Last Friday night, as I was walking up to my favorite restaurant in town, the front door flew open and the owner shouted, “Amiga! Welcome! Where do you want to sit?” We spent the next few minutes pushing tables together, chatting and catching up on our families as a team member brought over chips and salsa and my favorite drink. When the rest of my family and friends arrived, the waitstaff quickly checked in with us, confirming our regular orders and dropping off all the little sauces and tools we request regularly. Throughout the evening, the owner and other waitstaff could come by, sit for a little while and catch up, then jump back up to move around the restaurant. My friend, the owner, built a relationship with us so we don’t just feel like customers, we feel like family coming over to visit.  

Wouldn’t you like to go where everyone knows your name? Or at the very least, wouldn’t it be nice to be a regular somewhere that you feel valued and catered to? Now flip that, you entrepreneurially-minded geniuses; wouldn’t you love to help every single one of your hard fought customers feel valued, appreciated, catered to and remembered? What would it mean for your business to be able to serve your customers in a way that they are remembered and provided what they needed? It would be pretty wonderful to have a team member and a tool to help you do just that!

… Enter Salesforce.

Salesforce is a customer relationship management software that has been helping businesses serve their customers well for the past twenty years. Salesforce provides a complete customer solution allowing businesses to connect their sales, marketing and service functions to create a seamless experience for both the business and the client. Organizations across the globe purchase access to Salesforce and then train or hire professionals to manage the system, tools, resources, and data within the platform to support continued business growth.

As with any software solution, it is only as good as the user can make it. Salesforce knew that they needed to provide the ultimate training solution in order to equip and empower users to push the limits of the software and create the success necessary to sustain customers. Salesforce opened their training site, Trailhead, as a venue to welcome interested professionals into the Salesforce community, Ohana, to those in the know! 

The Certified Salesforce Administrator (the most entry level, but also most difficult certification) will provide the foundation of knowledge for a user to be able to transition a company to a Salesforce Organization. The Certified Salesforce Administrator (CSA) is able to use the system data to create reports and actionable steps to help a company move from good to great in servicing their customers. For example, a CSA could mine historical data to find the trends in customer purchases and realize that in order to best increase summer sales, marketing pieces should begin distribution in February. Once a Salesforce Administrator is ready, moving into other specialities and additional certifications is easy! All the resources are available on Trailhead and the community encouragement is infectious. 

Salesforce predicts continued rapid growth in their user base, consumers and offerings, as well as the continued need to train the users to optimize their software for businesses globally. As entrepreneurs, learners and teachers, the team at Awesome Inc jumped in to help fill this need! The Salesforce Career Accelerator was born after multiple requests from local and regional employers to help source and train more Salesforce Administrators as there were not enough trained Salesforce professionals in Central Kentucky. 

Through Awesome Inc’s partnership with local companies and government, we have officially kicked off our Salesforce Career Accelerator, focused on providing training in the Salesforce system preparing career changers for roles in government, contracting, education, healthcare, manufacturing and more providing the expertise necessary to turn a customer into a fan and fan into family. 

The Salesforce Career Accelerator will be remote and asynchronous as we follow a 12-week program, ending with certification testing and an internship working in a Salesforce Org, which means it is super flexible for anyone who is currently working or raising a family. We have created study groups to support the learners who are working through the system, and we have a custom created course with a top trainer who can help navigate questions and hiccups along the way. CSAs-in-training will have weekly lessons with live and recorded demonstrations of the content being studied and implemented. 

We are currently able to offer a scholarship to Lexington area residents, but we are welcoming learners from anywhere to join us in the Accelerator. Awesome Inc will be providing opportunities for learners in the Accelerator to connect with local Salesforce professionals and employers.

I know that the feeling of community at my favorite restaurant is something I will keep coming back to experience week after week. Do you want to help create that experience for others by utilizing data systems that turn customers into friends and family? Join the Ohana, and get started on your Salesforce journey with us! The next cohort begins on March 15th!