With 17 new advocates added to the MVP program this Spring, and with the opportunity to become a Summer MVP not far away, have you ever wondered what it takes to be a Salesforce Most Valuable Professional, what is the drive behind becoming an MVP and how much passion does it take to receive such an accolade? As I am not an MVP myself, I feel I am unable to answer these questions so I turned to the MVP superstars themselves for answers.
First of all, when I ask what MVPs are and what they mean to Salesforce, there is only one person who could truly answer this question – Marc Benioff. So I was super pleased that he gave me his thought when I asked him what MVPs, mean to him and to Salesforce – “The MVPs are the heart and soul of the user community”. 
Wow! Now after that lovely MVP acknowledgement from the top man himself, it’s time to look at some MVP journeys, advice and experinces from the MVPs themselves. So grab a cup o’ tea and prepared to be inspired.
…I didn’t become active in the community to become an MVP. I became active because I felt like I needed to give back. I first found the community in 2005 when I came to a User Group in NYC needing some serious help. The people at this group helped me… I will never be able to express to someone in words how that made me feel. I was a 24 year old secretary…with not much to my name wanting to make something of myself. I had nothing to offer these people in return for their kindness. Until… I presented for the first time…
I found I loved talking about salesforce…In 2012..I started presenting more, going to more events, answering questions on #askforce and on the community…I felt like I finally had something to give back….
…my biggest tip…get involved because you want to help…lead or you like answering questions or blogging… You will get noticed and when the time is right it will happen…
…My advice for those interested in becoming a Salesforce MVP is consistency : try to spend some time every day/week/whatever on the community and make sure to stick to it…Above all, quality – low quality activity is unlikely to cut it, even in huge volumes – there needs to be some thought leadership and original thinking in there.
…I was invited to the program because of my work with the Salesforce Girly Geeks but I’ve maintained it for the last two years because of my work with AppExchange partners.
For those interested in becoming an MVP I advise them to reach out to an existing MVP and ask for mentoring…MVPs are also making huge efforts to increase diversity… we’d love to see more MVPs from Europe, Asia, Canada and South America…I encourage everyone who’s interested to become part of it!
I think, chances are, you should already feel like an MVP before you are recognised as one by Salesforce. Feeling like a valued member of the community… being recognised online and in real life… all made me feel “most valuable” even without the title.
Once you are recognised, I think there is perhaps a month or two of utter panic in which you try to work out what made you worthy of such a title…Then you get to know more of the existing MVPs and the Salesforce relations team…You soon realise to just keep doing what you’re doing…
What it takes to become an MVP is participation in the community. Not just http://success.salesforce.com but the broader.com. Also, I believe a healthy dose of humility, humor, and a willingness to “say the hard things” back to SFDC helps. Oh, and as for how I became one….no idea. It’s still a bit of a shock…
One of the most important things I would say is that in the beginning although I thought it would be cool to be an MVP, I would never say that was my aim when getting involved in the community. I always enjoyed sharing my knowledge, helping others and contributing to Salesforce as a community member. Since I became part of the program, a lot of people have asked me “how do I become an MVP?”. My response is always to do as much as you can, in as many channels as you can, that can benefit the most people…
…I just fell in love with Salesforce the first time I saw it in 2002 – seriously, I felt like I had a dream job when they asked me to admin…In 2010…I was asked about participating in the MVP program, but I declined as I need to focus on figuring out motherhood first. Well, my son was diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum in 2013, and I had a lot of emotional energy that I had to put somewhere so I started using my Salesforce adventures as an outlet to help process my feelings… I finally agreed to be an MVP for Winter 14…
The requirement list to become an MVP…takes into consideration how public that person is in the salesforce community, social media, etc. At the same time, that person has to want to give without expectation….
If I were to advise others how to become an MVP, I’d say be yourself is #1….
These are just a snippet from some truly inspirational journeys kindly given to me from just a few superstar MVPs. So if you would like to read their full stories (I thoroughly recommend you do) click here.
A huge thank you to those who have shared their tips, advice and journeys with me and others. You are amazing!
See you next week.
Jenny
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