As a CIO overseeing Salesforce investments across Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and beyond, leveraging every value-added benefit in your contract is critical. Salesforce often provides usage-based incentives (credits and funded services) and offers multiple Premier Support tiers.
This playbook section outlines maximizing these incentives and support options to drive adoption and ROI. It provides strategic advice on negotiating and utilizing Salesforce credits and choosing the right support plan.
Types of Salesforce Usage-Based Incentives
Salesforce frequently includes non-cash incentives in large licensing deals or renewals. These usage-based incentives are credits or services you can use โ but only if you actively redeem them.
Key types include:
- Development Credits: Allotments to support custom development or integrations on the Salesforce platform. These might fund a Salesforce professional services engagement or offset partner consulting fees to build custom features, integrations, or Lightning components. Essentially, they are โpre-paidโ development hours you can use to accelerate key projects.
- Customer Success Funds: Sometimes called adoption or success funds, these are pools of dollars (or credits) earmarked to ensure your success. They can often be applied toward onboarding, data migration, user adoption programs, or other initiatives that drive Salesforce usage. In large enterprise deals, Salesforce may agree to set aside a percentage of the contract value as success funds, administered by Salesforce or certified partners.
- Training Credits: Credits or vouchers for Salesforce training and education. These might cover instructor-led courses, Trailhead Academy classes, or certification exam vouchers for your team. For example, you might negotiate several free training class seats or certification attempts. Training credits help upskill your users and administrators on Salesforce, driving higher adoption and proficiency.
- Partner Service Vouchers: Vouchers can be redeemed with Salesforce consulting partners for services. Salesforce may fund a consulting partner to work on your implementation or provide expert guidance. For instance, as part of a big Sales Cloud deal, you could receive a voucher worth a set amount to spend with an approved implementation partner, effectively subsidizing your deployment costs.
- Other Value-Add Extras: Besides the above, Salesforce might offer free add-on products or environments as incentives. Examples include additional sandbox environments (for development and testing), extra API call capacity or file storage, or Accelerators (expert coaching sessions from Salesforceโs Success Cloud team) if you donโt already have them via a support plan. These extras are also usage-based โ they deliver value only if you take advantage of them (e.g., using the extra sandbox or scheduling the Accelerator session).
Why โusage-basedโ? These incentives are not discounts on license fees but credits and services you must utilize. If left unused, their value is lost. They are designed to encourage and facilitate effective use of the Salesforce products youโre buying.
Negotiating Incentives in Large Deals and Renewals
When negotiating a major Salesforce contract โ whether a new purchase or a renewal โ savvy CIOs look beyond just price-per-license. Usage-based incentives are typically negotiated as part of the overall value package. Hereโs how they come into play:
- Bundling in Credits: If Salesforce is pushed to its limit on discounting license prices, it often has latitude to offer โgoodwillโ incentives. For a large enterprise agreement, ask for a bundle of training credits, services, or success funds to be included. Salesforceโs sales reps might not volunteer these (since they donโt directly lower the software price or affect their quota), but they are often available if you request them as part of the deal.
- Timing and Leverage: Renewal time is your key leverage point. Salesforce wants to secure your commitment for the next term, so use that to negotiate extras. For example, if you renew a multi-cloud deal, you could negotiate, โAlong with an X% discount on renewal, include 200 hours of partner-led implementation support and $50K in success funds for user adoption initiatives.โ In new deals, especially if youโre considering competitor products or a big expansion, Salesforce may offer incentives proactively to sway the decision.
- Contractual Clarity: Ensure all agreed-upon incentives are written into the contract or order form. For each credit or funded service, the contract should specify the type of credit, its quantity or value, and the validity period (e.g., โ100 hours of Premier consulting services to be used within 12 monthsโ or โ$20,000 in training credits valid in the first contract yearโ). Verbal promises from sales reps are not enough โ memorialize them in writing. This avoids any ambiguity later and holds Salesforce accountable for delivering those services.
