How to become a Salesforce Consultant in 2023?

Optimization of internal and external business processes is a crucial factor to attain a competitive edge and achieve operational success. Together with Salesforce, cloud-based software enterprises could purposefully meet this objective. However, the speed of the improvement process also depends on a supportive consulting party that assists in effective implementation of Salesforce solutions. 

The extremely fast-growing Salesforce ecosystem will expand job market opportunities as well as the need for certified specialists. Salesforce-related job opportunities are expectedly scaling up to 9,3 million worldwide by 2026, with 2,5 million of them anticipated to be in Europe. Furthermore, Salesforce consultants are the world’s 3rd most in-demand specialists, and the need is anticipated to increase. 

In this article, I will walk you through the steps to become a Salesforce consultant. For becoming a Salesforce consultant, necessary prerequisites will be explored as well as the value of your background in shaping your career path. Additionally, significance of networking and the brand building will be emphasized in LinkedIn as a tool for developing opportunities in Salesforce consulting. 

 

Preparation

Gaining a deep understanding of the Salesforce environment is essential for individuals who are just getting started. We suggest that you listen to the experiences of others who have worked in the Salesforce ecosystem in order to assess how this CRM can support your life goals. You can find valuable insights through YouTube channels, interviews, storytelling articles, and by exploring LinkedIn profiles. These resources will provide you with the necessary knowledge to enhance your learning or help you determine if this ecosystem is suitable for you. 

In order to support the exploration of this environment, Salesforce offers associate certification and free learning resources. These resources allow you to delve into the basics of CRM and explore various business solutions. However, if you already have experience and are not a beginner, it pays to dive deeper into Salesforce consultancy and gain an even more comprehensive understanding. 

 

Grow into a Salesforce consultant   

Are you considering a career in consultancy within the Salesforce ecosystem?  If so, this guide is designed to get you on board. 

 

Who is a Salesforce consultant?

• • Skills 

  • Workflow  

  • Working perspectives 

 Salesforce consulting expertise 

• • Certifications 

  • Industry & product consulting

LinkedIn: job search & community

• • Personal brand

  • Salesforce networking

  • Trends and opportunities 

•   

Who is a Salesforce consultant?  

If you have a strong desire to address issues and aspire to become an expert in a certain business field, then Salesforce consulting can be a right path for you. While there are no specific prerequisites or mandatory qualities required for Salesforce consulting, as different companies may have varying perspectives, the Salesforce ecosystem offers learning paths and certifications that help you acquire the necessary skills you will need in your work. 

Developing expertise in business analysis and project management will allow you to create a distinctive profile. By assisting in achieving organizational objectives and optimizing processes across various departments you will enhance your expertise. Furthermore, refining your soft skills for communication, collaboration, and public speaking with Salesforce consulting will make you a valuable player in the current business landscape focused on automation and digitalization. 

 

Skills 

As a consultant, you transform and enhance business teams operations as well as perform customer service. For these purposes, Salesforce consulting requires a combination of technical and non-technical skills. 

Salesforce consultants focus on achieving customer success with their capacity to integrate technology with the aid of soft and business skills. 

Agility and curiosity are necessary traits. Capability to build strong relationships and being accountable for decisions made are important in this role. Finally, to be successful, the consultant must listen to clients to be able to address their challenges and achieve business goals. 

The Salesforce’s interactive free learning platform Trailhead shared an overview of necessary skills for Salesforce consultants. Here are some of them: 

Technical skills: 

• AppExchange 
• Databases 
• Salesforce CRM 
• Salesforce Platform basics 
• Technical project management 
• User experience (UX) research basics  

Non-technical skills: 

• Communication 
• Leadership 
• Listening 
• Project management 
• Public speaking 

Workflow of Salesforce consultant 

Through interviews with various Salesforce consultants, it has become clear that the consulting role allows you to work with people from a wide range of backgrounds and skill sets. However, regardless of the specifics, the basic working lifecycle involves the following stages: 

Discover 

As a Salesforce consultant, your job is to understand your clients’ business objectives by actively listening to them.  

