In today’s episode, community consultant and Salesforce Former VP of Community, Erica Kuhl, joins us to share her greatest community growth advice. Years before community was a known industry, Erica used three methods to successfully get buy-in from the Salesforce Executives. She worked with Salesforce users and product managers to strengthen and build the product. She then put the community on the brand new product, creating further excitement. Erica then showed data for how community aligned with the key ROI’s of Salesforce, the resulting revenue impact, and resulting product adoption. Today, Salesforce has a Trailblazer community forum, MVP programs, User Groups and a democratized learning platform, Trailhead, that mentors and educates others to receive jobs and develop skills. One year ago, Erica left Salesforce to become an independent community consultant. To successfully get her client’s community up and running, she implements the V2MOM strategy of establishing vision, values, methods, obstacles, and metrics. Erica works with her clients to create a program, staff the team, launch, and grow a community. She hopes that community will become integrated into every part of businesses and provide a service to companies as a whole. Who is this episode for?: B2B, In Person & Online, Starting 3 key takeaways: - As an independent contractor, Erica uses the V2MOM plan as a strategic roadmap for launching a community: Vision, Values, Methods, Obstacles, Metrics. - Erica’s used 3 methods to get buy-in from Salesforce: Work with the community and product managers to build and enhance the platform, put the community on the new product, and prove the power of community through data. - Salesforce is now well-known for its variety and strength of communities, including the Trailblazer Community, MVP Programs, an advanced learning platform for mentorship, and many others.