The Technopath Way: Productivity through tech for nonprofits

Never miss an episode or recap again! Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: https://www.technopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upWe love learning here at Technopath which is why we are so excited to welcome Alexander Lapa as today’s guest! This week we’re hearing about his journey to help nonprofits with Salesforce and subsequent adventure building a tax receipting app for Canadian nonprofits using Salesforce. If you’ve wondered how those apps your Salesforce org uses, make it from idea all the way into the App Exchange, this episode is for you! Alex walks us through his experience and answers Sarah’s questions about the process.Curious about how Sarah gets it all done as a business owner while balancing her health and social life? Check out her secret weapon, Sunsama, here http://www.sunsama.com/a/technopathHer favorite part is the alerts that let you know when you’ve scheduled more work tasks than could fit into your set work hours for the day!

Never miss an episode or recap again! Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: https://www.technopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upSalesforce is becoming a more popular career and when people start down the path they have choices to make. Will they be a Salesforce Administrator for a single company, will they be a consultant, do they want to work as a business analyst, learn to be a developer, or even a Salesforce architecht. There are so many different paths to take just in roles and then in terms of industry you can pick finance, healthcare, or nonprofits just name a few.Niching down can become just as overwhelming as the first time you realized you needed to learn allllll the aspects of Salesforce.Pamela Howell knew from the outset when she started her Salesforce journey that she wanted to pursue nonprofits and she is still working towards that goal. She is a student in our NPSP Training Program and currently volunteers with a Golden Retriever Rescue nonprofit based in Atlanta.Sarah’s conversation with Pamela dives into how to find your own calling within the Salesforce ecosystem, why Salesforce is ‘learnable’ even for people who think they’re terrible at tech and building the self-confidence to make a change, even if you can think of a million reasons why it ‘wouldn’t work’.Key Takeaways:If you don’t have a college degree, doing badges on Trailhead and getting certified through Salesforce is a good way to ‘prove’ your qualifications without having to spend mountains of money going back to collegeThinking ‘I’m no good at this’ or ‘I’m just not a ____ type of person.’ is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you keep telling yourself these negative stories, you’ll only ever see yourself struggling with those concepts.Tweak the thoughts instead: ‘I’m not good at this yet.’ or ‘I’m still struggling with _____, but I’m learning. I know more about it today than I did last week because I’m taking steps.’Volunteer in a non-Salesforce related capacity at a nonprofit that supports your passion. This will help you deeply understand their processes and real pain points before trying to introduce them to SalesforceBuild your network - that next job opportunity will be much easier to land if you actually know someone at the company rather than continually responding to mass job postingsP.S. Have you seen our Nonprofit Cloud Consultant Exam Study Guide? Expert guidance, step-by-step visual instructions and comprehensive video explanations help prepare you to take the Nonprofit Cloud Consultant Exam with confidence. Check out a free preview here: https://coda.io/d/NPSP-Study-Guide-Preview-by-Technopath_dB7GHMLpEhi/Overview_su0UH

Never miss an episode or recap again! Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: https://www.technopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upThis week on The Technopath Way we’re tackling a topic that’s been on our minds a lot lately: Imposter Syndrome. What is it, where does it come from and how can we overcome it? Many people suffer from a lack of confidence around their careers or jobs, and a big part of why Sarah formed Technopath was to support and mentor people in their nonprofit Salesforce careers. So this week’s topic is one that she encounters often from Accidental Admins who aren’t sure they’re actually qualified to be using their organization’s Salesforce org, to seasoned Salesforce Consultants who are stumbling when it comes to their nonprofit clients.Here are some things an expert at the Imposter Syndrome Institute said we can do to cure imposter syndrome in ourselves:1. Break the silence. Shame keeps a lot of people from “fessing up” about their fraudulent feelings. Knowing there’s a name for these feelings and that you are not alone can be tremendously freeing.I’ve also been thinking about whether or not being able to label this feeling imposter syndrome is useful or a detriment...not sure.2. Separate feelings from fact. There are times you’ll feel stupid. It happens to everyone from time to time. Realize that just because you may feel stupid, doesn’t