Salesforce Administrator: Job Profile and Role

Any business selling its wares and goods online uses so-called CRM software to manage its customers’ data, marketing campaigns, and sales operations. To ensure that this cloud-based software meets an organisation’s needs and runs smoothly, a lot of businesses rely on the expertise of a salesforce administrator.

In this blog, we take a close look at this job which may be a career you are interested in pursuing. The following sections explore what it takes to become a salesforce administrator in the UK, what salaries are to be expected, and what a typical day in the life of a salesforce administrator can look like. To help you advance in this profession, we detail what your CPD should include and which other tips will help you thrive.

Short Summary

• As a salesforce administrator, you are responsible for ensuring the smooth running of cloud-based CRM software (customer relationship management).
• As a salesforce administrator, you are in charge of system configuration and customisation to meet an organisation’s needs when it comes to managing sales operations and more.
• As a salesforce administrator, you are a company’s “troubleshooting assistant” who must be at hand in case of system breakdowns and other emergencies.

Job description

As a salesforce administrator, you juggle several different responsibilities and jobs. First and foremost, you are responsible for managing, configuring, and maintaining a company’s CRM software. You ensure that it meets the business’s needs and complies with all rules and regulations. Moreover, you must dedicate time and effort to user and licence management, thus ensuring that everyone involved in the CRM side of things has access to the software and can deal with sales and customer matters. As a salesforce administrator, it also falls under your responsibility to collect data and report your findings to a company’s stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• System Configuration/Customisation
• System Maintenance/Upgrades
• Stakeholder Communication
• Troubleshooting Assistance
• User/Licence Management
• Compliance and Security
• Integration Management
• Reporting and Analytics
• User Support/Training
• Data Management

Different types of Salesforce Administrators

• Salesforce CPQ Administrator
• Salesforce Lighting Administrator
• Salesforce System Administrator
• Salesforce Marketing Cloud Administrator
• Salesforce Community Cloud Administrator

Salesforce Admin vs. Salesforce Developer

CRM software requires the expertise of two different experts: a salesforce administrator and a salesforce developer. Although a salesforce admin takes on similar responsibilities to those of a salesforce developer, the latter is more involved in the technical side of things. He or she is tasked with programming and system adjustments, whereas a salesforce admin can be mostly responsible for dealing with stakeholders and the “click” side of customer relation management.

Salary

In the capacity of a full-time and work-experienced salesforce administrator in the UK, you can expect to earn between ￡37,000 and ￡54,000 annually. Your average base salary will come in at around 42,000 per year. Note that the first number given by us refers to your starting salary for this job. This means that experience is one factor that affects how much you will earn. Besides, you must keep in mind that the company size/the employer and your location can result in both lower and higher wages per year. Bonuses, commissions, and profit sharing can also contribute to you earning more. This mainly depends on your employer’s policy and is worth checking when applying for a job.

Working Hours

The job of a salesforce administrator in the UK tends to be a classic 9 to 5 job, Monday through Friday. This amounts to a total of 35 to 40 hours per week. In some cases, you may be asked to work evenings and weekends, especially when a new CRM is to be launched. An increase in your weekly workload can also be down to dealing with emergencies. Depending on your employer’s operating hours and clients, you can furthermore be asked to work shifts. This can be the case when a company deals with international clients or has a 24/7 operating policy.

Employers

When you start looking for your first job in salesforce administration, you have several interesting options. Generally, all retail and e-commerce businesses post vacancies. The same applies to the financial sector, telecommunications, and IT. Which employer suits you best is more or less entirely up to you. Depending on your values and interests, you can equally go job hunting in the healthcare sector or look for work with non-profit organisations.

Qualifications

The qualifications needed to become a salesforce administrator in the UK are a combination of educational background/training and software and IT knowledge. Although you are not required to earn an undergraduate degree, this will nonetheless benefit you. Most employers are quite keen on an academic background in their applicants.

If this is the right approach for you, you can do a Bachelor’s degree in management information systems or computer science. Marketing studies will also be a good option. The same applies to apprenticeships, which can range from intermediate to advanced and higher apprenticeships. Appropriate choices are salesforce administrator and sales and tech apprenticeships.

Note that completion of your secondary education is mandatory to enter one of the above-mentioned education approaches. Generally, you will need four to five GCSEs at pass grades 9 to 4 (A* to C) or two to three equivalent A levels in relevant subjects like maths, English, and IT.

When it comes to software knowledge, you should start familiarising yourself with the current CRMs as well as with programming and coding languages like Apex, Visualforce and Lightning. They tend to be the remit of salesforce developers, but it does not hurt to know your way around them, either.

Skills

Very strong IT skills are among the most important competencies you, as a future salesforce administrator, must have. Although you always need to check which skills your employer expects of you, we are sure that IT skills will be among them. The same will likely apply to the three skills we will take a closer look at in this section.

Project Management Skills

Running a CRM system/platform is way more than configuring and customising it. Add maintenance, upgrades, and troubleshooting into the mix, and being a salesforce administrator rapidly turns into being a project manager. Therefore, project management skills will not go amiss if you want to work as stress-free as possible. This competency helps you to prioritise, meet deadlines and find solutions quickly.

Change Management Skills

Let’s assume for a minute that your future employer – aka a company – has not dealt with CRM platforms before. This means that not only the directors but also the team are facing quite a radical change when it comes to dealing with sales and customers. Although CRMs tend to make everyone’s lives a lot easier, “getting” such a system is not always easy. Therefore, it befalls you, as a salesforce administrator, to make this change as smooth and easy as possible. By showing and giving support and helping everyone involved, you have the perfect chance to demonstrate your excellent change management skills.

