest, what other company gives away free orgs (developer orgs) with full licenses in combination with trailhead, Salesforce’s learning platform. All of that, to make sure that more people learn how to best utilize this amazing platform.
I think this is truly unique and am afraid that we take it for granted sometimes. This recent experience made me once again realize that I still love the platform and the Salesforce Community.
Feel free to share your experiences and how you felt in love with the platform and its Community.
Demen