If you’re here, there’s a good chance you want a Salesforce Managed Services Provider that will be straight with you.
It’s a frustrating ecosystem.
- The software can frustrate people.
- The company can frustrate people.
- Consultants can frustrate people.
Sometimes we find that our best customers start out frustrated with all three.
They don’t necessarily hate Salesforce. Most of the time they’re just tired.
Tired of confusing recommendations, tired of unclear pricing, tired of feeling like they’re constantly being sold something, and tired of not knowing who is actually looking out for their best interests.
If that’s where you are, you’re not alone.
Many of the companies we work with arrive at the same conclusion: They need someone independent enough to tell them what’s actually happening and practical enough to help them fix it.
Salesforce Managed Services Provider: The Short Answer
We help frustrated Salesforce customers by creating alignment.
Your price is clear, our incentives are clear, and our work cadence is clear.
Our recommendations are independent.
That combination removes a surprising amount of the anxiety companies feel when Salesforce has become heavier than expected.
Rather than focusing on selling more products, increasing billable hours, or creating dependence, we focus on helping people actually use Salesforce to get work done.
That sounds obvious, but common sense isn’t that common.
Why Companies Get Frustrated With Salesforce
Most of the time people aren’t frustrated with just one thing.
They’re frustrated with the accumulation of several things happening at once.
The software may feel more complicated than expected.
The company may feel difficult to navigate.
The consultant may be recommending things that don’t seem relevant.
Leadership may not trust the data.
Salespeople may not be using the system.
Reports may be wrong.
Automations may be creating more work instead of less.
Eventually all of those frustrations get bundled together into one sentence: “Salesforce isn’t working.”
The challenge is that Salesforce is rarely the only problem.
More often than not, frustration comes from a combination of technology, people, process, expectations, and incentives.
The first thing we try to do is separate those issues so they can be addressed individually.
How We Actually Help
1. We Focus On The People Using Salesforce
Most consulting conversations start with technology our start with people.
- What are they trying to accomplish?
- What’s slowing them down?
- What’s frustrating them?
- What’s causing workarounds?
Salesforce is a tool. If the people using the tool can’t do their jobs efficiently, then the technical elegance of the solution doesn’t really matter.
We focus heavily on helping people work effectively inside the platform because that’s where long-term value actually comes from.
2. We Use Flat Pricing
We intentionally moved away from hourly billing.
Because we found it created unnecessary friction.
No customers worried about invoices.
No consultants worried about tracking every minute.
Both sides get their time back to focus on outcomes.
Everyone can focus on solving problems instead of debating hours.
3. We Don’t Co-Sell With Salesforce
This is one of the biggest differences between us and many firms.
Because we don’t co-sell, our recommendations are not connected to Salesforce quotas, territory plans, or product initiatives.
If we recommend a product, it’s because we believe it solves a business problem.
If we don’t think you need something, we’ll say that too.
That independence allows us to stay focused on what helps the customer rather than what helps an AE’s quota.
4. We Use Build And Demo Weeks
One of the biggest frustrations in consulting is the constant interruption cycle.
Meeting. Work. Meeting. Work. Emergency. Meeting. Another emergency.
We found that both customers and consultants were getting exhausted by it.
Build weeks are for building.
Demo weeks are for reviewing, testing, and making decisions.
It sounds simple.
It is.
That separation creates far more focus than constantly blending everything together.
Why We Do It This Way
We didn’t create this model because it sounded good on a website.
We created it because we became frustrated with the alternatives.
We don’t want a business model that rewards activity instead of outcomes.
Cough. Billable hours. Cough.
We believe price transparency is simply better for everyone in every industry everywhere.
We believe co-selling creates incentive conflicts that make it impossible to focus on the customer.
We believe deep work requires protected time.
And we believe people do better work when they know exactly what success looks like.
Everything about our operating model was designed to reduce frustration for both customers and employees.
What Most Firms Do Instead
To be fair, there are thousands of Salesforce consulting firms.
Many do excellent work.
But the dominant model in the industry still tends to revolve around:
- Hourly billing
- No pricing transparency
- Reactive project work
- Continuous meetings (that you pay for)
- Heavy dependence on Salesforce referral channels for business
The result often feels like a spaghetti monster of meetings, emergencies, invoices, escalations, and competing priorities.
People stay busy, but not productive.
We intentionally moved in the opposite direction.
Less noise. More focus. Fewer surprises. Clearer expectations.
Where This Approach Works
This model tends to work best for companies that are serious about getting value from Salesforce.
Usually they have a few things in common.
- They actively use the platform.
- They are trying to grow.
- They care about clean data.
- They are willing to receive feedback.
- They want practical solutions instead of endless customization.
- We’ve seen this work particularly well in industries like:
It’s fairly industry agnostic. We have very solid customers in Manufacturing, Healthcare, Marketing and Advertising, and Public Sector Sales.
These companies don’t expect Salesforce to magically solve every problem.
They simply want it to support the business and become more valuable over time.
Where This Approach Doesn’t Work
Our model isn’t for everyone (womp, womp).
Companies that struggle with our approach usually fall into a few categories.
The first group doesn’t really want advice, they want validation.
The second group constantly invents new requirements before using what already exists so the CRM becomes an idea factory instead of an operating system.
The third group cannot make decisions. Requirements aren’t clear. Approvals aren’t available. Nobody owns the outcome.
The fourth group struggles with excessive meeting culture.
When twenty-five people show up to a review session and nobody can approve, test, or move forward, progress stop.
Our model moves quickly.
That speed becomes a strength when organizations are prepared for it, but it doesn’t work for everyone.
The Pattern Behind It
After years of doing this, I’ve noticed something interesting.
The companies that succeed with us don’t need more Salesforce.
They tend to need almost less of everything that is happening to them.
- Less noise
- Less confusion
- Less meeting fatigue.
- Less incentive conflict.
They need someone who can explain what matters, what doesn’t, and what should happen next.
Closing Thought
If you see yourself in the companies described above, there’s a good chance we’d enjoy working together.
We tend to work best with organizations that want practical advice, clear pricing, honest feedback, and a long-term approach to Salesforce.
If you’re frustrated with Salesforce, frustrated with consulting, or simply unsure what should happen next, we’d be happy to talk.
We’ll tell you what we think is working and what we think isn’t without a bunch of tech jargon you don’t care about.
And if we don’t believe we’re the right fit, we’ll tell you that too.
Reach out to us here. We’ll be glad to explore whether our approach is the right for your organization.