Learn Salesforce: The Ultimate List of Salesforce Training Resources
There is a point where you really make the decision – “I’m going to learn Salesforce”. You either started as a business user and fell in love with the platform, you heard about how great a job in Salesforce can be, or maybe you’re employer dumped Salesforce on your IT department and you took ownership of the platform.
No matter how you got to this decision, you are undoubtedly asking these same questions: Where do I go to learn? What blogs should I follow? How should I study for the exam? But don’t worry, everyone started in the same position you are now. As a matter of fact, this list was created with selfish intentions – I made the decision to learn Salesforce – and I was looking for answers to my own questions.
Mainly:
- How can I best prepare for the certification exams?
- What blogs should I be reading to learn admin, development, and sales, service, and marketing concepts?
- Are there any pre-packaged courses I can take, and what are the best trailhead resources?
The post you’re reading is the result of scanning the internet for hours upon hours looking for those answers. Along the way, I discovered some really awesome resources and more importantly – the awesome Salesforce community.
I hope you find these resources as helpful as I have. If there’s anyway i can improve this list be sure to let me know!
Happy learning,
Inspiration
Just in case you needed a few more reasons to get started!
- How Five Certifications Can Change Your Career
- The Salesforce Jobs Market Couldn’t Be Better
- Campfire Stories By Stacey Cogswell & Justice Sikikane
- SFDC99 Reader Success Stories
Admins
There’s no better way to start your Salesforce journey than to learn how to administer the platform. Whether you plan on becoming an apex ninja or automating customer journeys – you need to have a grasp on the platform as a whole. Who knows, you may even find out that being an admin is where you thrive!
Information and Insights
- The Most Successful Way to Become a Certified Salesforce Administrator
- How to Pass the Salesforce Admin Exam Using Trailhead
- Salesforce Administrator Exam Resources
- The Admin to Admin Academy
- Shell Black’s Whiteboard Video Series
- Salesforce Administrator exam Preparation & Exam Taking Strategy
- The Salesforce Handbook
- The Most Important Word in the Admin Dictionary
- You Shall Not Pass: Dealing With Salesforce Certification Failure
Blogs
Courses – Quizzes – Trailhead
- The Complete Salesforce Administrator Certification Course with Mike Wheeler
- Salesforce Administration Certification Training on Simplilearn with Ben McCarthy
- Certified on Demand – Salesforce Admin Training
- Quizlet – Practice Quizzes for Salesforce Admins
- Trailhead – The Minimum Effective Dose Trail
Developers
Learning Salesforce development can be hard. Visualforce? Apex? Triggers? There are enough new concepts to make even the most confident developer’s head spin, but don’t let that hold you back. If you take the time to learn it all you will look back and be happy you did.
Information and Insights
- Salesforce Certified Platform Developer I – Official Study Guide
- Step-by-step guide to becoming a Salesforce developer this year!
- Platform Developer I Certification Guide & Tips
- Certified Salesforce Platform Developer Certification
- Salesforce Developer Console Quick Start Guide
Blogs
- SFDC 99
- Woman Code Heroes
- Bob Buzzard
- Andy in the Cloud
- Salesforce Hacker
- Jeff Douglas
- Teach Me Salesforce
- I Write Crappy Code
- Salesforce Ninja
- Nerd @ Work
Courses – Quizzes – Trailhead
- David Liu’s Apex Academy
- Salesforce Platform Developer 1 Practice Exams
- Trailhead – Prepare for Your Salesforce Platform Developer 1 Credential
Consultants
When it comes to consulting I wanted to take a bit of a different approach. I’ve broken down the consulting into the 3 pillars of Salesforce: sales, service, and marketing. Within these sections, you will find articles, blogs, courses, quizzes, and trailhead modules that will not only help you learn Salesforce but the respective fields themselves.
With that being said, you will see blogs and thought-leadership from companies that are not directly affiliated with Salesforce (some are even competitors) but put out incredible content in their respective fields (Sales, Marketing, and Customer Service).
Marketing Cloud Consultant
Salesforce’s Marketing Cloud is a premier marketing automation platform and has been steadily gaining market share. The training resources are few and far between but that makes anything you learn that much more valuable. Here are some resources to get you started:
Information and Insights
- Marketing Cloud Email Specialist Certification Study Notes
- Marketing Cloud Email Specialist Certification Guide & Tips
- Customers prefer self-service: Here’s how to do it right
- Instapage’s $30,000 Lead Nurturing Journey
- Email Marketing Best Practices from Salesforce
- Best Practices for Marketing Managers from Salesforce
Blogs
Courses – Quizzes – Trailhead
- Trailhead – Personalize Consumer Engagement at Scale With Marketing Cloud
- Pardot Training with Automation Champion
Sales Cloud Consultant
When you think of Salesforce, you probably are actually thinking of Sales Cloud – Salesforce’s customer relationship management(CRM) offering. At this point, if you’re working with Salesforce people are going to expect that you have a thorough understanding of the main thing people come to Salesforce for…
This is not limited to administering the system, but actually understanding how a sales process works and the pain-points you’re actually solving for sales teams.
Information and Insights
- Best Practices for Sales Managers
- Salesforce Certification Series: Sales Cloud Consultant
- Certified Sales Cloud Consultant – Official Study Guide
- How to Study for the Salesforce Sales Cloud Certification
- How to Get Better, Faster, Smarter Sales Documents With Automation Technology
- Sales Cloud Exam Resources
Blogs
Courses – Quizzes – Trailhead
- Salesforce Certified Sales Cloud Consultant Course with Mike Wheeler
- Trailhead – Getting Started with CRM Basics
Service Cloud Consultant
Service Cloud is a close runner-up to Sales Cloud in terms of total market penetration – and is growing rapidly. From 2016-2017 Service Cloud revenue grew 26%! What does that mean to you? More customers = More demand for consultants!
Information and Insights
- How to Become a Service Cloud Consultant
- How to Pass the Service Cloud Consultant Exam
- Official Salesforce Case Implementation Guide
- Salesforce Service Cloud Consultant Certification (a Study Guide?)
- How to Study for the Salesforce Service Cloud Consultant Exam
- 6 Reasons to Store Customer Feedback in Salesforce
Blogs
Courses – Quizzes – Trailhead
Special Mention
For the Twitter users out there, here is a running list of all the Salesforce MVPs on Twitter – go follow them!
Time to Get to Work
Now that you have these resources it’s time to get to work. Whether you are just starting out or looking to brush up on your skills, just remember – there has never been a better time to learn Salesforce.
About Shane Rostad
Shane Rostad is a marketing manager for TriFin Labs that loves to share his knowledge and learnings about tech through writing. When he's not reading you can find him exploring Florida's parks or loitering in a local coffee shop.