How to choose an implementation partner

First, decide what you are buying

There are three different products, and suppliers rarely say which one they sell.

Configuration. Someone builds what you specify. Cheap, fast, and only as good as your specification.

Implementation. Someone helps you decide the process, then builds it, migrates the data and trains the team. This is what most teams need.

Ongoing partnership. Implementation plus a monthly commitment for changes, reporting and new integrations. Useful when sales processes change often.

Write down which one you want before the first call. It changes every quote you get.

Nine questions that reveal the most

1. Which five reports will we have on day one?
2. Who cleans the data, and what exactly do you expect from us?
3. What is your import order, and how do you test it?
4. Which parts of our current process would you push back on?
5. Can you show a setup you built for a team like ours?
6. After handover, can our administrator change fields and automations alone?
7. What happens in the first month after go live, and is it included?
8. What is out of scope in this quote?
9. Who exactly will do the work, and have we met them?

Question four matters most. A partner who agrees with everything you say will build your current problems faster. You want someone who says a stage name is unclear before you pay them.

Answers that should worry you

We can build anything. Everything is possible in software, and possible is not the same as maintainable. You want to hear what they would not build.

We will map your existing fields one to one. That guarantees you carry old mistakes into a new system.

Training is a one hour session at the end. One session at the end is a demo, not training.

We handle everything, you do not have to do anything. Nobody can write your sales process for you. If they say they can, they will guess.

Comparing quotes properly

Never compare totals. Compare scope on six lines. Process work included or not. Number of pipelines and fields. Migration objects and record limits. Named integrations. Training hours split by audience. Aftercare period and response time.

When you put two quotes side by side on those six lines, price differences usually explain themselves. The cheaper quote is often a configuration job with the migration excluded.

Credentials, and what they actually prove

Pipedrive runs a tiered partner programme. Higher tiers require certification and delivered volume. That proves the supplier is not learning on your project.

It does not prove fit. A partner with a hundred small implementations may have never done a Salesforce migration. Ask for two references with the same starting point as you, and call one of them.

We explain what the top tier badge means, and what it does not, on the page about the Platinum Partner badge.

Local or remote

For teams in the EU and UK, remote delivery is normal and works well. What matters more than location is time zone overlap, working language, and whether they understand your VAT, currency and data protection context.

Ask where your data is processed and who has access. Under the GDPR you need a processing agreement. Any serious partner sends one without being chased.

The trial that costs almost nothing

Before a large project, buy a small piece of work. A half day process session with a written summary. A review of a setup you already built.

You will learn more about a supplier in that half day than in three proposals. If the summary is sharp and uncomfortable in the right places, they can do the rest.

Where we stand

This site is run by Sales-Surge B.V., a Pipedrive Platinum Partner and a top 8 Pipedrive partner worldwide (July 2026). We are one option, and we are not the right one for every team.

If your process is simple and your data is clean, read DIY versus hiring a partner first. Doing it yourself is often the correct answer.

Questions