- Negotiation Tips: Treat these incentives as tradable items in your negotiation. If Salesforce is reluctant to reduce the annual cost further, pivot the discussion: โIf you canโt go lower on price, what can you add to help us succeed? Perhaps additional training or consulting credits?โ Often, you can secure tens of thousands of dollars worth of extra value in this way. Also, negotiate how unused credits are handled. While many credits expire at year-end or contract-end, you might ask for flexibility, such as rolling over unused training credits to the next year if adoption took longer than expected. (Salesforce may or may not agree, but it flags that you intend to use what youโre given.)
- During Renewals: A special scenario during renewal negotiations is to audit your prior credit usage. If you discover you still have unused incentives from the last term (e.g., 50 hours of consulting left or a training voucher unused), use that as a discussion point: either push to carry them over or ensure Salesforce doesnโt charge you for new, similar credits until you use the old ones. It also gives you leverage to say, โWe still have services we havenโt utilized; instead of more credits, we need better pricing (or an extension to use them).โ This prevents Salesforce from reselling you the same services and shows you are on top of your entitlements.
Utilizing Credits to Drive Adoption and ROI
Negotiating credits is only half the battle โ the real value is strategicallyย deploying those credits. A CIO should treat these incentives as tools to maximize the business impact of Salesforce. Best practices include:
- Align Credits with Key Initiatives: Map each type of credit to your Salesforce adoption roadmap. For example, if youโre rolling out a new Marketing Cloud module in Q2, plan to use development or partner vouchers in Q1 for integration work, and schedule training credits for end-user training sessions in Q2. Tying credits to project phases ensures they directly support your most important outcomes (e.g., faster deployment and better user adoption).
- Drive User Adoption with Training: Use training credits to accelerate user onboarding and proficiency. Many enterprises apply Salesforce training vouchers to hold on-site (or virtual) training workshops for sales reps, service agents, or marketers on the new tools. Others use credits to get officially certified key power users or admins. This formal training drives up adoption rates โ users are more confident and competent in using Salesforce, which means higher utilization of the features you paid for. For instance, a global service organization might use its training credits to certify 10 internal Salesforce admins and run a series of agent training webinars, resulting in measurable improvements in Service Cloud case resolution times and user satisfaction.
- Accelerate Delivery with Consulting Services: Partner vouchers or development credits can jump-start complex work that your internal team may not be available for. For example, a company can redeem partner service credits to bring in a Salesforce consulting partner to set up a complex CPQ (Configure-Price-Quote) module or build custom dashboards for executives. By using the funded hours early, you can achieve business capabilities faster than waiting to secure a budget for external help later. This acceleration means quicker time-to-value from your Salesforce investment, boosting ROI. One enterprise, for instance, applied its $100K partner voucher to have a certified partner automate key sales workflows within the first 3 months of deployment, resulting in immediate efficiency gains that justified the Salesforce purchase.
- Experiment and Innovate: Development credits can also be used for innovative pilot projects. Since these credits reduce your direct cost, consider using them to prototype a new feature or integrate your business has been considering. For example, a retailer might use development credits to build a pilot integration between Salesforce and a new e-commerce platform or to develop a custom AI-driven lead scoring model. Such experiments, funded by Salesforceโs incentives, let you explore value-adding features with less risk. If the pilot succeeds, youโve added new value at no extra cost; if it doesnโt, you at least used the credits to pursue innovation rather than letting them lapse.
- Track Usage and Outcomes: Treat your credits like a mini-budget โ track their usage closely. Document the outcomes as you consume credits (for training classes delivered, consulting hours used, etc.). How many users were trained? What features were implemented with the development support? This not only ensures you use everything, but it also builds an ROI case for the credits themselves. For example, if $50K of success funds helped drive a 20% increase in Salesforce adoption, thatโs a success story to share with your CFO and with Salesforce, reinforcing the value of such incentives in future negotiations.
Examples of Effective Incentive Utilization
To illustrate, here are some ways some enterprises might effectively use Salesforce-provided credits:
- Training Credits Example โ Accelerating Adoption: ACME Corp received 100 training credits (equivalent to seats in official Salesforce courses and workshops) during its Service Cloud deployment. The CIO appointed an adoption lead who scheduled a mix of administrator training (to build internal expertise) and end-user training sessions for support agents. Over six months, ACME used all its credits to train 250 employees. The result was a smooth go-live with high user adoption; post-training surveys showed significantly increased user confidence, and Service Cloud usage metrics hit target levels within weeks. By contrast, ACME might have faced a longer learning curve and lower ROI in the first year without these funded trainings.
