Are you looking to increase your Salesforce salary? Chris Thompson from Salesforce recruiter Mason Frank International gives his top five tips to maximize your earnings in the Salesforce ecosystem.
Salesforce is the number one CRM platform in the world, powering small and large companies with its expansive suite of business products. Given the popularity of this technology, the demand for qualified Salesforce professionals has never been higher and, as a result, the Salesforce Ohana has never been more valuable.
But how do you go about getting that all-important pay rise?
As a specialist Salesforce recruiter, Mason Frank knows exactly what employers are looking for on a resume, what makes you a stronger candidate at face value, and what you can do to increase your salary in your current job role.
Here are our five tips for commanding a higher salary in the thriving Salesforce ecosystem.
Become an expert in a niche or focused industry
Salesforce is a technology that services a huge range of industries, and branches even further when taking into account the many individual Salesforce products and modules. One way to make yourself an in-demand asset, and a high earner as a result of that, is to refine your skillset to such a degree that you are considered the authority in a specific niche.
Who does a toothpaste manufacturer go to when they need someone to manage their email marketing campaigns? Who does a large energy supplier go to when they need to train their huge workforce to navigate a custom Sales Cloud build? Everybody has an area of focus and expertise, and if you can find yours, you could earn a lot of money out of it.
Get Salesforce certified
Salesforce certifications not only endorse you as a talented Salesforce professional, but also offer the opportunity to enhance your knowledge of a specific area of the Salesforce platform. Some employers have unique build projects, and as such require specific certifications when recruiting. Others won’t even consider a candidate unless they have at least an ADM201 Salesforce Admin Certification.
The only downside of Salesforce certification is that the training and exam fees can be somewhat costly. If you’re fairly new to the Salesforce ecosystem and are looking for a way to gain three fully funded Salesforce certifications, you should check out our Mason Frank Tech Academy. We offer expert training to prepare you for your certification exam, and even give you hands-on experience working for Salesforce Partners—a great route into the Salesforce ecosystem that will automatically increase your potential earnings.
Compare your salary to the industry average
One of the simplest ways to highlight that you deserve to be paid more is to compare your wage to the industry average. Find an independent study on Salesforce salaries and use it in your next performance review to leverage a pay rise. Our Salesforce Salary Survey contains remuneration statistics from major countries across the globe, and even breaks some countries down by region and state, so you can see what you should be earning based on your local economy.
Become a contractor
Given the scope of Salesforce implementation and development projects across the globe, sometimes it makes no sense for a business to take on a permanent staff member to administer its CRM; this is where it pays to be a contractor.
If you are an expert in your field, geographically flexible, and have excellent project management skills, becoming a contractor is a serious option for you. Not only is the complexity of your work taken into consideration with your salary, but also the need for you to pick up and temporarily relocate, and all the rigmarole that comes with it. This equates to huge earnings. Check out our salary survey to compare permanent and contract rates for your job role—some Salesforce daily rates are eye-watering.
Grow your personal brand and become an influencer
Salesforce is a very community-driven ecosystem, and there is a lot of merit in sharing your knowledge to enrich your peers. This will not inherently increase your billable value as a Salesforce professional, but the networking element of this is invaluable, especially if you use your position of influence to work with partners and ISVs to develop, release, and promote new Salesforce products.
Your motivation should always be to enhance the Salesforce community, and you may even be given recognition for your hard work by being awarded Salesforce MVP status. The Salesforce Ohana is set up in such a way that the more you pay into it, the more you will get out of it, which is a great deal for dedicated Salesforce professionals who plan on enjoying a career in the ecosystem.
So to leave you with five simple things you can do today to increase your earning potential:
- Identify a focused career path and work to become the go-to professional in that niche.
- Pursue Salesforce certification, utilizing free training and support.
- Use independent salary research as a benchmark when negotiating.
- Become a contract worker.
- Leverage your blog or social media to increase your visibility in the Salesforce community.