Plan 

Once you have a clear understanding of their goals, you will need to identify the most suitable Salesforce solutions to help them achieve success. Your role also involves making recommendations that are easy to understand and guiding clients through the project with various plans and maps. 

These solutions may involve internal adjustments, as well as the embedding of internal and external applications. Documill Dynamo is one external application that is installed in any Salesforce cloud to enable document generation for quotes, proposals, contracts, requests and many more. 

Approval & implementation  

After the visual illustration and mapping, your project should be approved. When the project implementation starts, you need to outline the steps to take for the project team, so you can guide them towards a common goal. 

Tracking & evaluation 

After the completion of the project, it needs to be tracked and evaluated. This is the stage where your analytical skills come to play. Consultants are required to be proactive in identifying and tackling any challenges that may arise during the project. 

Working perspectives in Salesforce consulting  

 People have different talent and skill sets and Salesforce consulting provides different perspectives to work depending on your abilities: 

• Business Analysist  
• Functional consultant  
• Technical Consultant  
• Consulting partner 

Business analysist: In your capacity as a specialized business analyst, you assume a core position in facilitating communication between technology and business stakeholders. You are recognized as a proficient and adept mediator, seamlessly bridging these two areas. The expertise lies in addressing business challenges through the implementation of data-driven solutions. Additionally, Salesforce’s learning solutions provide  the means to obtain the necessary skills as well as the possibility to explore the requirements in the Salesforce job market. 

Functional consultant: During the Salesforce implementation process, a functional consultant takes the lead in guiding clients from their initial idea to the actual implementation. Their primary responsibility lies in identifying solutions that enhance the efficiency and performance of the organization. Additionally, these specialists are accountable for staying updated on new functions and trends within Salesforce, as well as overseeing the progress of the project. 

Technical consultant: If you possess experience on cloud solutions and have the ability to make backend modifications to Salesforce setups, this career path may interest you. Engaging in this journey entails uncovering novel functionalities and tailoring organizational requirements, which will accompany you throughout your professional advancement. 

Consulting partner: One of the ways to focus on building your skills and development is to establish your own consulting company.  You need the ability to form consulting teams and provide your clients with expert advice that addresses their strategic issues head-on. With exceptional skills and experience, you can make your clients trust that they are in the best hands possible. 

Salesforce consulting expertise 

Companies are looking for exceptional expertise and support, and the process of recruiting the right consultant is lengthy for a reason. Hiring managers are searching for highly skilled specialists who possess the relevant certifications and solid experience in the specific field the company operates in. Therefore, various certifications are available for Salesforce consultants.  

Certifications 

A strong business background and industry-specific experience are vital to the success of a consulting project. Let us now focus on the relevant qualifications. As mentioned earlier, 67% of certified consultants have reported of gaining a salary increase. In this section, we will introduce several certifications that can enhance your resume and potentially increase your earning potential. 

 

Education Cloud Consultant 

Education Cloud solutions move an organization’s operations to a new efficiency level, providing high level of automation and customization to create an unbeatable application and learning experience. If you wish to work in this field of development, then this certificate is for you.  

Learn & prepare: Trailmix Prepare for Your Salesforce Education Cloud Consultant Credentials 

Certificate price: 200 USD 

Prerequisites: Salesforce Administrator Credentials 

 

Experience Cloud Consultant 

Experience Cloud provides customer-centric solutions for businesses to create seamless experiences for prospects, customers, employees, and partners. Services that enable communication, such as help centres, partner portals and more, will allow to personalize each digital journey. If you are into digital marketing, customer success and interested in improving your skills in making external applications and portals, then this Salesforce solution is the right place to start. 

Learn & prepare: Prepare for Your Salesforce Experience Cloud Consultant Credentials 

Certificate price: 200 USD 

Prerequisites: Salesforce Administrator Credentials 

 

Field Service Cloud Consultant  

Field Service Cloud focuses on internal business processes. If you are focusing on improving enterprise operations and internal processes to make them more organized and open new ways of interaction, then the field service cloud consultant is the right certification for you. 