- Partner Services Voucher Example โ Speeding Implementation: Global Manufacturing Inc. negotiated a $200,000 partner services voucher as part of a multi-cloud (Sales + Service + IoT Cloud) deal. They engaged a certified Salesforce integration partner, using the voucher to pay the partnerโs fees. This funded engagement delivered a complex integration between Salesforce and the companyโs on-premise ERP system. It set up custom IoT data dashboards in Salesforce for equipment monitoring โ all within the first year at no extra cost to the IT budget. This meant the ambitious project stayed on schedule and within budget. The CIO reported that the Salesforce system was fully embedded in critical workflows in year one, an outcome unlikely without the voucher. The voucher effectively acted as โfreeโ consulting, saving the company money and accelerating value realization.
- Success Fund Example โ Driving Innovation: FinTech ABC secured a 5% โcustomer success fundโ during its Salesforce contract negotiation โ essentially a fund they could use on Salesforce-endorsed initiatives. The CIO set aside these funds to encourage the adoption of new features. One use was an internal hackathon where various departments, with guidance from a Salesforce Success Architect (paid via the success fund), built creative prototypes using the Salesforce Platform (like a custom mobile app for field agents). Another portion of the fund brought Salesforce experts onsite for a week to advise on AI features (Einstein Analytics). This proactive investment spurred innovation and excitement internally, leading to higher usage of advanced Salesforce capabilities that otherwise might have lain dormant. The success funds ensured the company didnโt just buy Salesforce licenses but truly exploited modern features, increasing the overall return on the Salesforce investment.
Each of these examples underscores a common theme: when credits and incentives are used purposefully, they materially enhance the value you get from Salesforce. They turn a good deal into great outcomes. The key is planning and action โ credits can easily expire unused without a plan.
Salesforce Premier Support Tiers Explained
Beyond product credits, another major value consideration is your Salesforce support plan. Salesforce offers multiple tiers of support (often branded as โSuccess Plansโ), ranging from the default Standard support included with licenses to high-touch Signature support. Choosing the right tierโand getting your moneyโs worth from itโis a strategic decision.
Support Tier Options:
- Standard Support (Included): This basic support comes with all Salesforce licenses at no additional charge. It provides the essentials: access to online help documentation, the Trailblazer community forums, and the ability to log support cases to Salesforce. However, response times are slower and limited to standard business hours for non-critical issues. There is no guaranteed fast response SLA (Service Level Agreement) โ for example, a non-critical case might take multiple business days for a response. Standard support also does not include developer support (Salesforce will not debug your custom code) and offers no specialized proactive guidance. Standard is a reactive, self-service support level โ best for organizations with fairly simple implementations or strong internal admin teams that can troubleshoot most issues independently.
- Premier Support (Paid, ~20โ30% of net license fees): Premier is Salesforceโs most commonly purchased success plan for enterprises. Cost: Salesforce officially prices Premier at about 30% of your net license subscriptions (though in some negotiations, this rate can be lower). This is a significant surcharge, so using the benefits is critical. Features: Premier support includes faster response SLAs (typically 1-hour response for critical P1 issues, 24/7 phone support for serious issues), and developer support, meaning Salesforce support engineers will assist with problems in your custom code or integrations (up to certain limits). Premier also unlocks access to Salesforce Accelerators and coaching: curated one-on-one sessions with Salesforce experts on specific topics (for example, an accelerator might help your team optimize dashboards, implement a new Sales Cloud feature, or review security settings).Additionally, Premier customers get proactive services like periodic org health checks and recommendations. In short, Premier is designed for organizations that need a higher-touch support relationship and technical guidance to succeed. Itโs often recommended if Salesforce is mission-critical to your business or if you plan to continually optimize and expand your implementation with expert help.
