The Secret to Salesforce Success: Meet a Member of our Customer Success Group

For Customer Success Manager (CSM), Senior Manager, Jaskiran Kaur, there’s one word that describes her Salesforce journey – (and it just so happens to be our #1 value!) – trust. Trust in her colleagues, trust in Salesforce products, trust in her customers, and, above all, trust in herself.

Learn more about Jaskiran’s career journey – and the in’s-and-outs of what it takes to be a successful member of our Customer Success Group – in our latest Q&A.

Want to jumpstart your career success in Customer Success? Learn more about our team.

So, tell us about your journey to Salesforce. How’d you get started?

I originally started in the information technology sector of a different tech company. It wasn’t my cup of tea, so a family friend recommended I look into upskilling with Salesforce. I started doing my training online on Trailhead and then got my Salesforce certification. That started a 13-year career working as a Salesforce administrator plus working as a Salesforce Business Analyst across a couple of companies.

And then, this position as a Customer Success Manager at Salesforce became available and I just thought – I have to go for this. I want to connect with the customers. I want to build trust and credibility with them. I want this job.

Besides the job description, what attracted you to Salesforce?

The number one factor that attracted me to Salesforce was the values they stand for, especially Trust. I mean, it's an everyday thing at Salesforce – in the relationships you build, in working with your customers, even in connecting with your friends.

For me, Trust is a core value that I grew up with back in India with my family. There was a huge emphasis on how to respect relationships. If you have trust in someone or something, it’s for life. And I wanted to feel that in my job. At Salesforce, it’s obvious that customers have trust for the company, for the solutions we’re giving them, and for the products we’re offering.

Did anything stand out to you about the interview process?

Unfortunately, I lost a family member during the interview process. It was an emotional time for me and my family, and I ultimately decided to step away from Salesforce – which was a heartbreaking move for me because coming to Salesforce had always been a dream.

I was not a part of Salesforce then, but even so, the recruiters and hiring manager reached out to me. They wanted to check in. ‘Are you doing okay?’ ‘Is your family okay?’ And when they said, ‘Take as much time as you want, but we want you. We want you at Salesforce.’ — well, that sealed the deal for me. How many companies could do that?

Wow – what a story. So, once you were able to take the opportunity, can you describe what your role looked like?

I work on the public sector team. Most days my team and I are connecting with our customers. They have challenges. They have cases open. They have issues they want to talk about. They want to enable their teams for success. So, our job is to connect with them and work with them. It’s a lot of problem solving – trying to understand, troubleshoot, and give them the right path forward so they can succeed. I’m the front face for Salesforce for many of our customers – so they trust me to give them the right resources and help solve their issues.

And then, some days can be lighter! You can work on yourself, get more Salesforce certifications, help grow your career. Salesforce definitely gives you those resources which are readily available.

Any stories of Customer Success really stand out for you?

There was one customer that I helped onboard from start to finish on Hyperforce – a new enablement platform. [Editor’s Note: Hyperforce is our next-generation Salesforce infrastructure architecture, built for the public cloud.] There are so many advantages – it’s faster, more efficient, and their data residency is specific to the data centers in their region.

My customer was scheduled for Hyperforce migration but wasn’t sure if they needed it. So, I enabled them, gave them all the resources and documentation, and went through the benefits Hyperforce could offer. It ultimately took nine months – but I can definitely say the finish line was worth it.

We laugh – now that they’re on Hyperforce, they’re like, ‘Oh, this is great … why didn’t we do this earlier?’

What does success look like in your role?

In the Customer Success Group, success is based on how we’re supporting our customers – are we connecting with them on a daily or weekly basis, are we getting them ready for our upcoming releases, are we preparing them for new features?

Another area where I feel like we can be successful is learning about new tools and resources. Salesforce really cares about enabling its employees to be successful – we have tons of resources available online and on different Slack channels, even internally on Concierge (our internal employee resource).

How do you feel like you were set up to be successful?

When I was hired, the enablement journey, to be honest, was great. I was given the right resources. I was connected with the right people. I had the right tools. I was even assigned a Trail Guide (an informal mentor for every Salesforce new hire). He offered weekly check-ins where he walked me through everything – how to operate Slack, how to run dashboards, how to work in Quip, where to find the right resources for customer cases, and more. I think enablement is something Salesforce spends a lot of time and resources on – and it helps our internal employees, and ultimately it also helps our customers, succeed.

Okay, you know we have to ask about the buzzword on everyone’s mind: AI. How is AI impacting your role or Salesforce generally?

Salesforce actually started in AI years ago when we launched Einstein, so that’s not new. But today, with the new technology and resources, we’re going full-speed with generative AI. We’re innovating new products and features that will help our customers grow and be successful in their industry. And at that core is Trust – with generative AI, we’re putting a lot of time and resources into making sure Trust is baked into all our product and services.

Last question: What advice do you have for job seekers?

If someone wants a career in tech, two things come to mind: they need passion, and they need to be unafraid of failure. Failure, honestly, should be the number one factor for you to succeed in any career you do. You can’t be afraid of challenges. If you don’t fail, you won’t learn.