mean you are.This is especially true for you out there that are trying to grasp a new technical or even business concept. You can figure it out, it may take more time. 3. Recognize when you should feel fraudulent. A sense of belonging fosters confidence. If you’re the only or one of a few people in a meeting, classroom, field, or workplace who look or sound like you or are much older or younger, then it’s only natural you’d sometimes feel like you don’t totally fit in. Plus if you’re the first to achieve something in your world (first VP, astronaut, judge, supervisor, firefighter, honoree) there’s that added pressure to represent your entire group. Instead of taking your self-doubt as a sign of your ineptness, recognize that it might be a normal response to being on the receiving end of social stereotypes about competence and intelligence.5. Accentuate the positive. The good news is being a perfectionist means you care deeply about the quality of your work. The key is to continue to strive for excellence when it matters most, but forgive yourself when the inevitable mistake happens.6. Develop a healthy response to failure and mistake making. Henry Ford once said, “Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” Instead of beating yourself up for falling short, do what players on the losing sports team do and glean the learning value from the loss and move on reminding yourself, “I’ll get ’em next time.”Right the rules. If you’ve been operating under misguided rules like, “I should always know the answer,” or “Never ask for help” start asserting your rights. Recognize that you have just as much right as the next person to be wrong, have an off-day, or ask for assistance.7. Develop a new script. Become consciously aware of the conversation going on in your head when you’re in a situation that triggers your Impostor feelings. This is your internal script. Then instead of thinking, “Wait till they find out I have no idea what I’m doing,” tell yourself “Everyone who starts something new feels off-base in the beginning. I may not know all the answers but I’m smart enough to find them out.”8. Visualize success. Do what professional athletes do. Spend time beforehand picturing yourself making a successful presentation or calmly posing your question in class. It sure beats picturing impending disaster and will help with performance-related stress.9. Reward yourself. Break the cycle of continually seeking and then dismissing validation outside of yourself by learning to pat yourself on the back.10. Fake it ‘til you make it. Now and then we all have to fly by the seat of our pants. Instead of considering “winging it” as proof of your ineptness, learn to do what many high achievers do and view it as a skill. The point of the worn-out phrase, fake it til you make it, still stands: Don’t wait until you feel confident to start putting yourself out there. Courage comes from taking risks. Change your behavior first and allow your confidence to build.P.S. Have you seen our Nonprofit Cloud Consultant Exam Study Guide? Expert guidance, step-by-step visual instructions and comprehensive video explanations help prepare you to take the Nonprofit Cloud Consultant Exam with confidence. Check out a free preview here: https://coda.io/d/NPSP-Study-Guide-Preview-by-Technopath_dB7GHMLpEhi/Overview_su0UH

Never miss an episode or recap again! Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: https://www.technopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upNonprofits need to stay in touch with their donors, volunteers, and members to keep them engaged and informed. And with so many communication channels available, email remains one of the most effective and cost-efficient ways to do so. But managing email campaigns can be time-consuming and resource-intensive, especially for small nonprofits.That's where email automation comes in. With email automation tools, nonprofits can streamline their email campaigns, save time, and provide a more personalized experience for their audience. If your nonprofit uses Salesforce as its CRM, there are several email automation options that you can integrate with it.To talk about this, we’ve brought someone on with a ton of expertise in Salesforce email tools: Aaron Beatty. Aaron recently founded Engage Evolution to design solutions for marketing cloud, pardot for nonprofits and other industries as well after years of experience helping other companies achieve these goals in house.In this episode Sarah and Aaron get into brass tacks about email service providers, email automation and even Salesforce connected tools that can help with push messaging, SMS messaging and scheduling and tracking your social media. Talk about an all-around tool!Some Key Take-Aways:Build the strategy before you build the toolKnow exactly what it is you’re lookin to use the data or automations for before you engage an implementation partnerHave marketing and sales stakeholders involved in the planning and implementation of new tools to make sure they are going to solve the actual problems those departments are facing. If you wait until the tool is built to simply train them on it you’re