- Premier Plus Support (Paid, ~30 %+ of net fees): Premier Plus (sometimes just referred to as an upgraded Premier) includes everything in Premier and adds โAdmin Assistโ services. This means Salesforce will act almost as an extension of your admin team for routine configuration requests. With Premier Plus, you can submit a certain number of administrative service requests (such as creating custom fields, updating workflows, importing data, etc.) for Salesforceโs team to execute for you. Itโs like having extra admin capacity on demand provided by Salesforce. Premier Plus’s cost is higher (often around 30% of net license cost; if Premier alone is priced at 20%, Premier Plus might be 30%; some sources indicate Premier = 30% and = an additional uplift). Essentially, you are paying an extra ~10% of license spend for admin outsourcing convenience. This tier is useful for organizations with limited in-house Salesforce expertise or very small teams โ the Admin Assist can offload many day-to-day tasks. Enterprises with complex orgs but lean support staff sometimes opt for Premier Plus to ensure nothing falls through the cracks. However, if you have a strong internal admin/dev team, you may not need the Plus features and could stick with standard Premier.
- Signature Support (Elite, custom pricing): Signature Success Plan is Salesforceโs highest tier of support, geared toward large, enterprise-critical deployments. Cost: Pricing is not public; it is typically a significant additional fee (often negotiated case-by-case, sometimes as a fixed amount or a higher percentage of spend for very large contracts). Features: Signature provides a designated team of Salesforce experts familiar with your implementation. Typically, you get a named Technical Account Manager or Customer Success Manager who proactively works with your organization. You also receive the fastest response SLAs โ for example, 24/7 coverage with even shorter response targets for any severity case and proactive monitoring of your system for issues. Signature often includesย proactive servicesย like release planning support (Salesforce will help you plan for upcoming new Salesforce releases), architecture reviews, and, in some cases, on-site support for major events (like big go-lives). Signature is a partnership level: Salesforce commits to a very high-touch, personalized support experience. Companies running Salesforce for business-critical, 24/7 operations at a huge scale (e.g., major financial institutions, large call centers, or global consumer platforms) often invest in Signature to minimize risk. It is expensive, but for a Fortune 100 company where an hour of CRM downtime could cost millions, the cost can be justified as insurance.
Summary of Support Tier Differences: In simplified terms, Standard is reactive and self-service, Premier is reactive plus some proactive guidance (with much faster support when things break), Premier Plus adds admin-on-demand, and Signature adds a dedicated proactive partnership. Cost scales from 0% (Standard) to roughly 30% of your contract value (Premier/Plus) to a custom high-end fee (Signature). All tiers allow you to open support cases, but the speed and depth of help you receive increases at each level.
Deciding on Enhanced Support: A Framework for CIOs
Choosing whether to pay for Premier (or higher) support versus staying on Standard is important.
CIOs should weigh several factors in a decision framework:
1. Criticality of Salesforce to Business Operations: Evaluate how mission-critical Salesforce is. Suppose Salesforce is aย core system of record or engagementย (e.g., your sales pipeline, customer service, or e-commerce runs on it). In that case, any downtime or serious issue directly impacts revenue and customer experience. In these cases, the rapid response and 24/7 coverage of Premier or Signature support can be worth the cost as insurance. For a business using Salesforce in a more limited or non-critical capacity (e.g., a departmental tool used only during business hours), Standard support might be sufficient.
2. Complexity and Customization Level: Heavily customized Salesforce orgs (with much Apex code, integrations, and custom processes) tend to encounter more technical issues and unique bugs. Premier supportโs developer support can be very valuable here โ your developers can get help troubleshooting code or reviewing error logs with Salesforce support. If your implementation is straightforward or mostly out-of-the-box, you might not need that help, making Standard support more viable. Consider also the number of Salesforce products integrated. If you have a multi-cloud implementation (Sales Cloud + Service Cloud + Marketing Cloud + custom platform apps, for example), the environment complexity might warrant enhanced support for holistic guidance and faster issue resolution across the stack.
