Image contains text Salesforce for beginners

Salesforce for Beginners: A step-by-step guide to optimize sales and marketing and automate business processes with the Salesforce platform, 2nd Edition

Tech jobs were hit hard by lay-offs last year, impacting more than  150,000 people. Unfortunately, even in the new year, we are still seeing layoffs as affected employees announce the news via Linkedin and ask for posts to be shared for visibility in hopes of making new connections for career opportunities. 

Scrolling through Linkedin may make you feel anxious and worried about your own job security. One of the best things to do in times of uncertainty is to start your own business. Salesforce is one of the leading CRMs in the world, and with research, skill, and enlightenment from peers it can be relatively easy to learn. 

Below is a list of fundamentals to open your own consulting firm.  

  1. Business Name & Registration
  2. An EIN (Employer Identification Number)
  3. A Bank Account
  4. A Website
  5. An Email Address
  6. A Time Tracking Tool
  7. An Accounting Tool
  8. A Contract, or SOW (Statement of Work)
  9. An eSignature Tool
  10. A Project Management Tool
  11. A CRM
  12. A Virtual Meeting Tool
  13. A Vendor Payment Platform
  14. A Bookkeeper
  15. A Business Network

To learn more, check out the full blog here

To complement these business fundamentals and help you build your Salesforce knowledge, we recommend the book “Salesforce for Beginners.”  This book will help you leverage the Salesforce platform for sales, service, marketing, and automating business activities from a 360-degree perspective. 

This book is for beginners and experienced admins alike – anyone trying to make a career shift and learn Salesforce or a user with a few years of experience who wants to gain a deeper understanding of the platform. It is particularly an approachable book for beginners that is a compliment to Trailhead, the free and very robust training platform provided by Salesforce. Using both the book and Trailhead, you’ll learn the business context in addition to the technical know-how of the Salesforce platform. This book will ensure you walk away by understanding how and why things are done. 

CEO and founder Sharif Shaalan’s favorite part is the first section of the book, as it explains the business context of why organizations use Salesforce and as well as The Flow chapter written by Flow expert Tim Royer as it covers the basics in a very approachable way for a beginner. Buy the book now on Amazon to further advance your business and entrepreneur career with Salesforce. 

Founder & CEO Sharif Shaalan has been a thought leader in the Salesforce space for over a decade. Having worn every hat in the ecosystem, from top-selling sales rep to technical architect, gives him a unique perspective on solving business problems and assembling the right team for each implementation. Leading Enterprise level projects such as Girl Scouts of the USA and NYU Abu Dhabi, to name a few, allowed him to focus on large data volume and bring proven methodologies and best practices to Agile Cloud Consulting. In 2013 he was chosen as a Salesforce MVP for his expertise in the domain.  He has been renewed every year since until being inducted into the Salesforce MVP Hall of Fame in March 2020, which makes him a Salesforce MVP for life. Sharif has 10+ Salesforce certifications, is an avid Salesforce community contributor, a recurring Dreamforce speaker, hosts the yappexchange podcast, and started the first Salesforce-inspired comic strip called “Agile Clouds.” 

 

Tim Royer is the VP of Delivery at Agile Cloud Consulting and a Salesforce Certified Application Architect.  Tim began his Salesforce career in 2012 as an accidental administrator and has since participated in several implementations in various roles (Consultant, Solution Architect, Project Manager, Engagement Manager).  During that time, Tim has experience as a Salesforce customer, a Salesforce partner, and a Salesforce.org professional services team member. With a focus on nonprofits and higher education, Tim helps organizations realize their missions by understanding their processes and guiding them on a path of digital transformation.  Tim has worked with clients such as the Sierra Club, CARE, the University of Pennsylvania, and Sesame Workshop. Tim holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Psychology from Oberlin College and 14+ Salesforce certifications.

 

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