likely to realize you’ve missed crucial questions or data points.Create hyper-personalized emails for recipients beyond the traditional mail merge/Name fields. What information do you already have about this person? Have they filled out interest surveys? Come to specific topic based webinars? Use that information to send only truly relevant content and your open rates will soarIf you are a Salesforce Admin looking to get into Marketing Cloud, the best way to do this is with on the job trainingRemember, you have loads of transferrable skills as an Admin that will help you with Marketing Cloud, the skills to really focus on are the soft skills: communication, understanding your clients’ pain points, digging into feature requests and helping them think through their toolsIf you want access to Sarah and everything Technopath is doing, be sure to join our free community to gain more clairty and confidence with helping nonprofits with Salesforce tech: https://npsp-academy.mn.co/share/nxvxYbrrqeCqJ_yb?utm_source=manual

Never miss an episode or recap again! Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: https://www.technopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upOverselling: What is it? How do we avoid it? What do we do if it happens to us?Nonprofits are often approached by software salespeople promising to revolutionize their work and streamline their operations. However, it's not uncommon for these salespeople to oversell what their software can do. They may make claims that aren't accurate or that the software can't deliver. This can be especially dangerous for nonprofits who often have limited resources and can't afford to invest in software that doesn't meet their needs.By taking these steps, nonprofit organizations can make informed decisions about software purchases and avoid overselling. It's important to take the time to evaluate software products carefully to ensure that they meet the organization's needs and expectations. If you are a consultant, be sure to heed these warnings.There are several warning signs that a salesperson may be overselling a software product to a nonprofit organization, including:Promising too much: If the salesperson is making unrealistic claims about the capabilities or benefits of the software, this may be a red flag that they are overselling.SHOW DON’T TELL! If they say it can do it, say let me see it before I sign the contract.Focusing on the sale, not the needs of the nonprofit: If the salesperson seems more interested in closing the deal than in understanding the nonprofit's unique needs and goals, this may be a sign that they are overselling.Not providing detailed information: If the salesperson is unwilling or unable to provide detailed information about the software's features, functions, and limitations, this may be a sign that they are overselling.Pressuring for a quick decision: If the salesperson is pushing for a quick decision or trying to rush the nonprofit into signing a contract, this may be a sign that they are overselling.Making promises that can't be backed up: If the salesperson is making promises that seem too good to be true or that they can't back up with evidence or references, this may be a sign that they are overselling.Ignoring the nonprofit's questions or concerns: If the salesperson is not listening to the nonprofit's questions or concerns, or is dismissive of their feedback, this may be a sign that they are overselling.Pushing add-ons or upgrades: If the salesperson is recommending expensive add-ons or upgrades that are not necessary for the nonprofit's needs, this may be a sign that they are overselling.Tips to Avoid Being Oversold:Clearly define your needs and requirements before engaging with software salespeople. This will help you identify the features and functionality that are essential to your organization.Ask for demos and trials before committing to anything. This will allow you to see the software in action and get a better sense of its capabilities.Check references and read reviews from other nonprofits who have used the software. This can give you a better idea of whether the software meets the needs of organizations like yours.Don't be afraid to negotiate. Software salespeople may be willing to work with you on pricing or feature sets if you ask.What to Do If It Happens to YouEven with the best research and due diligence, it's still possible to be oversold by a software salesperson. We’ve seen this happen before at smaller nonprofits where an executive or even volunteer purchases a product quickly to meet an urgent need. If you find yourself in that situation, here are a few steps you can take:First, be honest with the salesperson about your concerns. Explain the specific features or functionality that you were promised but that the software doesn't deliver.Ask if there are workarounds or alternative solutions that can be used to address your needs. Solution architechts are creative people. That’s why they built the app in the first place! They could get the clearance to design something for you that would benefit many nonprofits.If the salesperson is unable or unwilling to address your