3. In-House Expertise: The strength and size of your internal Salesforce admin/dev team is a key consideration. Suppose you have a robust internal Center of Excellence (CoE) for Salesforce, with certified admins, developers, and even architecture experts on staff. In that case, you may rely on them to solve most issues and drive adoption. Such a team can often manage with Standard support for break-fix issues, possibly supplemented by a third-party support partner for extra help. On the other hand, if your Salesforce team is small or relatively new to the platform, Premier support acts as a critical safety net (and Premier Plus as an extra hands-on keyboard). Paying for Premier/Premier Plus can augment your capacity and knowledge. Many CIOs compare costs: is it cheaper to pay 20-30% of license fees for Premier or hire an additional full-time Salesforce expert? The answer depends on scale, but Premier is often cheaper than a new hire for mid-sized deployments and provides broad expertise on demand.
4. Tolerance for Risk vs. Cost Savings: Premier support is expensive โ for example, a $1 million/year Salesforce investment would incur roughly an additional $300k for Premier. CIOs must consider the cost of not having it. What is the potential impact of a major issue that takes a long time to resolve? If an extended outage or critical bug seriously harms the business, the cost of enhanced support may be justified. Conversely, if the budget is tight and the business can tolerate slower response on rare incidents, that money might be saved or spent elsewhere. Some organizations start with Premier in the first year or two of an implementation (when the risk of issues and need for hand-holding is highest), then drop down to Standard once things stabilize and the internal team is experienced. Others do the opposite: start on Standard to save money, then upgrade to Premier after a painful incident underscores the need for better support. As a CIO, weigh the likelihood and impact of major support scenarios against the upfront cost.
5. Desire for Proactive Guidance: Another element is your value of proactive, preventative support. Premier (and above) comes with health checks, optimization recommendations, and access to Accelerators โ essentially guidance to improve adoption, clean up your org, and follow best practices. If you plan to continually evolve your Salesforce org and want Salesforceโs experts to help guide that journey, the Success plans offer a lot of value. For example, a Premier customer can schedule regular check-ins or specific accelerators (like a security review or Lightning UX optimization session), which are included in the cost. This can be a substitute for hiring external consultants to do the same. If you think your team will leverage those offerings, Premier can improve your ROI by increasing the effectiveness of your Salesforce solution. However, if you doubt those extras will be utilized (some companies under-utilize Premier benefits, effectively wasting part of what they paid for), then paying for Premier is less attractive.
6. Scale of the Salesforce Footprint: Large enterprises often find that enhanced support becomes more necessary as their Salesforce user count and org complexity grow. Suppose you have thousands of users across multiple regions. In that case, the chances of issues at any given time are higher, and having Premier/Signature to handle simultaneous support cases or provide dedicated attention can keep your IT team from being overwhelmed. Additionally, Signature support is usually only considered at very high scales (often tied to very large contracts); if youโre in the top tier of Salesforce customers, Salesforce may even recommend Signature to you and be willing to negotiate its price as part of a bigger deal, because they want to ensure your success (and protect their reputation with a marquee client).
Decision Scenarios: To put this framework in context, consider two scenarios:
- Scenario A: A mid-sized company uses Sales Cloud for a 200-person sales team and is implementing Service Cloud for a 50-agent contact center. They have one experienced Salesforce admin and light custom development. Salesforce is important, but not the sole system running the business. This company might mostly lean towardsย Standard support or Premier (basic). They may decide that with one admin, having Premierโs faster support and expert guidance is helpful for the first year of Service Cloud go-live, but if the budget is tight, they might start with Standard and use a third-party consultant on call for tough issues. The risk of major incidents is moderate, and they can tolerate some support delays during business hours. They might only consider Premier Plus if their single admin is overwhelmed and they have no backup; otherwise, Admin Assist might be unnecessary if they outsource some tasks or hire a part-time consultant.
