Ok I need to vent about this for a second. Agentforce has basically taken over every conversation I have at work now and I'm kind of exhausted by it.

Like I'll be in a meeting about something completely unrelated and someone will just go "wait can this be an agent" and I have to stop and actually think about whether that's a smart question or if we're all just saying the trendy word because it's everywhere right now.

And then there's the client side. Some of them heard "Agentforce" somewhere, probably a linkedin post or a keynote clip, and now show up already asking for it before we've even explained what it does. So the first chunk of the call becomes me walking them back from the hype version to what it actually is.

Not saying the tech isn't useful, I'm just tired of the word doing more work than the actual thing half the time.
Anyone else feel like the vocabulary moved faster than the actual understanding?

Reading Salesforce posts on LinkedIn makes me feel like this: https://tenor.com/en-GB/view/upset-mad-breaking-down-crazy-pills-will-ferrel-gif-17380987

The latest nonsense is (quote) "We took an implementation plan, configured Data 360 and Marketing Cloud Next, and brought three complex use cases to life—all in under two hours." (end quote).

Original post here: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/?highlightedUpdateUrn=urn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7485440420580257793&highlightedUpdateType=REACTED_TO_YOUR_COMMENT&origin=INAPP&showCommentBox=true

Here's my list of problems:

• The message is 'look how easy it is to set up' which in my opinion is seriously misleading because it's built on Data360 which is not a platform that you should haphazardly set up. Any mistakes in configuration can lead to excessive credit consumption and subsequently, higher costs.
• An 'implementation' isn't just turning things on and pressing buttons - the implementation plan is a lot of work. It's translating business processes / requirements, managing credits / costs, aligning setup with current automation / processes, training + enablement, compliance + GDPR, aligning with the website by updating forms/consent/legal copy, integrating with 3rd party systems, building reusable on-brand templates/assets, migrating data with consent, setting up long-term reports showing KPI's... There's a lot that goes into it.
• I've sat with customers who have said out loud that they will not allow any marketer to implement any Flow without the SF Admin permission. Which slows down that 2 hour timeline because all MCN automation is built on Flow (including the opt-in process).
• The oversimplification that the platform can be stood up with 3 "complex" use cases is misleading. The post omits that the person who ran this demo is an extremely experienced and competent Salesforce professional - he's architect-level-brilliant. Implying a layperson can do it in 2 hours with a 'turnkey' setup is wild.
  • My issue with the use of the word "complex" in the post is this:
    • I will give them use case 1 - that's fair and a nice example. Although extremely unlikely a customer in the real world will get that live within 2 hours after implementing the platform. No chance.
    • Use case 2: A customer support survey is not complex.
    • Use case 3: A website opt-in is not complex (or at least, it shouldn't be?)
• I will happily stand corrected if it is actually good, but the suggestion that AI can implement the platform in the future is worrying to me. I speak with clients who do not understand their setup because a previous colleague set it up and left - the future is going to be people who do not understand the setup and are still working there, because they outsourced it to AI and hoped for the best. The reality of this will be far different from the theory (in my opinion).

What I think would be better to promote MCN as a platform:

• MCN is incredibly powerful because of Data360 and all of your data being unified in one place which makes connecting the dots far easier and personalising communications.
• Look at these use cases - because we connected our ERP system with Data360, we can trigger notifications when stock is back in so customers can purchase as soon as it is available.
• Look at how we can delight customers by triggering CSAT's as soon as the time is right - and we can foresee, ahead of time, based on data when a customer might be unhappy etc.

Long story short, fast and easy implementation is NOT the angle here because it's simply not true. I feel like Salesforce live inside an echo chamber and don't actually see what happens in real life.

Vent over.

The wonderful ThankGod Okoro asked me to speak at the Lagos User Group event this Friday.

It is at 1PM EST and open to all globally, not just their user group.

I will be doing an early version of my Dreamforce presentation!

Registration can be done here: https://trailblazercommunitygroups.com/events/details/salesforce-salesforce-user-group-lagos-nigeria-presents-build-a-salesforce-career-you-love-10-years-of-lessons/

I've inherited a few orgs where there's one custom object that nobody can really explain. Nobody remembers why it was created. Nobody knows what would break if it disappeared. The people who built it left years ago. Everyone is just afraid to touch it.

What's that object in your org?

Any that actually gave you insightful takeaways?

I'm really sorry for another "market is bad" post, but I am at my wit's end. Been applying to all the jobs I can find anywhere, got PD2 certified as well, but can't even seem to get any screening calls - let alone interviews. ~9 years exp, very technical resource - current project moved to maintenance so FTEs got KT and I got a boot.
What am I doing wrong? Is it just me or is it hopeless for Salesforce? Better to jump to another domain? Thinking of moving to the IAM space if possible.

I’m looking for something to help us cleanup our incredibly tangled web of an org. Question 1. We have apex classes that were built as far back as 2014 and no one knows if they are still needed. Is there anything I can use to determine when the last time each one of them were executed or run (whatever the terminology is). Question 2. I saw on LinkedIn someone discussing a tool that shows when the last time a picklist value was used. Anyone know what that is?

