Say hello to Sam Cheung – a Senior Salesforce Consultant here at Persistent. Sam has been working with us since early 2021 and has already seen his fair share of client challenges! Sam came to us as an experienced consultant with several certifications and a broad background in project work. Since being with Persistent, Sam has been working with one of our largest clients to meet requirements across workstreams.
We interviewed Sam to get a glimpse into a day in the life of a lead salesforce Consultant, and here’s what he shared!
07:30 to 08:00
Once I’ve woken up and had a shower followed by a big cup of coffee, the first thing I do is review my calendar and inbox to confirm the days upcoming meetings that need to be attended and any outstanding things that need to be chased or followed up from the day before.
08:00 to 08:45
This time is my Prep Time as I use it to handle any documentation and preparing myself a To Do List to keep track of important tasks that need to be closed off/actioned. This helps a lot as during the day, it’s quite easy to steer off into multiple directions if you aren’t too careful with meetings, fixing technical builds inside SF environments and generally helping the team out!
08:45 to 09:00
A quick break to freshen myself up with some water/fruit to make sure I’m alert and ready for the meetings ahead!
09:00 to 10:00
Usually the morning goes by in the blink of an eye no matter what stage of a project you are working in! If it’s the beginning of a project I would usually be running a discovery workshop with the client which can last the whole day if needed.
10:00 to 10:30
I always make sure to give myself a mini break in the morning between meetings as it’s good to have that chance to reflect and relax! Usually this can be a small coffee break, a quick stretch (if I am at home) or if I’m feeling a bit cheeky I will grab a chocolate bar or sugary snack to get that sugar rush.
10:30 to 12:00
If I’m alternatively in the middle of the project, mornings usually entail Daily stand ups and further technical meetings for specific features that are being built or tested in Salesforce.
For projects near the end of the life cycle, mornings can entail UAT sessions, Live deployments or perhaps a training/handover session with the client. The variation of what you can get involved in always makes it exciting!
12:00 to 13:00
Food Glorious food! I am quite a foodie so I tend to make sure I enjoy my lunches and dinners! If I am in the office, it’s time to rally work colleagues and go to the nearby food markets or pick a theme of the day for lunch. If you want to know what my favourite meal is for lunch: Baked Potato with Chicken Sweetcorn, bit of salt and pepper dashed over it and cheddar cheese sprinkled over it. Don’t forget extra butter mashed into the potato to make it extra creamy!
In terms of what is my favourite part of the day? Probably the time just after Lunch, you have had a break, gone away to think on a problem or solution and come back refreshed and energized, ready to face more challenges!
13:00 to 14:30
Like the morning, afternoons can go in many directions! Typically, I try to use this time as my time to catch up with my project teams and make sure we get that time to discuss all the things we need. Discussions can vary from risks or concerns within a project, aligning all our actions to make sure we are not blocking each other or simply just working on a problem together as a team, as they say, the more the merrier! Especially when trying to solve technical conundrums.
14:30 to 15:00
Another small snack break to pace all the meetings in the day! Usually this break is the one where I will sneak a sugary snack. Then it’s back to flows and integrations.
15:00 to 16:30
There is almost always one last meeting in the afternoon to be taken, you may say that it’s a tradition to have one last meeting towards the end of the day. Regardless, these meetings tend to be the ones which act as the followup or workshops that are needed to help iron out any specific blockers in a project. Always good to have a nice puzzle to solve before the end of the day. There is a great sense of achievement when you are able to get it out of the way!
16:30 to 18:00
This is the wind down time where I usually ensure that I have this time to myself to be left undisturbed. Unless there are any key meetings that need to be had, this is sacred Sam time!
Write ups, solution designs, follow up emails, taking the time to review builds that require testing, even building key features in Salesforce myself. This will be literally the time I take to myself to address at my own pace all of the tasks and work that needs to be handled.
What I enjoy the most as a consultant is when you see your work take shape within a project and, more importantly, deliver an impact that benefits the stakeholders you work with. It is great to see something that was brainstormed and thought out in concept become reality and really demonstrates the type of creative solutions that can emerge when you put your mind to it.
I always make sure however by 18:00 or as close to that time to clock off. As most other consultants can tell you, you can easily burn the hours away late into the evening if you aren’t careful!
My advice to a consultant just starting off
The best advice that I would give to any consulting starting on their journey is always ask questions if you are not sure about anything. The cliche of “there is no such thing as a silly question” really applies here. It is all about learning and growing and how can you grow if you are not constantly trying to seek information/knowledge? You don’t need to try and impress anyone at the start, and we have all been at that starting line before. Another phrase I usually like to say is “If in doubt, google it out!” but of course what I really mean is, just always ask others if you are unsure of the question/concept.
What I enjoy the most as a consultant is when you see your work take shape within a project and, more importantly, deliver an impact that benefits the stakeholders you work with. It is great to see something that was brainstormed and thought out in concept become reality and really demonstrates the type of creative solutions that can emerge when you put your mind to it.