Salesforce Skills

Salesforce skills are not so much about being able to sell something. In fact, they are a combination of other skills a salesforce administrator should have or develop. They include user and data management as well as security and so-called actionable reporting. By ensuring that CRM users know their way around a platform, controlling the quality and compliance of the used data, adhering to the highest security standards, and communicating your findings with stakeholders, you have mastered this particular skill every salesforce administrator should have.

Career Path

Your career in salesforce administration will likely kick off with an assistant job. With dedication and experience, you can progress to other roles in salesforce administration, such as the job of a junior salesforce admin, a salesforce admin, and – as more senior roles – a senior salesforce admin or salesforce consultant. We recommend that you look into managerial training since you can also advance to the position of salesforce administrator manager or director of salesforce administration.

Educational Background

It is not a prerequisite to have an undergraduate or even postgraduate degree in management information systems, IT, or computer science to become a salesforce administrator in the UK. We have mentioned it already and will mention it again: having a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree can give you a vital advantage when applying for a job or when thinking about promotion. 

Attending university shows a high level of dedication, willingness to learn, and excellent research and adaptability skills. Equally, an apprenticeship can impress future employers and help you with the practical side of salesforce administration. It is entirely up to you which approach is your perfect fit – but we do recommend keeping these options at the back of your mind, even when and if you decide to work towards the role of a salesforce administrator.

Entry Level

Before you can think about promotion to the position of salesforce administrator, you first have to start at entry level. Among the typical jobs in this category, if you want, are the jobs of an assistant salesforce administrator and the job of a trainee salesforce administrator. We strongly recommend that you not only ensure mentoring by a senior colleague but that you also enquire and look into beneficial further training and certifications during that time.

Continuous Learning

If you want to excel in your job, you must look into training, qualifications, and certifications. Salesforce administration is getting more important by the second, making these factors vital for your success and career advancement. Getting your salesforce administrator certification is a brilliant way to thrive and succeed. There are some steps you should follow, starting with the so-called trailhead training, the Salesforce training platform. You can also look into courses offered online, such as the following:

• Administration essentials for new admins in Lightning Experience (ADX201)
• Certification preparation for administrator (CRT-101)
• Intellipaat Salesforce certification
• Janbask training certification

You can find more interesting options with Salesforce, among which are courses and training focusing on AI software.

A Day in the Life of a Salesforce Administrator

It goes without saying that most of your working day will be spent in the cloud, aka working on and with a cloud-based CRM system. Nevertheless, you will also deal with real people, for example, when conducting team meetings or meeting with a company’s stakeholders. What other jobs await you in salesforce administration is what the following section is all about.

Dashboard/Report Reviews

Next to checking your various inboxes – by now a part of pretty much every job in the world – reviewing dashboards and reports is one of your most pressing daily tasks. It also tends to be one of the first ones requiring your immediate attention. Tracking the previous day’s key metrics and performance indicators gives you valuable insights into a CRM’s performance, including customer behaviour and potential issues and sales operations and numbers. With the collected data, you can address and resolve potential issues as well as identify existing and new market trends.

Configuration and Customisation

CRMs are subject to regular changes and updates. Although you may just have configured your company’s CRM and everything associated with it, new configurations may be necessary. Customisation is a logical next step. This can also be important if and when a company’s needs and expectations change, for example, due to a change in customer shopping habits and the emergence of new market trends. This task is not likely to be a daily occurrence but it will feature heavily in your working life in salesforce administration.

User Support

User support is more or less the consequent step after configuration and customisation. Every change you make needs to be communicated to the people working with a CRM platform. It does not matter how proficient they are (or not), they need to be aware of both the changes and possible new automation processes. Moreover, you need to give user support when it comes to issues like login problems or CRMs that are either buffeting or crashing regularly/continuously.

Tips for Thriving as a Salesforce Administrator

Earning the necessary (or beneficial) certifications is one way to thrive as a salesforce administrator in the UK. Besides, there are more ways to advance or even fast-track your career in this profession. In this section, we explore three tips for thriving as a salesforce administrator:

• Stay updated on updates
• User training/support
• Data management

Stay Updated on Updates

As mentioned, CRMs and all other aspects of customer relations management are subject to regular updates. These can occur as often as several times a year. As a thorough and diligent salesforce administrator, you naturally must be aware of these updates. They do not only come with smoother workflows, improved automation processes, and new user interfaces but also with a new set of regulatory and legal frameworks like licences. If you stay updated on updates, you continue to perform well and thrive in this profession.

User Training/Support

Albeit already one of your regular tasks, user support and training especially will ensure that you thrive in salesforce administration. Training goes beyond being on call when CRM users have a question about logging in or using new features. It gives you the chance to show off your expertise and impart your knowledge in an easy-to-understand manner. Besides, user training goes a long way towards establishing healthy workplace relationships and benefitting from the user’s feedback, advice, and useful tips you can and should take on board. Lastly, support and training contribute to higher productivity which, in turn, is beneficial to the company as a whole.

Data Management

Data (and, therefore, data management) is part of your job’s groundwork and foundation. Without them, you would not have a job. Therefore, it is vitally important that you manage all data with attention to detail and care. Prioritise implementing all existing and new data governance policies to avoid legal issues, continuously check the data quality standards and regularly perform data audits and clean-ups. With this high level of data TLC, you not only ensure hitch-free work processes, but you also contribute to your job security, professionalism, and potential promotion.

Frequently Asked Questions