Welcome to the fifth episode of Inside the Salesforce Ecosystem, where we highlight inspiring professionals shaping the Salesforce community. This time, we’re joined by Jack Linstead, Senior Managed Service Consultant at Alicorn Digital, an award-winning Digital Transformation Consultancy and Salesforce Partner. Jack shares his journey into Salesforce, insights into his role, and advice for aspiring professionals.
Check out the video on our YouTube channel to hear the full conversation.
Let’s get started!
Q: Can you tell us a little about yourself and your role? And how did your journey into Salesforce begin?
Jack: I’m the Senior Managed Service Consultant for Alicorn. I work with a lot of customers. My role now involves managing customer relationships, primarily in the property sector, and working on projects like Field Service Lightning and PDF templates with tools like PDF Butler and SIGN Butler.
I started in the Salesforce ecosystem back in 2011 after transitioning from standard IT support. I initially worked with consultancies locally but took a break from Salesforce to focus on IT support. However, I quickly realized that I missed the excitement and the challenges of Salesforce. It’s my specialty, and I’ve always been Salesforce-obsessed—Apex, Visualforce, flows, you name it. So, I re-entered the ecosystem and haven’t looked back since.
Q: What does a typical day look like for you at Alicorn?
Jack: I aim to focus on one client a day. I’m going to be managing multiple, but I try and just set myself to concentrate on one customer at a time because I feel I get a lot more traction that way. Whereas I feel sometimes if I split it out and have to do too many in a day, it can be a little bit tricky to navigate. December, in particular, is always a busy time, with clients wanting to complete Salesforce projects before the year ends.
Q: What has been one of the most rewarding moments of your career?
Jack: Honestly, working for Alicorn. I love working for the company and for Charlotte—it’s truly lovely. Recently, I won the Customer Ambassador Award for the second year in a row, which was an incredible moment for me.
What I enjoy most is understanding their businesses, learning what they need, and looking after our customers. That feeling of seeing a project through to the end and knowing they’re genuinely satisfied is what keeps me going.
Q: Can you share a project you’re particularly proud of?
Jack: One of my proudest projects was diving into Field Service Lightning for property teams. I was completely new to it, but I threw myself into learning everything—territories, scheduling, the Field Service Mobile App, and its configurations. I was initially apprehensive, but it turned out to be very rewarding. It reinforced my belief that sometimes you just have to jump in and trust the process.
Q: What are your strategies for enhancing customer service processes?
Jack: Communication is key. I make it a point to follow best practices and consistently check in with clients. For example, with sensitive tasks like data updates, I always confirm changes with the client to ensure everything is correct. This iterative approach helps avoid errors and builds trust. I also make sure to stay skilled up on different Salesforce clouds to meet the evolving needs of our clients.
Q: How do you stay updated with Salesforce’s rapid developments?
Jack: I read a lot about it. I actually have Salesforce books in my bedroom. They don’t tend to go out of date because everything in the cloud and Salesforce is just all relevant, which is great.
I rely on a mix of Salesforce documentation, Trailhead, and online forums from certain people who are experts in Salesforce. Salesforce documentation, in particular, is detailed and helpful, especially for technical challenges. I also enjoy diving straight into new features to learn hands-on, whether it’s Field Service or the latest AI enhancements like Agentforce.
Q: What advice would you give to someone starting out in the Salesforce ecosystem?
Jack: Start with foundational certifications like Admin and App Builder, then branch out to more advanced ones like Platform Developer I. That’s a really good one as well, hands on technical and it just let it just teaches you the, the Salesforce basics really the the rudimentary Salesforce stuff that you need to know as a consultant. Trailhead is an excellent resource to get your feet wet and see if Salesforce is the right fit for you.
It’s really important building a relationship with your customer, don’t hesitate to ask questions and build relationships with customers. Listening is key to understanding their needs and delivering the best solutions.
Q: How do you balance work and personal life?
Jack: Honestly, work-life balance is a challenge for me. I also do a lot of community work outside of my normal day-to-day job. Building websites for local organizations, giving churches Wi-Fi, providing tech support, and more. It’s rewarding but can be exhausting. I do try to take breaks and disconnect whenever possible.
Thank you, Jack, for sharing your journey and insights with us!
Stay tuned for more episodes of Inside the Salesforce Ecosystem as we continue to spotlight inspiring Trailblazers.
