Salesforce is in place, the licences are paid for, and everyone has a login. Yet the spreadsheet still seems to be doing an alarming amount of the work.
That doesn’t automatically mean you chose the wrong system. It may mean the setup has drifted away from the way your organisation now operates. New teams, extra products and years of small changes can leave people navigating a process nobody would design from scratch today.
Before commissioning a rebuild, look at where everyday work gets difficult. These five signs are useful starting points.
1. People keep their own version of the truth
A spreadsheet isn’t automatically a problem. It becomes one when it holds customer information or next steps that colleagues need but cannot find in Salesforce.
Ask someone to show you how they complete a real task. Where do they leave the CRM? What information do they copy? What makes their own list easier to use?
The answer might be missing information, a confusing screen or a process that takes too long. Asking people to “use Salesforce more” won’t tell you which.
2. A simple task involves too many steps
Consider what happens when an enquiry arrives. Does someone enter the same information twice, send a manual reminder and then update another system?
Map that one process from beginning to end. Mark each repeated entry, handover and waiting point. Decide which steps serve a useful purpose before discussing automation.
Automating an unclear process can make it move faster without making it any better. AI suggestions deserve the same scrutiny: what specific task would improve, what information would it use, and who would check the result?
3. Meetings start with an argument about the numbers
Two reports can give different answers because they use different dates, filters or definitions. A missing record is a different problem from a record counted in the wrong period.
Choose one important business question, such as “Which enquiries still need a response?” Agree what the answer should include, then check a small sample against the underlying records.
Give someone responsibility for the definition as well as the report. A beautiful dashboard cannot settle an unresolved disagreement about what “qualified” means.
4. The screens reflect yesterday’s business
Fields, stages and approval steps may still describe a team or service that no longer exists. People learn workarounds, and new starters inherit the confusion.
Review one role at a time. Which information does that person need to see, enter and act on? Which instructions no longer make sense?
Don’t delete apparently unused fields on sight. First check whether reporting, integrations or automation depend on them, then test agreed changes in an appropriate environment.
5. Training stops after the first demonstration
Knowing where a button lives isn’t the same as understanding when to use it. People need examples that reflect their own work, a chance to practise and somewhere to ask follow-up questions.
Start with a task-based guide: what triggers the task, what to do and what a completed record looks like. Ask a user to try it without you talking them through every step.
Pick one improvement you can assess
Choose a frustrating process, agree what “better” means and record a starting point. That could be fewer repeated entries, less time completing a task or fewer enquiries without an owner.
Make a focused change, involve the people affected and review it with them. Useful progress is easier to judge when the problem is specific.
Estuary Connect provides practical Salesforce consultancy for organisations that want their existing system to work better. Tell us what’s getting in the way, and we’ll discuss a sensible starting point.
Further reading
Salesforce’s guidance on measuring usage and adoption and reports and dashboards offers additional ways to investigate these issues.