Implementation Consultant Tom Fray discusses his daily tasks, challenges and responsibilities in his role at makepositive
Describe your role at makepositive and how did you get into Salesforce consulting?
My role is to help clients make the most of their Salesforce platform. This can vary from working on brand new implementations to enhancing existing functionality.
Before makepositive I worked as a Salesforce administrator at end user organisations for seven years. I made the change to consulting so that I could work with more organisations and consult on some new and challenging implementations, which has worked out brilliantly.
What does a typical work day look like for you?
I’ll have a stand up with the client early in the working day, so that we can talk about what we worked on the day before, what we intend to work on that day, and resolve any potential blockers.
The work on a project is delegated out using a ticket system, which I will use to see what is the most important thing for me to work on that day.
If I’m working on building a new feature, then I will typically gather as much information as I can to find out what this feature needs to do, why it is needed and who needs to use it. Regular communication with the client is absolutely essential at this stage, so I can efficiently use my time to build the best features I can for them.
Just as important is a good relationship with our Quality Assurance team. They can help spot potential problems and conflicts before we’ve even started.
I can then get into building a robust feature for my client, which is where the majority of my day will be spent.
Towards the end of the day, if I have finished this particular feature, I can release the work into a testing environment, and let the Quality Assurance team know about any extra information they should consider, ready for them to pick up the next day.
Finally it’s a case of making sure everything is properly documented and taking a look at what I’m likely to be working on the next day.
What is the most challenging part of your role?
Getting to know a client’s current processes quickly, identifying where they can be improved and how we can use Salesforce to do that can be a real challenge, but it’s very satisfying when you can identify a problem quickly and get to work resolving it.
What is the most rewarding part of your role?
It’s always rewarding to get feedback from our clients showing how much they appreciate the extra work we put into implementations.
makepositive always works hard to help Salesforce users have the best experience. To do that, we really get to know the customer’s pain points and collaborate with them to make the most out of the platform.
What skills are the most important to perform well in this job?
It really helps to be analytical. If you understand a client’s problem then fixing it is so much easier. There’s plenty of help around internally and online on how to do a particular task on Salesforce, but really understanding why you have to do it and how it will help is completely down to you.
What advice would you give someone looking to apply for a similar role?
Find some use cases online where Salesforce has helped businesses improve their revenue or service levels. Understand as much as you can about the companies using Salesforce and how you would help them.
A knowledge of Salesforce is obviously essential, but to stand out from the crowd you need to show how well you can help the client resolve their problems.
What’s your favourite thing about working at makepositive?
I love having the opportunity to see so many different Salesforce implementations and work with hugely talented colleagues who are always more than happy to give up their time to teach you new things.
Want to find out more about continuing your Salesforce career at makepositive? Then get in touch with [email protected] to find out more about our current opportunities!
