Case Study: Subcontractor Salesforce CRM Remediation

Case study: subcontractor Salesforce CRM remediation

Anonymized representative project. Client details withheld.

Client profile

An MEP subcontractor with ~25 office staff and multiple service lines. Salesforce had been implemented years earlier by a generic partner. Field and office teams had largely abandoned it; pipeline tracking reverted to spreadsheets.

The problem

Low adoption — Estimators and PMs called Salesforce "extra work"
Over-customization — Conflicting automations broke when anyone changed a field
Unreliable reporting — Leadership couldn't trust win/loss or backlog numbers
Wrong stages — Pipeline didn't reflect subcontractor bid workflow (invitation → scope review → estimate → submit → follow-up)
No integration — Awarded work manually entered elsewhere

What Black Forge did

Our remediation team followed a phased approach:

Diagnostic (2 weeks) — Mapped real workflow vs. current config; identified broken automations and unused fields
Simplify foundation — Retired conflicting automations; standardized objects and required fields
Rebuild pipeline — Stages matched to sub bid workflow with clear ownership
Role-based dashboards — BD, estimating lead, and executive views built with client input
Training sprint — Short role-specific sessions focused on "what's in it for me"
Hypercare (4 weeks post-launch) — Daily tune based on real usage feedback

Results

Adoption restored — Weekly active users increased within the first month of relaunch
Trustworthy forecast — Leadership used Salesforce dashboards in weekly pipeline meetings
Reduced admin burden — Fewer required fields; automations handled status updates
Roadmap for integration — Phase two scoped Procore connection

Key lesson

The subcontractor didn't need a new platform—they needed a construction-focused rebuild that matched how subs actually pursue and track work.

See signs your Salesforce isn't working if this sounds familiar.