- Scenario B: A large global enterprise runs its entire customer lifecycle on Salesforce: Marketing Cloud handles campaigns, Sales Cloud for thousands of salespeople, Service Cloud in multiple call centers, and a custom Salesforce Platform app for field service โ all deeply integrated with backend systems. They have a small internal CoE, but the scale is huge, and any outage affects global operations. This company is a prime candidate for Signature support. The CIO would view the cost of Signature as justified to get designated support staff, proactive monitoring, and the fastest possible response. If Signature were not within the budget, at minimum, Premier Plus would be chosen to ensure around-the-clock coverage and administrative assistance. The complexity (custom code, multi-cloud) also means developer support is a must-have โ Standard support would be far too risky here. In negotiations, this company would likely bundle Premier/Signature into the deal and possibly negotiate a cap or discount on the support cost, given the large volume of licenses.
In summary, match the support tier to your business needs and internal capabilities. Itโs not one-size-fits-all: some organizations thrive with Standard support and good internal talent, saving money; others need the peace of mind and augmentation that Premier tiers bring. The key is to make a conscious choice, revisit it periodically, and maximize its usage if you invest in higher support (just like with credits).
Risks of Not Utilizing Credits and Support Options
Underutilizing the incentives and support options youโve negotiated can lead to several risks and missed opportunities:
- Lost Monetary Value: Every unused training credit, success fund dollar, or consulting hour is essentially lost money. These incentives have real budget value โ if you donโt use them, you forfeit that value. For example, failing to use a $50K success fund by its expiration is like leaving $50K on the table. From a CFOโs perspective, this is inefficient and could have been avoided with better planning. Moreover, if you repeatedly leave credits unused, Salesforce may be less inclined to offer them in the future (why give $100K in services if the customer didnโt bother to use last yearโs allotment?). Itโs important to use what you negotiated to get the value and show Salesforce that such incentives matter in your account.
- Slower Adoption and Suboptimal ROI: The incentives are provided to help you adopt the technology and see value. Not using training or implementation credits often correlates with slower user adoption, poor user competence, or delayed project milestones. For instance, if you skip the training that was offered, users might struggle, use only basic features, or resist the new system, undermining the business case of Salesforce. If you donโt leverage the funded consulting hours, you might roll out Salesforce with less optimization or incomplete features, meaning the organization gains fewer benefits than it could have. All this leads to a lower return on investment. Essentially, you paid for 100% of the software, but maybe you only realized 60% of its potential because you didnโt utilize the help available to drive full adoption.
- Operational Risk and Support Delays: Opting out of appropriate support tiers or not fully engaging with your support plan can increase risk. With only Standard support, if a critical issue arises at 3 AM or during a peak sales period, you may face a long wait for resolution, causing downtime or lost sales. If you did purchase Premier but rarely engage with the Salesforce support and success resources, youโre not building the relationship or expertise that could bail you out in a crisis. Some companies pay for Premier and then treat it like Standard (not logging cases until things are dire or forgetting to use Accelerators) โ thatโs wasted value. Not having Premier/Signature in high-risk environments can be even more costly. If a major outage happens and your team cannot solve it, you might be forced to pay for emergency consulting or escalate within Salesforce on the fly, which is much harder when youโre not a Premier customer. In short, not using support resources proactively can lead to longer recovery times and higher firefighting costs when issues occur.
- Expiration of Benefits: Most credits and incentives have an expiration date (often tied to your contract term or the fiscal year). If youโre not tracking them, running out of time is easy. Many a CIO has discovered late that โwe had 20 training days, but they expired last month unused.โ Thatโs a preventable loss. Similarly, support agreements run annually โ if you donโt leverage things like Accelerators or health checks this year, you canโt โbankโ them for next year. The risk is simply a missed opportunity โ you paid (directly or indirectly) for these services, but got nothing because of timing oversight.
- User and Stakeholder Perception: An intangible risk is stakeholder perception. Suppose end-users know there should be training sessions or new improvements (funded by success initiatives) that never materialized. In that case, they might lose confidence in the IT teamโs ability to deliver or support them. Executive sponsors who approved the large Salesforce spend might question if IT is truly maximizing the investment. Essentially, not using what was available can make it appear that IT is not fully on top of the adoption plan. In contrast, fully utilizing credits and showing outcomes demonstrates proactive management and often leads to better stakeholder satisfaction.
