Publish date:

• 14th January, 2025

Over the years in the Salesforce ecosystem, I’ve witnessed successful and challenging project launches. In 1998, I encountered similar outcomes while advising companies like Robert Half, various Salesforce partners, and my software firm. 

Understanding why varied outcomes exist has been a focus of my consulting career. I believe in providing critical insights into minimizing unpleasant Salesforce consulting partner experiences since a project gone wrong can result in catastrophic failure across a wide range of digital transformation projects. 

In a 2021 Forbes article about the failure of technology ventures, Steve Andriole highlights Clayton Christensen's work on innovation. Christensen, a well-known business strategist and Harvard Business School professor, researched disruptive innovation:

As I and others have shown, ERP initiatives frequently fail, sometimes spectacularly: the Gartner Group reports that 75% of ERP programs fail. Others report that CRM projects fail at approximately identical rates. Big data analytics projects fail at an alarming rate. Clayton Christensen estimated that 95% of product innovation ventures fail.

According to McKinsey, just 30% of digital transformation programs boost company performance. Failure data is everywhere. Technology projects fail at an alarming rate, at significant expense to the corporations and executives that fund them. 

"Perhaps the toughest conclusion is that "90% fail to deliver any quantifiable ROI."

Given the long history and widespread extent of this problem, one would expect to hear more about why it happens and what to do about it; yet, this is not the case. 

During your interview, I would ask three additional questions to help program managers, C-level executives, and other essential decision-makers with the recruitment process. The cause of project failure is not technical proficiency but rather a lack of intangible qualities. The interview should begin with this topic; the following three questions will hone in on it.

How do you coach and develop your team beyond Salesforce certifications?

Any Salesforce partner you work with will likely have many certifications and a campaign to expand the number, as their Partner Value Score and referral pipeline depend on them. However, certifications alone are unlikely to improve your project's success percentage.

In my research, which includes direct case studies such as the FoxMeyer Drugs ERP project as well as broader analysis papers by Standish Group, McKinsey, and CISQ (50,000+ projects), the overwhelming conclusion is that poor soft skills, such as a lack of communication, ineffective leadership, and change management, are the primary causes of these failures.

As a result, the Salesforce partner or team you select must have a program to model, measure, and mature these aspects of its Salesforce specialists, or they risk repeating previous failures. Trailhead highlights these abilities in topics such as business analysis and user experience. Still, issues arise when the team is deep in the weeds, under pressure, and pushed by multiple competing agendas. 

Trailhead does not cover the resilience and execution necessary at this level despite their importance to success. If they do not have a program that covers this skill set and the complexity of your people, processes, and culture, I recommend moving further.

Can You Show Me Examples of Artifacts Used in Your Projects?

I've worked with numerous Salesforce partners over the years, and one phrase I frequently hear is "only provide documentation that the client specifically requests." The presumption is that documentation is static and has little to no impact on the project's overall experience or outcome. 

Worse, documentation is frequently viewed as an unnecessary need to alleviate stakeholder concerns to obtain approval (and, in many cases, funding) for the project's next phase. In this scenario, the artifacts are a straightforward means of determining where project management ranks on the priority list.

In "The Cost of Project Failure—People, Processes, and Technology," Bosa Igbinoba, a tech consultant focused on projects' operational and management sides, emphasizes the consequences of poor management.

"A process is a set of actions or steps to achieve a specific goal." Effective process design considers the impact of implementation on employees and customers, the skills needed to successfully implement the solution, the requirements, and a variety of other behavioral, physiological, and professional concerns.

"According to the survey results for the 2020 Pulse of the Profession, an average of 11.4% of investment is lost owing to poor project performance. Organizations that undervalue project management as a key capability for driving change indicate that 67% of their projects fail."

By requesting particular artifact examples, you can determine whether the prospective partner or team believes that successful cooperation and visibility are trivial or critical. They will let you know what to expect from your endeavor. 

This question will also indicate whether they consider project management to be only a software tool or a strategic competency in executing a repeatable process that will significantly reduce the risk of your project wherever it leads.

