Workflows in salesforce… and how to build them

For the past 7 years I have leveraged an amazing app (Form Assembly) to build workflows in Salesforce.   At Culture Amp we have worked magic with Form Assembly and are excited to share the powerful ways we use it.

1. Create buttons in Salesforce that trigger processes

We create buttons in Salesforce that allow the team to click the button, answer questions, update salesforce and trigger other team’s actions.   Examples include:

• New customer kick-off button:  When our sales team wins a deal, they click the “Kickoff” button which prompts them to share information about the customer.  These answers capture why the deal was won, ensure all post-sale actions are complete, alert the Support team to create the account in our system and trigger the assignment process for Customer Success and Account Management.
• Legal & Security review:  Because we add over 1,000 customers a year and they take their HR data very seriously, we have built a legal and security review process directly into Salesforce.  Our team can click a single button to answer key questions and initiate a legal or security review.
• Account data feedback:  Like most companies, to scale we auto-enrich key fields in Salesforce (i.e. industry, location, and employee size).  We have created a button that allows teams with a few clicks to share feedback on our data which is then slacked (using Troops) to a channel and reviewed immediately by our team.

2. Simplify and standardize creation of new records

Data quality is critical to scale.  To enable our team to easily create new records but also guide them in the process, we use buttons with Form Assembly.  Examples include:

• Campaign Creation:  We use campaigns to track marketing engagement but we don’t want to lock down campaign creation like many companies do.  We have used Form Assembly to build a simple campaign creator that guides our team.
• UTM Generator:  Tracking the traffic from partners has become increasingly important.  A UTM code is a standard way of tracking. To simplify the process for creating UTM codes, we built a simple UTM creator

3. Simplify logging information in Salesforce

Teams often don’t log data in Salesforce because it requires updating many fields.  Some companies solve this by adding required fields and validation rules but that just slows down teams and results in less data.  In many cases, we use Form Assembly buttons to streamline logging information. Examples include:

• SDR Research:  We know exactly which data items matter and have created a simple form to guide our SDRs research on new opportunities.  This data is then updated directly to the opportunity.
• Call Notes:  We have built custom buttons for the AEs and CSMs to take notes when they have calls.  These call notes are then updated directly to key salesforce fields

4. Allow contractors to read/write to our Salesforce

No data is perfect.  We use a number of different external contractors to keep our Salesforce data up-to-date.  But we do not give these contractors access to our Salesforce as there is a lot of sensitive information there.  Instead, we use Form Assembly to create forms that give our contractors access only to information they need to see and then write back in a prescribed manner.  Examples include:

• Contact Research:  Our team can flag contacts in LinkedIn which are pushed to contractors.  Those contractors can then use forms to write directly to Salesforce.
• Champions:  When our current customer move, we want to follow them to their next company.  For fans of culture amp, we will have contractors find their next company and write this information back to Salesforce via a form.
• Partner Leads:  Partners that send us leads can use a form to look up if we have spoken to a person previously and then (if not) submit it to the right team and account.

Form Assembly is one of the most powerful programs we have come across and we are excited to share its power.   

Why do we share our best practices:  We believe in the power of collaboration and enjoy sharing ideas with others.  If our competitors are watching, we believe that if they are chasing us rather than being chased, we know we are winning!