Salesforce upkeep resolutions: 7 Goals Every Salesforce-Reliant Organization Must Consider in 2021

Aligning the Salesforce platform to company goals is the ultimate goal for every Salesforce user. That’s because the platform is worthless if it doesn’t take you closer to your dreams. Unfortunately, the Salesforce platform is also a vast one. No one can claim to have mastered the entire CRM, especially since Salesforce introduces new features quite often. As a result, every year, most organizations set Salesforce upkeep resolutions that serve as a compass to help them achieve business targets. If you’re the average Salesforce user, we’ve identified seven goals worth pursuing in 2021.

Salesforce upkeep resolutions summary:

In a nutshell, these are the seven (7) Salesforce upkeep resolutions to make in 2021:

• Make List View the go-to tool for bulk updates
• Utilize the Salesforce data loader more
• Leverage Reporting Formulas to make your work easier
• Use Row Level Formulas to reduce your workload
• Leverage Lightning Sync to solve your email problems
• Create reminders with Salesforce process builder
• Create measurable goals for every Salesforce project

Make List View the go-to tool for bulk updates

If you’re a regular user of the Salesforce platform, you’ll have encountered several instances where you need to update a field on a small set of records to the same value. If you’re not aware of the tools within the Salesforce environment that you can use for this task, you may be forced to navigate to and update each field individually – a very time-consuming process. In 2021, you can escape the agony and save time by swiftly updating fields from the native Salesforce UI – both in Classing and Lightning.

 Utilize the Salesforce data loader more

The Salesforce data loader is a management tool from Salesforce designed to help users wrap the Salesforce SOAP and Bulk Data APIs into a neat little package that features a wizard-style interface. It also has a command-line interface. The open-source feature is written in Java and is perfect for medium to large data management needs. This little tool can be a valuable asset for your organization if you occasionally process 50,000 or more records at a go. Indeed, Salesforce recommends it for situations where you’re dealing with records between 50,000 and five million records.

Salesforce upkeep resolutions: Leverage Reporting Formulas to make your work easier

Reporting formulas are some of the most underrated tools on the Salesforce platform. Can you remember the last time you used any of the formulas? Many people can’t. Instead, we often find ourselves exporting reports to Excel to perform the necessary calculations. In 2021, make it one of your main goals to exhaust reporting formulas within the Salesforce environment before thinking about Excel. Whether you seek to calculate three-month moving averages of Closed Won Opportunities or determine the percentage of business a sales rep brings in, you can do it with Salesforce reporting formulas.

Use Row Level Formulas to reduce your workload

Still on formulas, in the Spring-2020 release, Salesforce introduced a new function – the ability to declare row-level formulas – a feature that can make your work a lot easier in 2021. Row-level formulas allow you to define formulas to evaluate each row on the report from inside the Lightning report builder. The result? A significant reduction in the number of formula fields created at the object level with reporting purposes. Using the all-new row-level formulas also reduces the amount of metadata you need to track and maintain. It also minimizes the migration of reports to Excel or G-Sheets.

Leverage Lightning Sync to solve your email problems

Lightning Sync, formerly Exchange Sync, is a background synchronization tool on the Salesforce platform that works hand in hand with Lightning for Outlook and Salesforce for Outlook to synchronize contacts and events between Salesforce and MS Exchange or Gmail from Google. It can operate in a one-way or two-way configuration. There are several tasks you can accomplish with the Sync feature. For instance, once you have configured sync, you can use the status menu to monitor the progress of background synchronizations. You can also manage syncing between contacts and events.

Create reminders with Salesforce process builder

Reminders are an essential part of the Salesforce environment. Unfortunately, most users still use the Workflow or Process Builder to set reminders on the Salesforce platform, a painfully frustrating process. You can ease the pain in 2021 by creating reminders passing the time in your formula or process in GMT such that Salesforce converts it to a date/time. You only need to know how many hours ahead or behind of GMT your time zone is and add the inverse of that number to the time you’d like your reminder set. It works like a charm. Your reminders will arrive in 24-hour format, eliminating all the confusion.

Create measurable goals for every Salesforce project

This final resolution may seem the most trivial, but it’s the most important. Don’t take the chaos of 2020 and earlier into 2021. If you’re going to be more successful in 2021, you must learn to be a little more organized and focused. Goal setting, therefore, becomes imperative. There are three things you need to keep top of mind individually and as an organization. First, every project’s goals must be aligned with the greater, organization-wide goals. Secondly, alongside every set of goals, you need accompanying KPIs. Third, always start small (with low-budget projects) and expand gradually.

What will your Salesforce upkeep resolutions be in 2021 and beyond?

Although we’re getting out of the worst year in a long time, 2021 won’t be necessarily rosy. Businesses will continue to face tough challenges. Prioritizing the Salesforce upkeep resolutions and goals discussed above should make your job a little easier, effectively boosting your chances of success.