Learn & prepare: Prepare for Your Salesforce Field Service Consultant Credentials 

Certificate price: 200 USD 

Prerequisites: Salesforce Administrator and Service Cloud Consultant Credentials.  

 

Service Cloud Consultant 

If you are more interested in the customer’s solutions, and you have prior experience, then the Salesforce Service Cloud is for you. This cloud provides companies with a call centre-like view that enables enterprises to create and track cases coming in, and automatically route and escalate what is important. The Salesforce’s CRM-powered customer portal provides customers the ability to track their own cases. It includes a social networking plug-in that enables the user to join the conversation about their company on social networking websites. it also provides analytical and other tools. 

Learn & prepare: Prepare for Your Salesforce Service Cloud Consultant Credentials 

Certificate price: 200 USD 

Prerequisites: Salesforce Administrator Credentials 

 

Pardot consultant

If you have experience or aspirations to develop yourself in complex B2B marketing and sales processes, you could start exploring Salesforce’s Pardot marketing automation community. Pardot is a marketing automation software for creating interactive email campaigns as well as interacting with Salesforce and customize landing pages. Empowering your marketing and sales success team by improving alignment between teams and driving and nurturing new leads, purchases, as well as alternative buyer journeys.  You will focus on the email nurturing campaigns, content marketing, webinar marketing, account-based marketing.  

Learn & prepare: Prepare for Your Salesforce Service Cloud Consultant Credentials 

Certificate price: 200 USD 

Prerequisites: Salesforce Pardot Specialist Credentials 

 

Nonprofit Cloud Consultant 

Nonprofit cloud brings teams together to deliver the right message to each audience. One of the products of the Nonprofit cloud is Volunteers for Salesforce. Fundraising is also supported in this solution. All in all, you can start or enrich your nonprofit business skills working with this solution. 

Learn & prepare: Prepare for Your Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud Consultant Credentials 

Certificate price: 200 USD 

Prerequisites: Salesforce Administrator Credentials 

 

OmniStudio Consultant  

OmniStudio is a suite of digital engagement tools in Salesforce that simplify the creation of complex, industry-specific experiences. if you fancy working with a suite of configuration tools and resources that provides guided user experiences for all Salesforce customers, the OmniStudio Consultant is the right certificate for you. The OmniStudio is part of Einstein Automate. With its drag-and-drop configuration capabilities, customers create guided brand experiences specific to their industry with clicks rather than custom code. They can effortlessly meet the demands of omnichannel service by deploying and updating these interactions across multiple devices and channels. This boosts user productivity and enables greater self-sufficiency for employees, consumers and partners. 

Learn & prepare: Prepare for Your Salesforce OmniStudio Consultant Credentials 

Certificate price: 200 USD 

Prerequisites: Not required 

 

Sales Cloud Consultant  

Sales Cloud allows sales teams to focus more on the productive work and get rid of repetitive routines. The product boosts the lead generation process and sales forecasting. It also makes creating and sharing reports easy. If you want to explore new ways to increase productivity, team communication and automate sales processes to shorten negotiation periods and increase deals sizes, then this certification is for you. 

Learn & prepare: Prepare for Your Salesforce Sales Cloud Consultant Credentials 

Certificate price: 200 USD 

Prerequisites: Salesforce Administrator credentials  

 

Tableau CRM & Einstein Discovery Consultant  

Tableau CRM is an intelligent tool that focuses on speeding up decision making. It has a powerful AI tool, Einstein discovery, that will assist in making analyses, recommendations and predictions based on the Salesforce data. If you aspire to increase your experience in business intelligence and data management, this consulting path provides relevant learning materials.  

Learn & prepare: Learn Einstein Analytics Plus 

Certificate price: 200 USD 

Prerequisites: Not required 

 

To sum up, the main prerequisite of these courses is the Salesforce Administrator Certification. To find the right path for yourself, visit and find more valuable information in our article The most useful certifications for Salesforce Admins career path.  

 

Industry & product consulting 

Within the Salesforce ecosystem, experience in data solutions, analysis, visualization and project management hold significant value. Possessing these skills provides a competitive edge. 

