Are you a nonprofit considering implementing Salesforce? Have you heard about the Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP)? This managed package is tailored specifically for nonprofits and is a game-changer. It streamlines fundraising and stakeholder data, offering a comprehensive view of your organization’s work. With NPSP, you can efficiently track donors, program participants, volunteers, and their households, paving the way for a more organized and effective operation.
When implemented correctly, Salesforce NPSP is not just a tool but a transformative force for the digital revolution in the non-profit sector. It equips organizations with advanced campaign management strategies, real-time implementations, and success measures, guiding them toward their missions. However, the initial adoption may present challenges. XTIVIA, as a Salesforce expert, is here to dispel any confusion and provide you with the ultimate guide to Salesforce implementation.
Most Common Salesforce Implementation Mistakes
Here, we’ve compiled a list of the most common Salesforce Implementation Mistakes that can potentially derail the success of nonprofits and associations. By familiarizing yourself with these pitfalls, you can pave the way for a smoother and more effective implementation when it’s your turn. Remember, the key to success often lies in learning from others’ mistakes. This is why we’ve compiled this comprehensive guide to help you avoid these common pitfalls and ensure a successful Salesforce implementation.
1. Prevent Deviating From the Commitment
The results of implementing Salesforce into your nonprofit mission are always positive. However, the process demands significant dedication, often underestimated by nonprofits who expect Salesforce professional consultants to handle everything. While these experts play a crucial role, your internal project manager should also be actively involved, dedicating at least 20 percent of their daily work hours to the project. Your team manager will need to be even more involved, overseeing processes from customization, implementation, and data migration to integration, which could take up to 50 percent of their total work hours. This level of commitment from your team, especially from the project manager, is crucial before embarking on the Salesforce journey.
2. Spending on the Wrong Needs
Spending more on a relevant piece than less on an irrelevant one is better. Regarding CRM implementation, Nonprofits often attempt to implement a small portion of their budget into buying. As a result, senior-level sponsorships and donor engagement become critically tricky. For your nonprofit success, avoid underutilized tools. Implement Salesforce to get a full 360-degree view of all your constituents and keep an informational track of people who derive the success of your program. The better you are into your business’s insight, the better the chances of success. Therefore, allocate your budget judiciously to obtain valuable resources for the success of your nonprofit organization
3. In-Silo Implementations
Salesforce is unlike any other project you implement in your nonprofit organization. It goes through all the required stages, from design, discovery, and execution to integration. The project manager must collaborate across departmental silos to ensure synchronization. Often, nonprofits do not take the various interdepartmental teams into the loop. Successful implementation of Salesforce relies on collaborative support from multiple teams, including marketing and accounts,
Critical situations affect your management, relationships, and reporting needs. Hence, take suggestions and implement a cross-functional array of your organization into your Salesforce basic design for future assistance.
4. Paying No Heed to Your Process
Another mistake made by nonprofits is neglecting their manual processes. While it’s great that you’re updating your work environment, ignoring your analog systems can lead to chaos. How do you communicate with your donors? What is the process of fund-collecting? How do you raise your funds? What is your database? How do you register your attendee? It is essential to consider each element before making your process digital. Make a detailed outline of your analog process before implementing Salesforce into it to be safer. Take stock of your offline data first, then dig into the cloud task.
5. Keeping the Unwanted
Importing data directly into your Salesforce system may lead to inaccuracies or incomplete information. You must manually check your data stock before executing and during the transfer process. As to where your data is being stored and its front-end presence. Start by listing every legacy system your team relies upon, such as Google Docs, spreadsheet, outlook list, etc. After thoroughly inventorying your data and its storage, proceed with data cleaning. This is the opportune moment to remove inaccurate and incomplete information. This is the point at which you can delete incorrect or incomplete data. Only the right one is migrated to the Salesforce system to yield accurate reports and helpful insights. Be consistent in matching, rematching, duplicating, or repeating records effectively.
6. Exploring the Option of Using Custom Objects
Salesforce NPSP has several pre-built capabilities, such as Donation Management, Volunteer Management, Event Management, etc.
While these features are great and follow industry standards, they may still need to fit within your organization’s needs. We recommend understanding the capabilities of the NPSP feature in detail, preferably trying them out on a sandbox environment first and evaluating if it makes sense to use the out-of-the-box provided feature or create a custom one tailored to your organization’s need. There’s no one-size-fits-all, and each organization handles things differently; make sure you leverage the power and ease of Salesforce’s platform to customize and build a solution specific to your organization’s needs!
7. Going Live Without Any Plan?
When integrating Salesforce into your nonprofit, begin the training and adoption process from day one. Avoid waiting weeks to involve your staff. From knowing the new data source, what are the processes involved? What software is being replaced? Why is it important? You and your staff need to know the new system in and out before going live. There lies a critical situation for your project team to communicate the entire plan to the constituents and the stakeholders. Ideally, these stakeholders should participate in the initial decision-making process regarding the transition to the cloud and the modernization of the existing system. It is often observed that implementation leads to failure in staff resistance if not handled carefully. Avoid technological fatigue and develop an effective roll-out plan.
8. Get Set. Go
Have you taken account of the points mentioned above? Congratulations, you are good to use Salesforce for your nonprofit success! Your programming tasks are automated, and all your information is accurate and accessible. Make the most of this opportunity. Now that you are ready with the Salesforce features, it doesn’t mean you can ignore your database. Remember that you should train your staff and maintain your financial records occasionally. Having a fully automated and robust database like Salesforce means your nonprofit can now focus on your mission. You can empower your nonprofit missions with Salesforce CRM, caring for the rest.
Salesforce Admin On-Demand
Remember, our certified Salesforce experts are available to assist you. Consider XTIVIA your trusted guide during your NPSP implementation, and remember to inquire about our Salesforce Admin On-Demand service. Give us a call today!