Not-for-Profit Navigator
With Nicole Aebi-Moyo - SalesFix For Purpose Practice Lead
At the end of True Blue Blazing last week, we asked the room one question: what’s one thing you’ll do tomorrow as a result of what you learnt today?
Two words towered over everything else: ask why.
“Sleep” also made a strong showing. After a full day at Marvel Stadium with over 40 speakers, I’m not judging.
If you’ve read the Nonprofit Navigator at any point this year, you’ll have seen True Blue Blazing sitting at the bottom of every edition under “Coming up”. Well, it’s been and gone. So this month I want to unpack those two words, and the thing that got 300+ people to them: each other.
Before we get into it though, I do want to thank everyone on the organising committee who came together to organise such an amazing event. I was proud to be part of the committee again this year and can’t wait to do it all again!
A Keynote With No Keynote Speaker
True Blue Blazing is Melbourne’s Salesforce community event, built by volunteers, for anyone that uses or plays with Salesforce, with a firm no-sales-pitch rule. This year it was the Victory Room at Marvel Stadium on 20 October, with over 300 people through the door.
The opening plenary did something different. Instead of one polished speaker on stage, the room became the keynote. Tables talked through what blocks transformation, then what unblocks it, and their answers were pulled together live on screen. I hosted the panel with Amanda Nuttall , Arnaud Cherval and Christopher Nugent as guests, but honestly, the tables did most of the work.
Our live scribe, Debbie Wood , captured it on screen as we went. A few lines that stuck with me:
• Shiny doesn’t mean done.
• Get curious before you resist.
• Transformation never ends.
The blockers were named by peers, not consultants, which is exactly why it worked: you believe the person at your table who’s lived through the same mess.
Back in February’s edition, I said the NFP sector is famously generous with advice. This was that generosity, in one room.
The Dangerous Question
Kristyna Turner‘s session, The Power of Why, opened with what she called the most dangerous question in delivery: “Can you just…?”
Can you just add a field? Can you just build a dashboard? Can we just add AI?
There’s almost always a why hiding behind the what. Her example was a request for a simple checkbox to track follow-ups. Easy. Until someone asked why, and it turned out different teams followed up in different ways, the reports conflicted and there were duplicate records everywhere. The checkbox would have papered over all of it.
Or this one, which I hear more and more:
“We need Agentforce.” Why? “We need AI.” Why? “We need to improve customer service.”
Now there’s a problem worth solving.
Kristyna’s point is that asking why isn’t about finding a reason to say no. It’s about finding the right yes.
That theme also flowed through the session that Lauren Stewart, Mrudula Vadem, Wyan Carter and I ran. We talked about four themes that ran through the entire project process from sales all the way through to business as usual.
Why was top of the list.
Why do you need a new CRM? Why do you need that feature? Why do it now?
Until you can come up with a good why and a good metric to go along with the why, then maybe you’re not ready.
Your User Is the Goal
Dan Godden came at it from the other side. Meet Thea, his end user. Thea isn’t a step in the transformation. Thea is the goal.
You can’t roll people out, so stop talking about rolling out technology. And if Thea doesn’t have a compelling reason why, she won’t push through the discomfort of change. Telling her she’ll get “a 360 view of her stakeholders” means nothing. Telling her she can go on leave knowing her team can pick up her work straight away? That she’ll understand.
If you work in case management, swap Thea for your caseworkers. In fundraising, your supporter care team. Same rule.
Richard Phillips, reflecting on 100 customer journeys, added two more. Watch what people actually do, not what they say they want, because we’re all terrible at predicting our own behaviour. And your customisations are a monument to the things you’re most reluctant to change. (If you read March’s edition on not dragging the mess across to Agentforce Nonprofit, you’ll know why I nearly cheered.)
Why This Matters for NFPs
Most NFPs I work with don’t have spare budget for building the wrong thing. Asking why is the cheapest insurance you’ll ever buy.
It’s also how you connect a technology request to something your Board actually cares about: more fundraising revenue, better client outcomes, or staff time given back. And don’t skip the follow-up question: what happens if we do nothing? Sometimes the answer is “not much”, and that’s useful to know too.
It’s the same reason we push so hard on discovery at SalesFix. Asking the dumb-sounding question early costs a lot less than building the wrong thing well.
If you want something to try tomorrow, pinch Kristyna’s three questions for the next request that lands on your desk:
1. What problem are we solving?
2. Why does it matter?
3. How will we know we’ve solved it?
Get in the Room
None of this came from a white paper. It came from people sharing what went wrong, at tables, over coffee and in the queue for lunch.
You don’t need to wait a year for the next True Blue Blazing. User groups run all year round, they’re free, and they’re full of people who’ve already made the mistake you’re about to make. Find one, and bring your questions.
If you’d like help finding your why, I’m here to help. We even have a shiny tool to help you focus and define the metrics. Hit me up for a play.
If you need any assistance understanding anything in this edition of NFP Navigator please reach out, I am always happy to help. And if you think someone you know would like to read this edition, share away!
Until next time,
Nicole
Coming Up
- Melbourne Nonprofit User Group: December 10, celebrate the end of the year in person at the Salesforce office in Melbourne.
- True Blue Blazing: stand by for news about when we’ll be doing this all again!
Australian Salesforce user groups
If you use Salesforce and you’re not part of a user group, you’re missing out! There’s over 30 groups in Australia and New Zealand alone, and many now meet online so there’s no excuse for not joining in and finding out more.