There are two distinct types of consultants focuses within the Salesforce ecosystem. The first type revolves around specific Salesforce products, while the second type is more industry focused. In either case, you will first need to get acquainted with the Salesforce ecosystem. 

The Salesforce ecosystem caters to a wide range of industries, including agriculture & mining, automotive, communications, consumer goods, energy & utilities, engineering, construction, real estate, financial services, healthcare & life sciences, high tech, manufacturing, media & entertainment, professional services, public sector, retail, travel, transportation and hospitality. The knowledge of the industry-specific processes is required of organizations operating in these fields. A Salesforce consultant should be prepared to be expected to have sufficient experience.   

Once you have identified your industry of focus and have assessed your background as a business analyst and project manager, it is time to select the specific Salesforce product that aligns with your consultancy path.  

LinkedIn: job search & community 

Building yourself a personal brand can help you advance your salesforce career. Even if you find it challenging to stand out, your own personal brand and activity in Salesforce communities could advance your career in the CRM environment.   

One of the useful sources to find job opportunities is LinkedIn. Besides sharing your own story in this social media, by networking actively you can find valuable contacts, including potential stakeholders, colleagues, and partners. 

Personal brand 

Your personal brand is shaped by who you are, your distinctive skill sets and your values. Cultivating your personal brand is crucial for success. In the Salesforce consulting job market, it is essential to focus on reasons why recruiters should hire you and emphasize your unique value. With the extensive availability of free learning courses, the Salesforce community has become more competitive. To stand out, you must differentiate yourself and consistently deliver outstanding results that leave a long-lasting impact.   

Ensure that your profile is regularly updated. Additionally, instead of solely focusing on your current achievements in the page heading, emphasize where you aspire to be. Potential employers may well pay attention to your engagements they find relevant as well as your content, such as podcasts and magazine features. Lastly, your “Groups” section should include a number of relevant Salesforce ecosystem groups. This helps you enhance your credibility and increase the likelihood of receiving direct job opportunities from recruiters. 

To sum up, let us highlight the key aspects of personal branding: 

• Clearly demonstrate your values, skills and interests aligned with your career goals. 
• Highlight industry and product-specific knowledge through various activities. 
• Target your communication and engagement towards specific audiences and areas of interest. 

Salesforce networking 

Networking is another crucial aspect of personal branding. Engaging with Trailblazer communities can greatly contribute to your personal brand growth and open doors to new opportunities. 

Find your first community here! 

Trends & opportunities  

Consultancy in Salesforce can take many forms, from freelancing to positions within consulting companies of all sizes. The most common practise in agreeing consultant assignments is the project-based contract. Salesforce partner consulting agencies are the primary companies interested in hiring consultants. However, experienced consultants often have an eye on the prioritize the requirements of a position rather than focusing solely on the consultantthe actual job title. For example, if they possess skills as business analysts or administrators that align with the criteria, they may start their career path in those roles. 

Based on an independent marketing study that analyzed 500 job offers on LinkedIn related to Salesforce, the following observations were made for the European market: 

• The most in-demand technical skills include experience in cloud solutions, specifically sales and marketing. 
• Experience in SaaS and PaaS services are required. 
• Regarding personal skills, HR departments seek individuals who are fluent in English, customer-centric, communicative, enthusiastic, and creative. 

There is a higher demand for technical consultants compared to functional consultants. It is also evident that functional consultants require knowledge and background in technical consulting, while technical consultants benefit from understanding the business environment. In summary, there is no strict division between technical and functional consultants in the job market, as the hiring companies prioritizing the combination of both skill sets in one role.  

All in all, to achieve your career goal in becoming Salesforce consultant you need to research beyond the Salesforce ecosystem and expand your network. Only then will you feel confident among the competition in the job market and can open up new opportunities.  

With Documill you can: 

• Expand your knowledge and experience in Salesforce ecosystem visiting ‘The most useful certifications for Salesforce Admins career path’ article. 
• Fall in with real business solutions for Salesforce document automation to expand your consulting proficiency.