A View from Both Sides of the Salesforce Partner Ecosystem

When you’ve worked both at Salesforce and now at a Salesforce partner like I have, you get a unique view into what makes customer relationships work  -  and what gets in the way.

At Salesforce, I spent over four years working with AEs and partners to design solutions for customers that supported their business goals - across a variety of industries. Now, I’m on the partner side, helping Salesforce AEs and customers bring those solutions to life with tangible business impact.

Having sat on both sides of the table, I’ve come to believe a few things really matter more than anything else  -  and if you’re a customer or an AE thinking about your next project, I hope some of this helps.

Scoping isn’t just important. It’s everything.

Back when I was an AE, I ran into a lot of partners who always said yes.

It might sound great at first… but it wasn’t. Because AEs are placing their trust in partners  -  trust that they’ll scope a project the right way, understand the customer’s real needs, and deliver what was promised. When that trust gets broken, the AE’s credibility with the customer takes the hit.

Eventually, I found myself gravitating toward the partners who didn’t jump straight into a yes.

They slowed down.

They asked better questions.

They scoped deals in a way that made me feel confident introducing them to a customer.

And that mindset is a big part of why I joined DoubleTrack  -  the team here treats scoping with the respect it deserves, which is why we offer a Success Guarantee that aligns a portion of project fees to project sign-off.

I knew I wanted to work with people who understood that not every project is the right fit. Qualifying and disqualifying are both signs of a partner that actually puts the customer first ... not simply claiming they can do it all.

More than just an order-taker

One of the things that makes a great consulting partner stand out is how they approach early conversations.

It’s easy to ask “how do you want Salesforce to look?” but the better question is: “How do you want your business to run?” “What does success look like over the next five to ten years?”

When you start from that mindset, you’re not just configuring a CRM  -  you’re aligning Salesforce to actual business outcomes. That takes more listening than pitching. And it requires a partner that knows how to translate big goals into smart architecture.

It’s something I didn’t always see when I was an AE, but it’s become a non-negotiable for me now.

Being good at everything is not the goal.

A lot of consultancies try to be everything to everyone. That can work if you’re supporting massive enterprises with a long list of needs.

But I’ve found that doing fewer things - and doing them really well - is usually a better bet.

When a partner specializes in specific products or industries, a few good things happen:

• AEs know exactly when to bring them in.

• Customers get more value from consultants who’ve solved similar problems before.

• Projects run smoother, thanks to deeper experience and senior-level delivery teams.

Specialization builds trust.

It also builds momentum  -  good work leads to referrals, which leads to more of the right projects, which leads to deeper expertise. Everyone wins.

You may also like: RCA vs. CPQ. What do we like of this new platform so far?

The most exciting part of Salesforce? Everyone’s favorite four-letter word: data.

There’s no shortage of buzz around AI and Agentforce these days. And yes  -  there’s a lot of promise there. But here’s the reality: AI is only as good as the data underneath it.

That’s why I’m actually most excited about the evolution of Data Cloud. It’s giving companies new ways to unify their Salesforce data and make it work smarter  -  not just for AI, but for more strategic, insight-driven decisions across the board.

A lot of innovation talk centers on new tools and features. But the companies that get the most out of Salesforce are the ones that invest in strong foundations. Clean, connected, usable data is the baseline for where everything else begins.

So if you’re looking ahead and wondering how to set your Salesforce org up for what’s next, don’t overlook the data conversation. In my view, that’s where the real transformation starts.

Feel free to ask me about any of this, of course!