concerns, escalate the issue to a manager or supervisor. They may have more authority to offer a solution or disappointingly refund.Links Mentioned during the episode:Episode 210 - How to Choose a Database for Your Nonprofit:https://www.spreaker.com/user/15193886/pros-and-cons-of-salesforce-for-nonprofiArticle by Paul Ginsberg and Eli Kaufman evaluating CRMs:https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/nonprofits-when-salesforce-great-choice-paul-ginsberg/?trackingId=pPt8H7tlRd6fM4Da4Lr9Og%3D%3DDigital Wireframing Resources:LucidChart - https://www.lucidchart.com/pages/elements.cloudFind a webinar Sarah hosted with Matt Henry showing how to use elements.cloud to outline an actual nonprofit’s needs in our community Lunch and Learn recordings: npsp.academy.mn.co

Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: https://www.technopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upThis week on The Technopath Way we’re listening in on a collaborative discussion Sarah had at Salesforce Saturday with other Salesforce enthusiasts who are wondering about how ChatGPT and AI will change daily Admin tasks. Should we be incorporating it ourselves? Is it going to make human Admins obsolete? If you’ve been seeing all the posts about what ChatGPT and all this improved AI means for the Salesforce Ecosystem, you’ll hear a few different takes on the future of Salesforce Admins.During the discussion everyone shared about how they’ve been experimenting with ChatGPT lately. The conversation then turned to how Admins who aren’t experienced developers could use AI to help them create usable code.Some take-aways from this week’s conversation:You can ask a chat bot to explain development concepts to you and continue asking it to simplify the explanations until they’re at your level of understandingTry asking the AI to translate bits of code you aren’t sure about into something a human can read to learn what it’s supposed to be doingWhen trying to fix error codes, enter what you are trying to do along with the error code you received. The ChatGPT will likely be able to give you an explanation of what went wrong and give you possible ideas on how to fix itWarren Walters’ video Sarah mentioned:

Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: https://www.technopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upDo you look around at everything you need to do - household chores, professional tasks, learning objectives - and just throw your hands up in the air instead of get down to business? It turns out most of us are in this boat at least some of the time. You know there are many things to accomplish but you somehow can’t quite get started. Maybe it feels overwhelming thinking about everything to be done, or there’s so many steps you’re not sure where to start. I recently came across a term that helped me understand these feelings in myself and put a name to what had been going on - Demand Avoidance.Demand Avoidance is rooted in anxiety which is often made worse by...... you guessed it - overwhelm.Today I am talking with Allyson Kennett about the things we are avoiding and ways we can break ourselves out of the inertia and move ourselves forward.Quick Tips to Break the Inertia:Start small, you’ll only overwhelm yourself more if you try to change everything at onceForm small habits, one or two at a time to build your consistency and truly make lasting changeJust grab the next thing you see that you need to do, and do it. Even if it’s out of order. Grab the plate sitting next to you on the table and put it in the dishwasher, that act will give you the momentum to open up Trailhead and do 10 minutes, which leads to a break through in a work task you’ve been stuck on.Some things Sarah wishes she’d put into practice before now:- Know when to cut your loses with a piece of technology and move on- Even if you don't think you'll like a piece of technology, give it a try and push yourself a little bit outside your comfort zone- Ask for help. Even if you feel like a tech-whiz there will always be some things you're better at than others.* Productivity Tech only works if you actually use it so don’t just pick what everyone else is saying they do, test drive the tool to see if it truly makes sense for you* Know your own weaknesses and choose tech tools that help bolster you in those areas-There’s benefits to doing A/B testing-Take things one step at a time and start small-Figure out what you want to measure and start there

Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: https://www.technopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upHave you tried sending press releases, connecting with journalists and seemingly every other ‘trick in the book’ to get your organization into the news cycle only to be met with crickets? Then today’s episode with nonprofit PR expert, Nadia Tchoumi, is exactly what you need.If you’re an Awesome Admin, many of these lessons can be applied to building your personal brand and getting visible to land those coveted Salesforce roles. Be sure to listen until the very end as I’ve also recorded a special PS to give you some quick lifts to build the tracking Nadia and I talked about into a nonprofit’s Salesforce org!Nadia began her career as a journalist traveling across Canada. She often received press releases and inquiries from nonprofits about good, important work they were doing to support their communities and wanted to include all of them in her stories. Unfortunately, many of them missed the mark with their communications and didn’t end up making it into the publications they wanted. This led Nadia to eventually found New Hope Media as a place where she could help nonprofits get the visibility they needed.Tips for getting your story seen:Build relationships: Cold calling newsrooms is often not the best route. For the best chance of making it into the news cycle you’re hoping for, build relationships with the reporters, journalists or creators at the outlets you want to be in.Once you have the interview, give it legs!: Social media can be fickle for getting actual exposure, but it’s great for helping extend the reach of interviews, spotlights, or any other type of coverage you might get from traditional media. Help extend the reach of your hard earned exposure by putting it on the internet with social media!Track it: The power of tracking your PR efforts lies in helping you build deeper relationships with the organizations you want to be in and the individuals who work there. What should you be tracking when you’re trying to get noticed in bigger outlets?Who you are connecting with. Not just the organization, but the specific people thereWhat stories you’ve pitched themWhich stories they’ve picked upThe type of coverage they’ve given (positive, negative, etc)Have they come to any of your events? Engaged in any of your initiatives?Media engagement goalsGoals: Set very small, attainable media engagement goals each quarter. When you’re first starting out you shouldn’t be aiming for more than 1 engagement each quarter to build confidence and quality.Tackle your fears: Realize your own areas of expertise, value yourself and your experiences. Get outside of your comfort zone!Evaluate: How did you do communicating the core message? What happened after the interview? Not just in donations or direct emails/calls to your organization, but did you suddenly get more followers on social media? Did your website traffic spike? (Track it!)The BEST strategy: consistency. Don’t give up!Links:Find out more about how Nadia can help your organization here: www.newhopemedia.caA free resource Nadia shared to help you write better press releases: https://mailchi.mp/403b00fc23b6/3reasons

Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: https://www.technopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upAre you ready to take the Nonprofit Cloud Consultant Exam? Use our checklist to find out: technopath.ac-page.com/exam-readiness-checklistThis week on The Technopath Way, Sarah is flying solo with some common pitfalls many newer Salesforce Admins face when looking for experience by volunteering at nonprofits and 8 tips on how to avoid them.Tip #1: To understand what the nonprofit needs you first need to understand nonprofits and the nonprofit success pack.If you sit down to discovery with them and you don’t understand how nonprofits function, that’s like being unprepared for an interview. Study how nonprofits work. This is why I teach about it in my training program. Nonprofits are scrutinized more than for profits — by the government, by the board, by foundations and grantmakers, by their donors, and a lot of information is public. A clean system can be the difference between getting a grant and not.Tip #2: Start with something simple, choose one pain pointKnow your time and how much you have to devote. If you bite off a big project and then realize you didn’t really have time to volunteer, you are leaving the nonprofit with a big hole. Even if your new and it is hard to gauge how long something might take, you may want to block off 4-6 hours on your calendar a week until you are done with the deliverables you’ve defined.Bonus Tip: Once you have the one pain point you are going to solve for, make sure that the feature being requested isn’t already offered for free by NPSP. Some of the NPSP solutions are too complex or are add on features that cost money. The fees for Salesforce’s donation product, Elevate, may be something the Makerspace could afford, but in the case of integrations, you want to bring them a few options and do your research.Tip #3: Don’t forget to ask them for a login!This should be the first assignment you give to the nonprofit. You got to see what you are dealing with now that you know their pain points. You may need to send them instructions on how to create a user.Bonus Tip: On a Salesforce Saturday for Nonprofits we hosted in the past, Paul Ginsberg talked about what you should do on the first day on the job of being a Salesforce admin for a non-profit. The first thing he said (and we think this is a really great tip) is to create a sandbox. This gives you a copy of exactly where the system was when you started. Also create a backup file of their data, this also gives you a file with the starting point. If you have an integration