Please describe how you plan to help my team maximize their performance on this project.

Every Salesforce project is a shared risk between the parties involved: the technology must perform as promised, and the business must communicate where it wants to go and how to assess it. The partner must then be able to draw out everything else needed to attain that finish line demonstrably while remaining within the project's limits. It must be clarified and negotiated when obstacles develop, or something is impossible.

It necessitates significant communication abilities, including listening, writing, speaking, and translating. According to my studies, communication skills are a common cause of project failure and the most critical talent for success cited by project management professionals worldwide. 

In addition to the Project Manager, all project team members require significant aptitude in the intangible abilities to convey intended meaning, identify risks and valuable details among the many streams of information, and initiate and lead difficult but critical conversations.

Page 10 of the 2023 PMI Pulse of the Profession describes the influence of communication as follows:

"Power skills, often called interpersonal or soft skills like communication, problem-solving, and collaborative leadership, are becoming indispensable for project professionals. These skills are crucial for guiding successful teams, building strong stakeholder relationships, and navigating project challenges. While technical skills help project managers plan and execute the various stages of a project, power skills ensure the team stays aligned and works together toward a shared vision.

In our poll, project professionals identified communication, problem-solving, collaborative leadership, and strategic thinking as the most essential power abilities for achieving corporate goals."

This question about maximizing your team will show the approach, strategies, and priorities they use to mine, refine, and align essential business elements from your team that are critical for a successful project that provides the promised ROI and more. 

The methods that a partner team uses are crucial. Conversations required to obtain this information frequently take place in semi-public situations. These discussions will be influenced by existing cultural and political difficulties that create barriers to free and truthful dialogue. 

Consider the viewpoint of a sales manager who everyone believes is incompetent or the quiet of an office manager who is undoubtedly the most knowledgeable. Every project manager, business analyst, architect, and team member present at the meetings must have a strategy to deal with these "people first" issues, as I like to call them.

The dialog may also show whether partners want to rely on generic "best practices" or a template of existing experience in your industry rather than identifying the unique characteristics that contribute to your unique value. It is crucial for your team's adoption.

Beyond information gathering, more cooperation, validation, and change management components must be addressed, but I must wrap up this piece. 

Summary

The three questions we addressed should help you focus on revealing the partner's culture rather than their technical capabilities. I fully appreciate the significance of certificates as a tool to quantify an element of ability; here are a few that may aid you with your technical professional development:

• Salesforce certificates include User Experience 

• Interaction Design from Nielsen Norman

• Competent Communicator from Toastmasters

• People First Method

• Additional non-Salesforce qualifications.

While skill validation is vital, the intangible skills have helped me advance in my job. The data my colleagues and I have studied demonstrates the importance of these "people first" dimensions. 

The essential technical abilities serve as oars in your project rowboat and can be supplemented without jeopardizing the project. The three questions I've concentrated on above will assist you in inspecting the hull of the rowboat, which frequently remains submerged until it's too late in your voyage to overcome it by just bailing water and letting your project sink.

We all want Salesforce project success rates to improve so that more customer success fuels platform innovation and growth. Moving beyond the reality of mutual risk and toward the opportunity of mutual accountability can assist teams in overcoming the root causes of project failure.

Try the questions and let me know if they helped clarify and enhance your future Salesforce partner and team decisions for tremendous project success. Listen to the Salesforce Trails and Trials podcast for a deeper dive into developing "people first" abilities for your team.

At Codleo Consulting, we understand that the success of a Salesforce project goes beyond technical expertise; it’s about the right culture, strong communication, and effective leadership. We prioritize developing the intangible skills that ensure project success and long-term ROI. Our team is committed to helping you navigate the complexities of Salesforce implementations by focusing on collaboration, change management, and maximizing your team’s performance. If you’re ready to partner with a Salesforce consultant who puts people first and drives meaningful transformation, contact Codleo Consulting today to discuss how we can help you confidently achieve your goals.