Proactive Strategies to Leverage Credits and Support
To avoid those risks, CIOs should institute strong management practices for these value-adds:
- Inventory and Track All Entitlements: After negotiating your Salesforce deal, create a clear inventory of all credits, vouchers, and special support terms. This might be a simple table or dashboard that lists each incentive (e.g., โ50 hours developer supportโ, โ$100k success fundโ, โ10 training class vouchersโ, โPremier support โ 24/7 P1, 1hr SLAโ), along with their expiration date and any conditions. Incorporate this into your contract management system or IT portfolio management so it isnโt forgotten. Transparency is key: ensure relevant team members know these resources exist.
- Assign Ownership and Plan Usage Early: For every incentive, assign a point person or team responsible for using it. For example, training credits could be owned by your Training/L&D department or a designated โSalesforce adoption leadโ; development credits might be owned by the Salesforce platform manager or a project manager for the implementation. These owners should create a usage plan with milestones. Ideally, plan to use credits well before they expire โ for instance, aim to schedule training sessions in the first half of the year rather than scrambling in the final month. Early use also means you get the benefits sooner (helping your project succeed early on). If you find that some credits remain mid-year, you still have time to adjust and use them meaningfully.
- Integrate into Project Roadmaps: Make the incentives a formal part of your Salesforce project plans. If you have a roadmap for feature rollouts or user enablement, explicitly include activities utilizing success funds and vouchers. For example, a Q3 milestone in the roadmap could be โSalesforce Analytics dashboard training (using training voucher)โ or โComplete field service mobile app configuration with Partner X (funded by success fund).โ By embedding these into the plan, project managers and sponsors will see them as required steps, not optional freebies.
- Regularly Review Utilization (Quarterly): Treat these credits like a budget needing periodic review. In quarterly business reviews (QBRs) with Salesforce, include a section to review incentive usage. Salesforceโs Customer Success Manager (if you have Premier/Signature) can often help track whatโs been used (e.g., โYou have done 2 out of 5 Accelerator sessions availableโ). Internally, set a quarterly reminder to check on all credits and how many have been used vs. remaining and adjust plans accordingly. This prevents the year-end scramble and keeps the focus on adoption throughout the year.
- Leverage Salesforce Resources for Scheduling: Donโt hesitate to use Salesforceโs help to use your benefits. If you have training credits or accelerators to use, your Salesforce account team or success manager can assist in scheduling them. For instance, if you have an accelerator on Salesforce CPQ usage, you can ask your Salesforce rep to line up the expert and lock in a date. For partner vouchers, engage the partner early โ let them know you have a voucher of X value so they can allocate resources and plan the work within the timeframe. Using Salesforceโs ecosystem proactively ensures you get onto calendars and avoid availability issues near expiration.
- Document Value Achieved: As incentives are used, document what was achieved and communicate it. Did the training yield a certain certification count or an uptick in user satisfaction? Did the consulting hours result in a successful module launch? Capture before-and-after metrics if possible (e.g., โCustomer portal deployment funded by success fund led to 30% deflection of support tickets in the first monthโ). This proves the credits’ ROI internally and provides evidence to Salesforce of your effective usage. At the next renewal, you can approach Salesforce and say, โWe fully utilized everything you gave us, and here were the outcomes โ to continue this success, weโll need similar or expanded support next term.โ It strengthens your hand in securing future incentives.
- Mitigate Unused Portions:ย If, as you approach an expiration date, you realize some credits will remain unused due to changed plans or delays, reach out to Salesforce proactively. Sometimes, they offer a goodwill extension or allow you to swap for something of equal value. For example, if you originally earmarked partner hours for a project that got postponed, you might ask if those hours can be redirected to a different use or extended into the next quarter. Thereโs no guarantee, but Salesforce would rather see you use the help (and get value) than not, especially if you ask before itโs too late. Worst case, if you cannot use a particular credit, at least you know in advance and can factor that into renewal discussions (โWe negotiated X but didnโt end up needing it โ next round, weโll focus on Y insteadโ).
