As days go by, Salesforce is becoming more and more relevant to all businesses today and its contribution to the success and efficiency of a business cannot be underestimated.

Besides revolutionizing business operations, Salesforce has created thousands of jobs even to some of the most senior technology professionals in the world.

Salesforce admins, for example, have become highly sought after by almost any company. Developers, marketers, and consultants’ jobs are on the rise and pay from $74,031 to $134,384 based on the role.

As such, learning how to become a successful Salesforce admin not only gears you up for your first job but also helps you build a successful career.

Who is a Salesforce Admin?

Basically, the admin is the user with all administrative duties and other superpowers. He or she is responsible for setting up the Salesforce platform for the organization and monitoring it to make sure it runs smoothly.

Salesforce Admins are responsible for their organization’s customer data, overseeing user profiles and access levels especially sales and marketing data. They also oversee data related to products and services, purchases, and other activities.

The specific responsibilities include creating user accounts, assigning access levels, onboarding new hires, and handling off-boarding, including removing access for former employees.

They are the point of contact for users in corporations who have queries or need some training on a certain Salesforce product.

Bearing in mind the importance of Data Science and Analytics in today’s Marketing landscape. Successful Salesforce Administrators can find employment in virtually any market gap they decide to place their focus on.

Classically, Salesforce Admins are usually employed by large corporations and work in a pretty standard office setting like any other. Certain things are required to be a successful Salesforce Admin and now that you know what this career path entails, I shall highlight them below. Read on.

Responsibilities and Duties of a Successful Salesforce Admin

Successful Salesforce Admins have certain obligations bestowed upon them. It is important to note various duties at different levels so that you can be flexible in the field and eventually command it.

Importing new leads, contacts, and data

Successful Salesforce Admins oversee that the updates of new contacts, data and leads since these are needed at entry-level corporations to develop standards for importation of new contacts and to set the seal on platforms.

Managing deduplication tools

It is close to impossible to try and avoid duplicated material. By degrees, contact data and user behavior may be duplicated through webform submissions. A successful Salesforce Admin is responsible for running the duplication tools to cross-check the data and get rid of duplicates.

Testing system updates

This enables a successful Salesforce Admin to test new updates in time and know whether it configures with what they have or not. Doing this consistently and in time allows organizational processes and data to be in precise order.

Address User Issues (as They Arise)

This broad duty encompasses several tasks. Successful Salesforce Administrators are the ones who solve any problems users are having with Salesforce. They also educate employees on new updates and onboard new hires whose role involves access to Salesforce.

Run Database Maintenance Reports

Successful Salesforce Administrators run many tests and reports to keeping an eye on the health of their database. They include the APEX tests, field utilization reports, roles by profile reports, and several others depending on the needs of one’s employer.

Other tasks, not limited to the above can be assigned to you within the Salesforce environment such as performing specialized tasks depending on the industry.

What skills do you need to become a Successful Salesforce Admin?

To become a Successful Salesforce Admin, you must possess some potential and relevant skills to be able to carry out your duties as you are supposed to.

User Management

User management is about more than just creating user-profiles and permissions. It’s about being a champion for your users and taking the time to understand how they do their job and what makes them successful. This helps you as a Salesforce Admin to not

only design an effective user experience but also curate an effective strategy for both user training and adoption.

Data Management

As a Salesforce Admin, data is at the core of everything you do in your business. It is also the engine that drives your Salesforce. For instance, ensuring data in Salesforce is managed properly will make everyone’s lives easier.

It helps to assess and improve the quality of your data involve putting in place validation rules, proactively preventing data duplication, and ensuring data are actionable to help users and executives make important business decisions.

Field customization is also another large part of data management because it allows you to tailor your Salesforce to your own distinctive business requirements.

Manage Security

Once you have set up processes to manage your data, you need to ensure measures are put in place to protect your customer and business data.

Regularly performing a Salesforce Health Check will help improve your organization’s overall wellbeing and is in essence a dashboard to gauge and measure how safe your security settings are.

Plus, aligning with your IT department and correctly implementing field-level security will further ensure your data and applications are protected.

Actionable Reporting

The ability to provide reporting on your business is super important as a Salesforce Admin in serving your users and executives gain insights and make decisions from their Salesforce data.

Creating reports and dashboards that are concentrated on providing goal-oriented statistics will help answer questions that customers may have.

Such could be about which products are top sellers, who the highest value prospects are, and which marketing campaigns have been most successful.

Other skills not highlighted above that are necessary are:

• Flexible Communication and Leadership Skills
• Ability to Translate Ideas into Processes
• Salesforce Resourcefulness
• Project Management
• Developer Mindset
• Organizational Optimization and Strategy

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Salesforce admin a good career option?

This is one of the most rising careers in 2021 and it pays well. With a background in IT, you can be able to position yourself in Salesforce Administration with ease.

Is it hard to get a job as a Salesforce admin?

Given that this is a fast-rising career opportunity, companies are looking for admins with a substantial amount of experience. However, there are plenty of opportunities for you out there. You just need to get on LinkedIn and find some.

How do I become successful in Salesforce?

Educate yourself, use AppExchange, interact with alike minds in the sector, network and build your CV in terms of experience and skills. That is your weapon; which will speak volumes on your behalf.

Want to read to become a Successful Salesforce Administrator?

Enroll in our Salesforce Administrator Career track and get practical, hands-on training to help you master and manage the functionality and a wide range of important features available in Salesforce by registering for our Salesforce Admin Course.