Salesforce “Isn’t Working” at Your Tech Company? Here’s the Fix (Without Breaking Everything)

If you feel like Salesforce is supposed to help you grow… but instead it’s creating arguments, random fields, and reports no one trusts, you’re not crazy.

Most tech companies don’t have a “Salesforce problem.”

They have a definition problem.

And once you fix that, Salesforce becomes the tool it was always meant to be: a system that creates clarity, accountability, and predictable revenue without adding 50 custom fields or breaking your automations.

Let’s walk through the exact process we use to rebuild Salesforce the right way for tech companies.

The real reason Salesforce feels useless

Here’s what usually happens:

• Sales says: “These leads are trash.”
• Marketing says: “No, these leads are amazing.”
• Leadership says: “So… why aren’t we closing more deals?”

And everyone starts hinting at the nuclear option:

“Maybe we need to rebuild Salesforce.”

But what’s actually happening is simpler:

Everyone is arguing about “good” and “bad”… without agreeing on what those words mean.

“Hot lead.”
“Qualified.”
“Good deal.”
“Stage progression.”
“Follow-up.”

If those terms aren’t defined in plain language, your CRM will fill up with:

• random custom fields
• automations you hope solve it
• half-built approval processes
• shoddy reports nobody believes
• endless “babysitting” to make people use the system

That’s the “spaghetti at the wall” Salesforce build.

The fix is not more spaghetti.

The fix is a clean process.

The 4-step process to make Salesforce actually drive growth

We’ll use a common example, Sales vs. Marketing fighting about lead quality, but you can apply this to any process (pipeline stages, renewals, onboarding, support escalation, you name it).

Step 1: Define it (before you touch Salesforce)

Get Sales and Marketing in a room and answer one question:

“What makes a lead hot?”

Be specific. Examples:

• industry
• company size
• company revenue / ARR
• job title
• lead source
• buying signal (demo request vs. homepage visit)

Rule: write it in third grade language.

If a new hire can’t read it and immediately understand it, it’s too complicated.

Then take the definition to leadership and ask:

“Do we agree this is what a hot lead is?”

No build happens until the business agrees.

Step 2: Make it measurable

This is where most teams accidentally sabotage themselves.

Bad definitions sound like this:

• “They work for a big company.”
• “They’re a senior title.”
• “They Googled us.”
• “They’re a startup.”

Those are feelings. Feelings are subjective.

Better definitions look like this:

• “Company size is 500+ employees.”
• “Title includes VP Sales, Head of Product, CTO.”
• “Came from Paid Search → Demo Landing Page.”
• “Company ARR is $3M+.”

If you can’t measure it, you can’t automate it.
If you can’t automate it, Salesforce can’t help.

Step 3: Define what happens next (so you can stop the arguments)

This is the handoff.

You’re answering:

• Who owns it now?
• How fast do they act?
• What happens if they don’t?

Example of a clean handoff:

• Hot leads go into Salesforce automatically (website → Salesforce integration)
• Assigned via round robin to SDRs (Lead Assignment Rules)
• SDR must call within 1 hour (tracked with an SLA formula)
• If no contact in 1 hour → automated Slack + email reminder
• If still no contact in 24 hours → lead is reassigned (and can’t go back to the same owner)

Now when Sales says “bad lead,” you can check:

• Was it actually a hot lead by your definition?
• Did the SDR call within the SLA?
• Did the SDR pitch properly?
• Did the prospect meet the criteria?

You stop guessing.
You start diagnosing.

Step 4: Build only what supports the process

Now... and only now... Salesforce gets touched.

You build:

• the required lead fields that match the definition
• lifecycle stages that match reality
• assignment rules to route ownership cleanly
• SLA tracking for speed-to-lead
• automations that enforce the agreement
• reports that measure what you actually decided matters

Core rule:

If it doesn’t support the process, it doesn’t get built in Salesforce.

The “rebuild Salesforce” checklist (what I’d do if I joined today)

If I joined your company today and had to make Salesforce drive your next revenue goal, here’s the order:

1. Get clear definitions of the business process you’re fixing
2. Map the process (simple flowchart so everyone can see it)
3. Get leadership approval on the map
4. Build the process in Salesforce (fields → stages → routing → automation → reporting)
5. Remove everything that doesn’t support it (fields, layouts, approvals, automations)

That last step is where most companies miss.

They only add.

They never prune.

And Salesforce becomes a junk drawer.

Simple systems scale. Fancy systems break.

Why hiring “a Salesforce admin” often doesn’t fix this

This is important.

Most Salesforce admins (especially 1–4 years experience) are hired to:

• build what they’re told
• keep the lights on
• implement requests

They usually don’t come in and run cross-functional definition sessions, build accountability frameworks, and align leaders.

Same for many freelancers (especially low-cost ones):

• they’re digital nomads
• they're working time-zone is not yours
• they often need you to provide strategy

What you actually need first is someone who can do strategy + process design.

Then execution becomes straightforward.

Do this today: the 30-minute action plan

If you want a fast win without a rebuild, do this:

1) Pick one “argument”

Examples:

• “leads are bad”
• “pipeline stages are meaningless”
• “forecasting is inaccurate”
• “handoffs are messy”

2) Write one definition in plain language

Use this template:

A [thing] is considered [status] when:

• Criteria #1 (measurable)
• Criteria #2 (measurable)
• Criteria #3 (measurable)

3) Add the handoff rules

• Who owns it?
• How fast do they act?
• What happens if they don’t?

4) Delete or hide 3 things that don’t support that process

• fields nobody uses
• broken automations
• reports no one trusts

Pruning creates momentum fast.

The bottom line

If Salesforce feels like babysitting… it’s not because Salesforce is broken.

It’s because your business hasn’t agreed on definitions, ownership, and measurable next steps.

Fix the definitions.
Make them measurable.
Define the handoff.
Then build and remove everything else.

That’s how Salesforce becomes a growth engine instead of an annoyance.

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