As a Salesforce Admin, and especially a solo admin, the requests from your team sometimes get overwhelming. One moment someone needs a new field, the next moment there’s a request for a report, and these all end up living in your org forever. If you don’t have a prioritization system in place, it becomes extremely challenging to figure out which requests to tackle first. And before you know it, your once clean and well-structured Salesforce org is buried under layers of quick fixes and clutter.
Last year at Dreamforce, I hosted a braindate on a topic that does not get discussed often: developing a consulting mindset as a Salesforce professional. It was not about selling services or becoming a consultant by job title, but about thinking and operating like one. Out of the five participants in my session, four were solo admins, and all of them said the same thing: They were overwhelmed by ad-hoc unstructured requests creating a mess of their org.
Learning to apply a consulting mindset aligns closely with the admin core responsibilities, helping admins prioritize, protect, and scale their orgs while ensuring they deliver real business value. In this post, I’ll share how thinking like a consultant can transform the way you approach requests, help you make smarter decisions and ensure you keep your Salesforce org healthy.
Being a solo admin, or even part of a smaller team, can feel like juggling so much at the same time. You are the jack of all trades, builder, troubleshooter, QA, trainer, and data guardian—you do it all. These quick requests can make you feel like you’re always putting out fires instead of planning strategically, which in turn negatively affects your org’s health. Think about it: When was the last time you updated your data dictionary or config workbook? If you can’t recall when you made the last updates, you might need to change how you do things. The good news is, this can be accomplished by applying a consulting mindset to your role.
Developing a consulting mindset is about approaching every request, change, or project with a clear process of discovery, evaluation, and recommendation. Consultants do not just execute requests. Their first step is to understand the real problem. Once they’ve identified it, they explore different solutions—because in Salesforce, there are often multiple ways to solve the same issue. Before moving forward, they carefully evaluate the impact of each solution.
In the Salesforce Admin world when you apply a consulting mindset, it means you don’t automatically build what is requested just because someone asked. Instead, you take a step back, ask the right questions, and consider whether this request aligns with your org’s goals and long-term health. Admins essentially act as product managers or champions for Salesforce within their own organizations to ensure that what gets built is purposeful, scalable, and aligned to business outcomes.
When you bring a consulting mindset into your role as a Salesforce Admin, you move from being “the person who makes changes” to being “the strategic partner who ensures Salesforce supports the business in the best way possible.”
This shift changes how others see you. You aren’t just reacting to requests, you’re guiding the conversation about what should be built, when, and why. Over time, this builds trust and positions you as a valued advisor, not just a technical executor.
With a consulting mindset, you’ll:
Most importantly, with a consulting mindset, admins not only support the business with solutions that meet and exceed expectations but also build scalable and smart solutions that work with the growth of your team.
Don’t just take any request at face value. Start with the most important questions.
This first question alone can prevent a huge amount of unnecessary building. Many requests seem urgent but really just address a short-term need. In those cases, you may be able to meet the need with existing features, temporary reports, or even manual work, without adding permanent changes to your org.
Even simple changes should be tracked. Use a shared form or ticketing system so nothing is lost, and so you have a clear record of all the requests in one place. Keep documents like Data Dictionary and Configuration workbook up to date to keep a clear record of configuration decisions, ensuring consistency and accuracy in the setup. This is especially important for orgs where things change rapidly.
Create a system for handling both small and large requests. Small-ticket items are usually quick to complete and do not require extensive documentation. These are generally tasks that can be done in less than eight hours.
If a request requires more time and resources, add it to your Slack list, Jira backlog, or any other project management tool your team uses. For these larger items, you need to run proper discovery calls to understand the business requirements. You can then plan bi-weekly or monthly releases to manage and deliver these effectively.
Act as a bridge between the business and Salesforce. Gather information from stakeholders, analyze their needs, and translate business requirements into effective Salesforce solutions. This step ensures that what you build is not only technically correct but also aligned with real business objectives.
Before building, consider whether this request will create technical debt or require ongoing maintenance. Sometimes the right answer is to suggest a different approach, or merge two requests.
Explain your reasoning when you approve or decline a request. This helps set expectations and builds understanding. If your team is using Slack you can even create a Canvas with FAQs.
Don’t wait for problems to pile up. Proactively look for opportunities to improve and optimize Salesforce. Gather user feedback, review system usage data, and identify areas where processes can be streamlined. By addressing issues early and recommending enhancements, you improve efficiency, strengthen adoption, and make Salesforce more valuable for the business.
For example, attending monthly or quarterly sales team meetings as a silent observer can help you identify the issues the team is facing with reports, dashboards, or other challenges. You can then schedule calls with the respective stakeholders to better understand the problems and start planning how to solve them. This way, you are proactively addressing issues before they become a headache for you and your org.
These are some ways to start applying a consulting mindset. Remember the Dreamforce Braindate I mentioned earlier? Months after the event, one of the attendees reached out to me and said, “The discussions we had that day turned into one of my most memorable moments from Dreamforce.” She now feels more in control of her time and her org, less reactive, and more strategic in the decisions she makes. This one mindset shift has completely changed the way she works.
To sum it up, adopting a consulting mindset is not about slowing things down or making the process complicated. It’s about protecting your org, making smarter decisions, and positioning yourself as a strategic partner in your business.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed as an admin, start small. The next time a request comes in, pause before building. Ask the right questions. Document the request. Think about the long-term impact. You’ll be surprised at how much this changes not only your workload but also how others value your role.
Your org, and your sanity, will thank you.
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