How to Roll Out Slack With Salesforce: Owners, Ground Rules and a Phased Plan

How do you roll out Slack with Salesforce?

Start with one sales team. Connect the free Slack workspace to Salesforce, review your Salesforce permissions, and move a pilot team's internal conversations into Slack with the basics turned on. Add automation once you're on a paid plan, turn on Slackbot after the permissions review, and expand to the rest of the company based on what worked.

Because Salesforce customers can now connect a Slack workspace at no extra cost, the pilot can start on the free plan. Costs only grow as you add features that need a paid plan.

What does Salesforce need before you start?

The basics run on the contacts and accounts you already have. Looking up records in Slack, record previews, change alerts and customer channels all work with a Salesforce that holds mostly contacts.

The automation and AI need more. Forms, approvals, pipeline summaries and Slackbot's answers depend on deals, quotes and customer activity being in Salesforce. If those still live in spreadsheets, plan to move them in as part of the rollout.

Who should own a Slack and Salesforce rollout?

Name four owners before launch. In a smaller company one person may cover more than one role.

Slack workspace: sets up Slack, the channel rules and what can be shared with outside companies.
Salesforce and data: owns the connection, the permissions review, duplicate cleanup and what goes into Salesforce.
Automation and AI: maintains the forms, alerts, approvals and AI settings.
Sign-off: reviews the pilot and approves each next phase.

What ground rules should you set before launch?

Slack gets messy fast when everyone creates channels their own way. Agree on these before the pilot team starts:

Channel naming for team, customer and deal channels, so people can find them.
Which channels are private, and who decides.
A policy for channels shared with outside companies, including what can be posted there.
When deal channels get closed out, so old deals don't clutter the sidebar.

What does a phased Slack rollout look like?

Phase 1: Connect and secure

Connect the free Slack workspace to Salesforce. Review Salesforce permissions, set how much detail shared record previews show, and decide how sharing with outside companies works.

Phase 2: Move one sales team onto Slack

Move the pilot team's internal conversations from email and text into channels, with the basics turned on: Salesforce in Slack, record previews, change alerts, shared channels and key account channels. Train the team before launch so they know where conversations go.

Phase 3: Add automation

Move to a paid plan, then add the first forms, approvals and reminders. Expand what you keep in Salesforce at the same time, since automation only works on data that's there.

Phase 4: Turn on Slackbot

Turn on Slackbot for the pilot team once the permissions review is done. Slackbot works within each user's existing Salesforce permissions, so the review comes first.

Phase 5: Try on-request reports

Once your deals are in Salesforce, let managers try asking Slackbot for reports, like open quotes by region, instead of building them by hand.

Phase 6: Expand to the rest of the company

Roll out to other teams based on what worked for the pilot. Bring over the channel rules, the forms people actually used and the training.

What slows a Slack rollout down?

Deals living outside Salesforce. Automation and AI wait on the data.
Permissions nobody has reviewed in years. The AI can't go live until they're fixed.
No channel rules. Teams create duplicate channels and lose track of conversations.
No named owner. Forms and alerts break and nobody fixes them.

Where does Apexify help?

We implement and clean up Salesforce for corporate teams across Canada and the United States, and we cover the systems connected to it, including Slack. For a Slack rollout, that usually means:

Review: assessing your Salesforce data, permissions and processes.
Data: merging duplicates and setting up the deal, quote and activity records the automation and AI need.
Development and customization: customizing Salesforce around how your team works, and building the integrations and custom features that Slack and Salesforce don't include out of the box.

If you're looking at getting a new Salesforce instance for your company, we specialize in enterprise implementations.

Frequently asked questions

Can we roll out Slack to one team first?

Yes. Starting with one sales team keeps costs low and shows which features people actually use before the wider rollout.

Do we need a paid Slack plan to start?

No. Salesforce customers can connect a free Slack workspace at no extra cost. Automation and the full Slackbot need a paid plan.

Should we turn on Slackbot right away?

Turn it on after the Salesforce permissions review. Slackbot works within each user's existing Salesforce permissions, so loose permissions become visible quickly.

Does Slack replace email?

Slack replaces most internal email and texting. Email with customers and outside contacts usually stays, though Slack's shared channels can replace some of it.

How long does a rollout take?

It depends mostly on how much of your sales data is already in Salesforce and how clean it is. Companies with deals and quotes in Salesforce can move through the phases faster.

Get the full guide to Slack and Salesforce

This is the final post in our five-part series on Slack and Salesforce. Our free guide, 14 Things Slack Can Do for You Once It's Connected to Your Salesforce, covers 14 things Slack can do with Salesforce, how security and costs work, and what it takes to roll it out.

Download the free guide, or book a 30-minute call with our team to plan your rollout.

Sources

Salesforce, "Slack is the AI work platform for every Salesforce customer, ready on day one": https://www.salesforce.com/news/linked-content/slack-is-the-ai-work-platform-for-every-salesforce-customer-ready-on-day-one/
Slack, "Pricing and plans": https://slack.com/pricing
Slack, "Implementation guide: Salesforce in Slack": https://d34u8crftukxnk.cloudfront.net/slackpress/prod/sites/6/Implementation-Guide-Salesforce-in-Slack_V1.pdf
Slack Help Center, "Security for Salesforce channels": https://slack.com/help/articles/32675871067283-Security-for-Salesforce-channels