- Optimize Support Plan Utilization: If youโve paid for Premier or Signature support, manage it actively. Ensure your team knows how to log cases with the proper severity to get the fastest response when needed. Take advantage of the included Accelerators and workshops โ schedule them for continuous improvement. Many Premier customers underutilize these resources. Assign someone (perhaps a Salesforce admin or the CRM manager) to be the liaison with Salesforce support, ensuring cases are escalated if stuck and that you schedule those proactive services. The money spent on Premier is sunk cost if you donโt leverage the premium features that come with it.
By implementing these strategies, you create a culture of proactive value realization. Instead of scrambling at the contract end to use credits or regretting support choices after a crisis, you stay ahead and maximize every benefit from day one.
Recommendations for CIOs
In summary, here are actionable best practices for CIOs to maximize Salesforce credits, incentives, and support value:
- Negotiate Value-Adds Proactively: Donโt just settle for a discount on license pricesโactively negotiate for usage-based incentives (training credits, success/adoption funds, partner services, extra sandboxes, etc.) in every large Salesforce deal or renewal. If used well, these extras can significantly enhance your ROI.
- Document Every Concession: Ensure all agreed credits and services are written into your contract with clear terms (quantity, validity, purpose). This avoids any confusion later and guarantees you can claim what was promised. Verbal assurances are not enough โ get it in writing.
- Align Incentives with Strategic Goals: Treat credits as strategic tools. Assign them to specific goals in your Salesforce adoption plan (e.g., use training vouchers for new product launch training, use consulting hours to expedite a high-value integration). This alignment ensures the incentives drive meaningful outcomes, not random activities.
- Assign Owners and Track Usage: Designate owners for each credit or support entitlement type. Keep a tracker (with deadlines) and review it regularly. Make it someoneโs responsibility to consume those training days or schedule those Accelerator. What gets tracked gets done.
- Use Credits Early and Fully: Plan to utilize credits well before they expire โ delays happen, and you want a buffer. Front-load their usage in your project timeline to boost early success. If you canโt use something, communicate early with Salesforce to explore alternatives.
- Maximize Support Plan Benefits: If you invest in Premier or higher support, ensure you reap all benefits. Log cases without hesitation for issues; use 24/7 support when needed; schedule regular health checks and coaching sessions included in your plan. Squeeze every bit of value from what youโre paying for. Educate your team on how to engage with Salesforce support effectively.
- Evaluate Support Level Needs Periodically: Use the decision framework to periodically reassess if your support level is still appropriate. If your org has matured, you might downgrade to save cost, or if youโre undertaking a major new initiative, you might upgrade for that period. Negotiate support tier changes at renewal when you have leverage to possibly secure better rates or trials (e.g., ask for a free 6-month Premier trial if youโre on Standard and unsure about upgrading).
- Mitigate Risk if on Standard Support: If you stick with Standard support to save cost, implement compensating measures. Build a strong internal support capability or have a trusted Salesforce consulting partner on standby for complex issues. Also, Salesforceโs self-service resources (Trailblazer Community, knowledge base) should be leveraged heavily. In essence, have a plan for handling critical situations without Premier, so youโre not caught off guard.
- Keep Stakeholders Informed: Report to your IT steering committee or executives on the usage of Salesforce credits and support benefits. For example, highlight that โWe utilized $150K worth of Salesforce-provided training and services this year, which helped achieve a 20% increase in sales productivity.โ This demonstrates proactive management and justifies the effort spent negotiating these extras. It also sets expectations that IT is maximizing vendor value, which leadership views positively.
- Plan for Renewals with Data: When renewal time comes, use data from your credit usage and support case history to drive the conversation. If you used everything and want more, bring those success metrics to Salesforce and negotiate from a position of having proven the value. If some things went unused, decide whether it was due to a lack of need (and thus you might negotiate different incentives next time) or poor planning (in which case, improve your process). Going into negotiations with a clear story of how you leveraged (or why you didnโt leverage) the last contractโs value-adds will enable a more tailored and effective renewal deal.
By following these recommendations, CIOs can ensure that Salesforceโs additional offerings โ from free credits to premium support โ translate into tangible value for their organization. The goal is to turn every dollar spent on Salesforce into multiple dollars of business return, and that means not just buying software but fully utilizing all the accompanying resources Salesforce provides for success.