Meet the Right Team to Help You Get the Most from Your Salesforce Implementation

Learn how our Salesforce team has the proper knowledge, skills, and approach for your Salesforce needs.

The Takeaway: Centric’s Salesforce team has expertise, access to other Centric capabilities, and a people-first approach to optimize your Salesforce investment.

Why is it so hard to get the most out of Salesforce? Is it just me?: No, it’s not just you! Salesforce is an innovative platform with three major releases yearly and multiple cloud solutions. While that creates endless possibilities, it also means that many organizations struggle to identify the right tools and maximize their investments.

Sounds complicated. How can you help?: We combine decades of Salesforce experience with a people-first approach and the full scope of Centric’s other capabilities, including operational excellence, change management, data and analytics, and more.

How do I get started?: Read on to learn how Centric Consulting Salesforce Practice Lead Traci Whetzel and three members of her team — Salesforce Experience Cloud Lead Jennifer Elliott, Marketing Operations Lead Michael McNeal, and Salesforce Manager Dan Kraus — work together to transform businesses through strategic Salesforce solutions.

Even the most seasoned Salesforce users struggle with feeling that they aren’t tapping the tool’s full potential for their businesses. And in many cases, Whetzel said, they’re right.

“Salesforce has three major releases each year and an ever-expanding suite of capabilities,” Whetzel explained. “It’s an innovative platform that never stops evolving. While that creates endless possibilities for optimization, it also means that many organizations struggle to maximize their investments.”

About 60 percent of our Salesforce engagements are clients who already have Salesforce but need help with reimplementation, optimization or consolidation of multiple instances. The rest are clients who are new to Salesforce who we learn about through our strategic Salesforce partnerships.

However, all our Salesforce clients are looking the right partner and the right team to guide them to the right Salesforce Cloud solution. They may have previously worked with vendors who have only knew parts of the Salesforce suite and steered them to only those solutions, didn’t listen to their needs, or abandoned them after implementation. But with Centric, they get a partner who will:

• Assess the client’s needs accurately and with empathy
• Deliver extensive Salesforce product knowledge while advocating for the the client
• Access non-Salesforce resources to help with implementation, whether operational excellence, data and analytics, or change management

We Assess Clients’ Needs

“What sets our approach apart is that we don’t start with technology — we start with understanding your business,” Whetzel said. “We ask, ‘How do their processes relate to what they’re using Salesforce for today? In probably 99 percent of cases, clients are not using everything Salesforce could be used for, even though they have certain features and functionality.”

However, our assessment process sets it apart from competitors by focusing on actionable insights.

“We examine not just the technical configuration of your Salesforce environment, but how it aligns with your business processes,” Whetzel explains. “We identify unused features and functionality, assess licensing optimization opportunities, and often discover cost savings or licensing inefficiencies that our clients can address quickly.”

Our team relies on their experience with both sides of the client/consulting relationship quickly build trust, which is essential for successful Salesforce deployment. With that trust, we can match the client’s needs, business and culture to specific Salesforce Cloud solutions.

“No matter the client’s needs, our consultants have the specialized Salesforce knowledge to address them,” Whetzel said. “They can meet the clients where they are and help them implement the right Salesforce Cloud solution from start to finish.”

We Find the Right Salesforce Cloud

Jennifer Elliott is one of those experts. Specializing in Enterprise Cloud, she recently won the 2025 Outstanding Contribution to the Salesforce Community award from the International Digital Revolution Awards.

The award recognized her work with Apparo, a nonprofit that matches IT professionals with agencies needing their skills. Using Experience Cloud, she led a team of Centric experts to build a site for processing emergency assistance applications from the Crisis Assistance Ministry of Gastonia, North Carolina.

Experience Cloud’s templates, drag-and-drop components, custom themes, and core Salesforce capabilities helped Elliott’s team develop custom screen flows and create a searchable database that led to a 138 percent increase in the number of applications processed.

“Elliott’s Salesforce clients consistently note how they love working with her because she strikes the perfect balance between technical expertise and client service,” Whetzel said. “She can present complex solutions with just minutes of preparation and approaches every project with thoughtful analysis and genuine care for client success.”

On the other hand, Michael McNeal specializes in Marketing Cloud, which delivers marketing automation and campaign management. In 2023, McNeal co-presented a breakout session at the prestigious Salesforce Dreamforce conference about a project he led for Southeast Toyota Finance.

Presenting at Dreamforce with Southeast Toyota’s Principal Manager of Marketing and Digital Experience, he explained how we helped the captive automotive finance company use multiplatform data to provide innovative touchpoints throughout the customer journey while providing key visualizations and insights.

“It’s interesting that all of us have some kind of arts training or education in our backgrounds, except for Mike,” said Whetzel. “He is a true engineer who brings extensive cross-industry experience to the team. That allows him to bring relevant examples and data-driven perspectives to any challenge, and his consistent, detailed approach means clients can count on him to deliver timely, well-thought-out solutions.”

Other members of Whetzel’s teams specialize in Sales Cloud, Service Cloud for case management and omnichannel marketing, and industry clouds, such as Financial Services Cloud and Manufacturing Cloud. Coupled with a tremendous offshore team that supports MuleSoft and Salesforce development. She looks to Dan Kraus to manage the relationship with Salesforce and help connect the dots for our clients.

“He’s our ‘professional glue guy,’” Whetzel said. “He focuses on connecting with Salesforce account executives and regional vice presidents to ensure our Centric and our clients are positioned appropriately. That strategic positioning means better support, faster issue resolution, and early access to new Salesforce capabilities.”

We Provide Full Service with Other Centric Capabilities

Once our Salesforce team identifies the right solution and assigns it to one of our Salesforce leads, they call on other teams to fill in the gaps.

“What truly differentiates our approach is our ability to integrate Salesforce work with broader organizational capabilities,” Whetzel said. “We regularly collaborate with our operational excellence teams for process improvement, our data and analytics team for reporting and insights, and our change management specialists for user adoption strategies.”

Whetzel noted that our integrated approach allows her team to deliver comprehensive business transformation support, not just a new or optimized Salesforce tool. Rather than prescribing solutions, the team takes time to understand each client’s unique context, industry and challenges.

All of which is augmented by our people-first approach.

“When we ask clients why they chose us, the answer consistently comes back to our people,” Whetzel said. “Our clients tell us, ‘You have the people we want to work with,’ or ‘You took time to understand us.’ We cherish that kind of feedback.”

But even more important is what happens after the optimization or implementation, when Whetzel and her colleagues help identify issues quickly, pivot effectively, address staffing needs, fill skill gaps, and facilitate difficult client conversations before issues become project-threatening problems.

“When you work with our Salesforce team, you’re not simply getting consultants — you’re getting partners who are invested in your success and equipped with the expertise, relationships and commitment to help you achieve it,” Whetzel said. “We’ll meet you where you are, solve problems instead of creating them, and support you through change so you can reap the benefits of your Salesforce solution.”

The Bottom Line: Stop Settling for “Good Enough” Salesforce

The difference between organizations that thrive with Salesforce and those that merely survive comes down to having the right guide. Of course, you need Salesforce expertise, but you also need a team that takes the time to understand your business and offers a deep bench of additional resources.

When you’re ready to make the most of your Salesforce investment, make sure you have the right partner to deliver the tools, knowledge and results your business deserves.

You can begin to take advantage of Salesforces’ features in a matter of days, and we are here to help. We are happy to assist with customization, solutions and change management. Let’s Talk