request like the one at Markerspace, create an integration user if they don’t already have one.Tip #4: Don’t fear productionA big pitfall we see in a lot of new admins is that they’ve heard the advice about ALWAYS building in a Sandbox first so much that they are scared to do anything in production. Do most things in a sandbox, but don’t be afraid to push to production. Especially for nonprofits who are not yet using the system and don’t have tons of data, you are not going to screw what they have up that much, because they don’t really have anything yet.Bonus Tip: Did you also know that if you really screw something up on you can call Salesforce and put in a case to have a system revert to a prior date. Avoid this like the plague, but know that it is possible.Tip #5: Build some reports and dashboardsThis is one of the first things you should bone up on. The only reason nonprofits want to have a system is for reports. They are scrutinized by so many different audiences and parties that they need to be able to pull reports quickly when a donor asks. They want to make strategic decisions based on donor retention and other key performance indicators and you can help them with that!The great thing about reports is that it doesn't touch any of their core system or functionality.Bonus Tip: Let them know that you can schedule reports or dashboards to come to them weekly or monthly. They might not know this.I have some lessons on easy lift reports like donor retention in the Salesforce Saturday vimeo collection. Ask your nonprofit about the kind of metrics that their board or funders ask them for. If they do have clean data, you can build reports that display things in a way that really helps them. Some things they may be struggling with if they have already started pulling reports is soft credits. It is so crucial I’ve touched on it in multiple Salesforce Saturdays, my mini-course, extensively in my study guide and in the Nonprofit Training Program. Be sure you understand how these work if you are working with a nonprofit that expresses this as one of their pain points.Tip #6: Don’t take on data cleanup unless you have excel skillsWe aren’t saying you can’t do this, but you need to have fairly excellent Excel skills. The NPSP data model is complex and it is really important to know if you are working with nonprofits. (link at the bottom of the notes to Excel learning materials)Tip #7: Do not build something hard to maintain and leave behind documentationYou are fabulous and will not be there forever so make sure whatever you build, avoid hard coding unstructured data as variables in automations or report filters like a campaign name. If someone isn’t aware you did this and renames a campaign, what you built no longer functions.You do not need to reinvent the wheel. Tip #8: Leave behind documentationThis is SUPER important. It’s a huge focus of the portfolio project within my Nonprofit Training Program and for good reason! It is such a waste of your time if you build out Salesforce and no one uses it.Bonus tip: There are programs that make creating this documentation a breeze like Scribe, which is what we use in class.Links mentioned in the episode:Study Guide Preview:https://technopath.ac-page.com/preview-nonprofit-consultant-study-guideCourse page:technopath.podia.comPower of One Formula:https://www.salesforce.com/video/296533/Excel Course and Cheat Sheetshttps://linktr.ee/CheatSheetsMelissa Hill-Dees book:https://www.amazon.com/Accelerating-Nonprofit-Impact-Salesforce-cost-effective/dp/1801070911

Sign up for our weekly newsletter, The Technopath Way Tips, here: https://www.technopath.ac-page.com/the-technopath-way-sign-upWe’re closing out 2022 with a look forward to what we are planning for Technopath and The Technopath Way in the coming year. Listen in as Sarah and Allyson sit down to discuss a focus shift for The Technopath Way and the goals and changes for the company as we move into Q1.If behind the scenes looks at Technopath are some of your favorite Technopath Way episodes, then you’re in for a treat today! Over the course of the last several months we’ve been reading responses from our audience and looking at who tends to listen to our episodes. The results show us that on the whole, people are interested in more in-depth technical Salesforce discussions, and nonprofit basics. As a result, in 2023, we will add more of that content and reach out to more guests that can speak to those topics.In Q1 we will also be opening enrollment for the NPSP Training Program again, with a twist! Last time, we heard from many people who wanted to take the class in a more DIY, asynchronous format. This time around you will have the option to be in weekly live class sessions with Sarah to ask questions, work on your project and have direct guidance OR receive all the same class materials and have access to optional office hours every other week to ask questions. Enrollment will re-open January 16, you can sign up to the waitlist and get notified as soon as we open the doors here: technopath.ac-page.com/january-2023-join-the-waitlistWe’re excited to see what 2023 brings for all of us, Happy New Year!