My boss told me to "look into" slacks ai integration for salesforce based on what our AE told him. Does anyone have any good resources for a know-nothing like me to start at to eductae myself?

I'm a Salesforce developer with 8 years of experience, primarily in Service Cloud.

Over the past few months, I've been narrowing my niche instead of trying to be "another Salesforce developer." My focus is helping companies implement SLA automation, service operations, and workflows for MSPs and service organizations. It's something I've built and deployed successfully in production.

Now I'm trying to land my first premium consulting client.

My current strategy is:

• Posting consistently on LinkedIn.
• Reaching out to decision-makers through LinkedIn.
• If they're not active there, sending personalized cold emails.

For those of you who've built a Salesforce consulting business:

• How did you land your first premium client?
• How long did it take before you signed your first deal?
• Did you have a niche from day one, or did it evolve over time?
• Do you think specialized Service Cloud consulting is still a strong market, or has AI changed how clients buy Salesforce expertise?

I'm asking because LinkedIn is full of AI content right now, and sometimes it feels like every conversation leads back to AI.

My experience is different. I solve operational problems with Salesforce, backed by real production implementations, not demos or side projects.

I'd appreciate hearing what actually worked for you.

I come from a business/management background and have about 5 years of experience working on Salesforce projects, currently as a Senior Business Analyst.
I hold the Salesforce Admin certification, OmniStudio Consultant (although I haven’t used it in years), Agentforce, Data Cloud, and a few Associate certifications.
I’m at a point where I’m wondering what the best long-term career path is within the Salesforce ecosystem.
AI is also changing the industry quite fast, so I’m trying to understand which skills and roles will remain the most valuable over the next 10 years ; and where I need to upskill in priority

Right now, I mainly see four possible paths for me:
Solution Architect
Functional Lead
Product Owner
Delivery Lead

But I’m unsure which one to follow

Hey everyone,

I have an upcoming interview loop for a Senior Salesforce Developer role, and one of the rounds on my schedule is listed as a 60-minute "System Design" interview.

To be completely honest, I'm a bit unsure what to expect for this specific round in a Salesforce context.

Any recent experiences, tips, or recommended prep resources would be hugely appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Hi all, I was recently approached by Salesforce HR for Salesforce Technical Architect (Finance/Health cloud) role. I finished Round 1 and Round 2, In Round 2 review was indecisive so they conducted another Round 2, i cleared that. Now apparently requirement is filled for Finance/health, so they informed if I was ok with Manager role at the same level. I said Ok and that, they'll push my profile for that and give only one more round for that.. it's been 2 weeks they seems to still reviewing. Since interviews were not specific to any particular cloud but was in general core concepts, i asked for any cloud is fine as I see job posting in linkedin for that position.

Can anyone let me know if anyone else went through similar scenarios? What are the chances of this proceeding forward or should I let this go?

Recently i’ve been trying to integrate salesforce with apollo.io. However, whenever I try to integrate and press sync, I get the error as seen above. For context, we use a salesforce plan that we were grandfathered into a contract of $16 a month. After speaking to a salesforce representative I’m fine and able to pay the $150 a month for the new enterprise package, which should include “integration“. However, I’d like to make sure that this integration will fix this error and definitively fix my problem and allow these two softwares to integrate. Does anybody have any solutions?

Edit: I’m on the Legacy Group Edition

I need to be able to use either the Verification Code from keeper or a Temporary Verification Code from the user profile in order to login to a non-admin account. Both paths work in a prod box that I'm working in but in the sandbox org I am unable to use either option. anyone run into this and if so how did you fix/get around it?

edit: just realized it is a partial sandbox - wondering if that's the issue?

So my team and I identified that during recent months we had a a big gap between GA4 sessions and SFMC clicks. We then noticed this has been going on for a while, probably for the last 2 years. The thing is we are unable to identify an answer to this gap.

Most of the time we have noticed a huge volume of clicks with a gap over 50% to sessions. Any ideas or similar experiences?

Hi everyone, just got selected with a company for the role of Salesforce Innovator . I am fairly new to this crm world I just did some admin and apex for the starter what should I expect for this role and any tips regarding the same will be helpful .

A recurring pattern across CRM discussions is that many teams treat their CRM as the source of truth—but not always the source of trust.

Teams say the CRM is their "source of truth," but when it's time for a board meeting, forecast review, or quarterly planning, someone exports the data into a spreadsheet and rebuilds the numbers manually.

What's interesting is that the issue rarely seems to be the reporting tool itself.

It usually comes down to one (or more) of these:

• Opportunities stuck in outdated stages.
• Missing or inconsistent ownership.
• Duplicate or conflicting records.
• Data that's technically complete but no longer trusted.

The spreadsheet becomes less of a reporting tool and more of a validation tool.

That raises an interesting question:

At what point does a CRM stop being a "source of truth" and become a "source of trust"?

In many of these discussions, the issue doesn't seem to be reporting—it comes down to governance, ownership, and the quality of the underlying data. By the time someone is validating numbers in Excel, the trust issue already exists.

Has your team managed to get rid of the "shadow spreadsheet," or is it still part of your reporting process? If you did solve it, what made the biggest difference?