Raise your hand if you’ve ever been asked, “What does a Salesforce Administrator do?” Raise your hand again if you’ve struggled to answer this question. Me too. As a Salesforce Admin, you wear many hats. And sometimes, it can be difficult to articulate everything your role encapsulates, your experience, and the value you add to an organization in a concise and meaningful way.
Here’s the tough reality, though — your ability to communicate these important things can make or break your career. That’s why I set out to design a simple, new way to help you talk to your users and executives about Salesforce Administration: the REV Method.
According to Merriam-Webster, to “rev up” means to become more active, or to make someone or something more active or effective. For example, you might say, “The new project is starting to rev up.” As a Salesforce Admin, you should definitely aim to be an active and effective communicator with your users and executives; however, this is not the only reason it’s called the REV Method.
REV is an acronym that stands for Role, Experience, and Value. It’s a simple yet effective way to remember the three broad categories to address when talking to your users and executives about all the amazing work you do as a Salesforce Admin.
In this blog, I’ll give a brief overview of each of these categories, provide you with some helpful tips to put the REV Method into action, and talk a little bit more about how this method can help you achieve your career goals.
When speaking to users and executives about your role, it’s important to talk about not only what you do on a day-to-day basis, but also your overall objective or goal as a Salesforce Admin.
Under the REV Method, I recommend always outlining your objective or goal first. This helps your users and executives understand your overall vision in the context of your role as a Salesforce Admin for that particular company. Think of it as a funnel, or an upside down triangle with two parts. First, start broad and high level, outlining your overall objective or goals. Second, get more detailed and talk about what you do on a day-to-day basis.
Spend a little time thinking about these, internalize them, write them down, say them out loud — and practice, practice, practice! Then, next time you’re given the opportunity to talk about your role, you’ll have it down to a fine art.
To help you on your way, here’s an example of something you might say when describing your role to your users and executives:
“As a Salesforce Admin, I am here to help you achieve your goals using Salesforce. I aim to create innovative and customized solutions to solve your business challenges, increase productivity, and deliver value. On a day-to-day basis, I’m your go-to person for all things Salesforce, and I’m responsible for user management, data management, security, and analytics.”
I recommend you also add a relevant example, depending on who you’re speaking to. For example, if you’re speaking to the head of Human Resources, you might mention that you’re responsible for creating user profiles and permissions for new staff members, and that you’d love to see Salesforce training become a part of the onboarding process.
Sharing your career background, experience, and goals with your users and executives will serve you well. This not only establishes credibility but also builds rapport and can favorably present you as the subject matter expert for all things Salesforce — which, of course, you are, so why not let everyone know!
Here are a few suggestions for what to talk about:
Everyone’s career path is unique, and it’s important to talk authentically about your background and experience. If you came from the Salesforce ecosystem before becoming a Salesforce Admin, that’s great. If not, that’s okay too. Some of the most successful Salesforce Admins actually come from non-technical industries and roles and taught themselves how to use Salesforce, which speaks volumes about their can-do attitude and willingness to learn. Plus, no matter where your past experience lies, there are always transferrable and universal skills — such as communication skills — that will help accelerate your success as a Salesforce Admin.
To help you on your way, here’s an example of what you might say under the REV Method:
“I’ve been a Salesforce Admin for four years. Prior to this, I was a Sales Support Rep for five years, using Salesforce every day to help resolve customer issues. I hold a current Salesforce Administrator and Senior Administrator certification, and I am a Trailhead Ranger, having earned 150 badges on the Trailhead learning platform. I’m also part of the local Salesforce Admin Community Group, where I meet monthly with other Salesforce Admins to share learnings and experiences. I’m super passionate about using technology to create positive and lasting impact, which is why I am so excited by the opportunity to work for X company and with you and your team.”
Be excited, share your passion, and show how your career goals and personal values align with the company’s core values. When you talk about your experience, I also recommended you share a quick story or anecdote from your time as a Salesforce Admin. Perhaps a past success or learning moment, or even something amusing that happened to you as an admin, because humor is always a great way to break the ice!
Every day in your role, you create customized solutions that deliver real — and lasting — business value. You champion productivity, deliver innovation, and drive success. What you do is very impressive, but how do you articulate this and help both your users and executives clearly understand the value you bring to the table? It’s a million-dollar question, isn’t it?
Using the REV Method, I recommend you talk about this in the context of both skills and solutions. That is, what skills do you possess and how do these skills help you create solutions that deliver value to the business? This is a practice I like to call Skills to Solutions.
To help frame conversations with users and executives regarding your skills, aim to group them into the below categories, and keep a WIIFT — What’s In It For Them — mindset. That is, don’t make the conversation about YOU! Make it about how YOUR skills can help THEM achieve THEIR goals and, therefore, the goals of the business:
For each of the six skills listed above, aim to write down one or two specific examples of how these skills help you deliver value to the business. The more specific and tangible your examples are, the better — and as always, including numbers to support your example is a good idea. Using the new Salesforce Optimizer App is a great way to provide insights and transparency into your org, such as number of customizations, reports, and usage and adoption data.
To help you on your way, here are some examples of things you might say when trying to communicate your value as a Salesforce Admin, using the “Skills to Solutions” practice:
“As a Salesforce Admin, I create solutions that deliver real and lasting business value. For example:
One of your key strengths as a Salesforce Admin is your unique skill set, which consists of both business and technical skills. We encourage you to be transparent with your users and executives about not only your skill set but also your commitment to learning, growing, and — most importantly — delivering value to the organization.
The REV Method helps you proactively communicate with your users and executives, and project credibility. It is designed to be adaptable to any situation. There are times you’ll have 30 seconds to talk about your role, experience, and value — and there are times you’ll have 30 minutes. It’s my hope that the REV Method becomes a part of your everyday mindset, so that whenever you’re presented with the opportunity to talk with your users and executives, you have a simple and effective way to outline all the important information you want to get across.
Here are other examples of when the REV Method may be helpful:
When it comes to building a successful career as a Salesforce Admin — including gaining promotions and pay increases — your ability to effectively communicate your role, experience, and the value you add to a business is key.
Although the REV Method was designed specifically to help Salesforce Admins talk to users and executives, it’s a simple and adaptable method that can easily be applied to many other communications in the world of business and beyond. So, go ahead — REV it up!
We’d love to hear about YOUR experience in using the REV Method, and also help other Salesforce Admins learn how they can use the method to talk about all the awesome work they’re doing. Share one REV statement on Twitter using #AwesomeAdmin.
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