What to Ask a Salesforce Partner Before You Sign the Contract

Selecting a Salesforce implementation partner feels like it should be straightforward. You issue a brief, partners respond with proposals, you pick the one that looks best. In practice, it's one of the decisions organisations most frequently get wrong, and the consequences take months or years to fully surface.

I work with organisations at both ends of this process: before they've chosen a partner, helping them evaluate options clearly, and after an implementation has underdelivered, helping them understand what went wrong. The questions below come from both sides of that experience.

Ask about their discovery process

Before any partner talks about what they'll build, they should be deeply curious about your business. A good discovery process takes time, involves the right people from your organisation, and produces a requirements document that you recognise as an accurate picture of your needs.

Ask specifically: how long is your discovery phase, who do you speak to, and what does the output look like? If the answer is vague, or if they're already talking about solutions before they've asked substantive questions, that's a signal worth taking seriously.

Ask who will actually do the work

Proposals are often presented by senior consultants with impressive credentials. The delivery team is sometimes a different story. Ask directly: who will be assigned to this project day to day, what is their experience level, and will that change during the engagement? You're entitled to meet the people who will be building your system before you sign.

Ask how they handle scope change

Every implementation encounters things that weren't anticipated at the start. How a partner handles those moments tells you a great deal about how the engagement will feel. Ask for a specific example of how they managed a significant scope change on a previous project, what happened, how it was communicated, and how it was resolved commercially. Listen for honesty and process, not just reassurance.

Ask what success looks like at six months post go-live

Most implementation contracts end at go-live. But go-live is the beginning of the adoption journey, not the end of the delivery journey. Ask your prospective partner what they expect your system to look like six months after launch, and what their role is in helping you get there. If they haven't thought about it, you'll be on your own at the most critical point.

Ask for references from similar organisations

Not just any references, references from organisations of similar size, sector, and complexity. Ask those references specifically about what went wrong during the engagement and how the partner handled it. Every implementation has difficult moments. The question is how they were managed.

Ask what they won't do

This is the question most people don't think to ask, and it's often the most revealing. A partner who is honest about the boundaries of their expertise, the things they'd recommend you go elsewhere for, is a partner who is confident enough in their core offering to be honest. Partners who claim to do everything equally well rarely do any of it exceptionally well.

One final thought

You don't have to navigate this evaluation alone. An independent advisor with no stake in the outcome can help you design a better brief, evaluate proposals more objectively, and ask the questions that the sales process is designed to make you forget.

If you're about to begin a significant Salesforce investment and want a second opinion before you commit, get in touch at dan@danedwardsconsultant.com.