A well-executed Salesforce implementation can drive up to 137% revenue growth. But as per Salesforce Ben, there’s a less talked-about side: the greater strategic risk that emerges in the form of systematic value destruction, where poor implementation decisions compound into $2-10 million enterprise losses. Reasons: operational inefficiencies, competitive disadvantage, and customer experience degradation.
With Salesforce becoming the strategic backbone of how enterprises manage and grow client relationships, choosing the right implementation expertise has never been more consequential. The crowded vendor landscape has turned this into a high-stakes leadership decision - one that separates firms that merely promise transformation from those with the track record, discipline, and strategic alignment to deliver measurable business outcomes.
The Cost of Choosing the Wrong Salesforce Partner
Deployment breakdowns and delivery missteps
The average cost of failed implementations for digital transformation projects is $9.5 million annually. The Birmingham City Council, in the UK, launched a project to replace its SAP ERP system with Oracle, aiming to enhance payments and HR processes. The original cost of the project was estimated at $53 million; however, a 2025 report by Grant Thornton estimated additional fees to be about $123 million.
“The impact of the failed implementation has resulted in the Council being without an adequate financial management system and cash receipting system for over two years,” the Grant Thornton audit says.
(Source: Reddit - r/salesforce)
In a user's experience, they found that there was no admin, developer, or architect in place during the build, leaving the partner to operate without guardrails.
Without internal oversight, the partner was free to add unnecessary layers of complexity. Redundant custom code and poorly designed components all increased the risk of failure.
False economy of lowest-bid partnerships
Too often, Salesforce consultancies prioritize speed and revenue over long-term success. They deploy under-skilled teams and act as order takers instead of trusted advisors. Gaurav Kheterpal, a Platform Partner Focus Group Member on Salesforce, said:
“Sometimes I have seen it happen. People would deploy sub-optimal teams that are not really suited for projects and haven’t done thorough due diligence on processes, skills, and their overall alignment to Salesforce.
“I think the problem is sometimes [consultancies] get into a mentality that they need to sell and they need to fulfill their targets no matter what, and that causes a lot of problems on certain occasions. It’s unfortunate, but it is a reality – it happens.”
- Gaurav Kheterpal, Platform Partner Focus Group Member on Salesforce
But sometimes, the fault can also be the client’s own decision-making. When leadership mandates enterprise-grade Salesforce transformation while constraining implementation investments to tactical levels, partners face an untenable position. They are forced to deliver comprehensive solutions within limited parameters, which inevitably requires quality trade-offs that undermine strategic objectives.
The gap between partnership promises and ROI delivery
Another common pain point lies in consultancies ignoring Salesforce’s “Well-Architected” principles and best practices designed to ensure scalability and resilience. The fallout includes:
- Incomplete documentation that leaves enterprises stuck when teams change or requirements evolve.
- Poor scalability, with systems that can’t support growing user bases or data volumes.
- Low value realization, where organizations fail to see expected efficiency gains or revenue growth, for this, you’d find that IT teams spend about 40.31% of their time redesigning, rebuilding, and testing custom integrations.
Checklist for Choosing the Right Salesforce Strategic Partner
Identifying the right Salesforce consulting partner begins with understanding the critical success factors that differentiate transformational partnerships from transactional implementations. Leading partners distinguish themselves through validated industry expertise, comprehensive case study portfolios, and senior-level practitioners who bring years of specialized experience to your strategic initiatives
Here’s how to tell the strategic partners apart from the rest:
1. Evaluate beyond certifications for essential soft skills, culture, alignment, and partner maturity
In episode 20 of the Salesforce Trails and Trials Podcast
Jon Cline made an important assessment, saying miscommunication was the number one cause of failed implementations.
“On the people first side, right, these intangible soft skills (communication), if those are the causes for failure, then we should really be focusing on those dimensions of your partner that you're going to work with.” - Jon Cline, Salesforce Solution Architect & Leadership Coach
The most effective Salesforce consulting partnerships combine deep technical mastery with critical business leadership competencies, including organizational resilience, stakeholder management, and enterprise change facilitation. Partner evaluation should hence prioritize teams that demonstrate consistent performance under pressure while managing complex, multi-stakeholder enterprise environments.
2. Demand proof of strategic processes and documentation
“If the partner you're working with doesn't have that baseline set of requirements in order to be successful, your project will be handicapped, and the likelihood of failure goes way up”- Jon Cline, Salesforce Solution Architect & Leadership Coach
A mature partner will readily share their playbooks, solution design docs, and test plans to prove that governance is a core competency of their function.
Paul Selway, former Salesforce Partner Advisory Board Member, conducted a survey that showed 48% of respondents chose experience in picking a partner.
(Source: LinkedIn - Paul Selway)
Probe your partners for a lot of proof before you reveal the layers of your need. Jon says why;
“What I've seen is that they'll (partners) wait for the client to show their level of Acumen or detail or demand they'll do the minimum set that the client requires, not understanding that there are certain requirements in project management in order to be successful.”
3. Assess partner strategy for elevating your Salesforce competency
Ask your intended partner, “How will you help maximize my team’s input and alignment during this project?”
A mature consulting partner will:
- Coach your team on the level of input and expertise needed to avoid critical gaps.
- Assign change management experts to translate your “tribal knowledge” into Salesforce requirements.
- Push back when your organization under-resources the project, saving you from costly scenarios where “half your processes aren’t accounted for in the build.”
Ready to Accelerate Your Salesforce ROI with a Trusted Strategic Partner Aligned to Your Goals
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From breaking down M&A data silos to automating field inspections and optimizing property operations for Fortune 500 companies, our work delivers real impact, from helping a global leasing operations firm achieve a 75% reduction in project turnaround time through strategic Marketing Cloud implementation, or enabling a global healthcare leader to boost Salesforce user adoption by 40% through expert migration support services.
If you are attending Dreamforce 2025, let's chat about your Salesforce transformation goals. We'd love to connect, exchange ideas, and explore how our AI-powered approach can accelerate your results.
