Boyer & Associates’ fast-growing CRM team has yet another new face: former Microsoft rep and experienced consultant Josh Herscheid joined the team in February.
A small-town Nebraska native with a passion for helping small businesses succeed, Herscheid always knew he wanted to be in business. While he was growing up, his parents owned a small business and taught him the value of hard work and entrepreneurship.
“I’m a very entrepreneurial person. I’ve always been very fascinated by startups and helping companies grow with new technology,” he said. “Being in at the ground level of a new practice is a perfect fit for me.”
His passion for business and technology drove him to get a bachelor’s degree in business and economics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and eventually led him to Microsoft.
At Microsoft’s Fargo, N.D. office, Herscheid worked in sales and account management with a focus on Dynamics 365 software. That’s where he met his now fiancée, Kaiyah.
In 2017, he moved to Minneapolis to be closer to Kaiyah and accepted a job at Microsoft CRM partner PowerObjects. There he oversaw multi-million-dollar enterprise projects and met a key member of what is now Boyer’s CRM team — He and Matt Fleming worked together on an implementation project for enterprise giant C.H. Robinson.
At the end of the two-year implementation, the clients and partners involved in the project had become such good friends that they still stay in touch via text and get together for virtual happy hours.
“Building those lifelong relationships with our clients is something I’m very proud of,” Herscheid said.
At Boyer & Associates, Herscheid’s role on the CRM team is to oversee active CRM projects and work closely with Microsoft sellers. His experience leading Dynamics projects of all shapes and sizes makes him the perfect fit for the position.
He has wasted no time getting to work on several in-progress projects. He is enjoying the move from enterprise implementations to smaller-scale projects with “the small mom and pop companies.”
“Definitely a passion of mine is helping these small and medium-sized businesses grow and modernize,” he said.
One company he’s working with has minimal staff but wants to expand. With the Power Platform toolset, Herscheid and the rest of his team can put the technology in place — at the right cost — for the company to grow.
“He has wanted to grow his company forever and hasn’t been able to because he’s been handcuffed with the technology and hasn’t been confident enough that he can scale,” Herscheid said. “This (project) is going to transform his business. That’s the type of stuff I love.”
Herscheid is helping another company migrate from a 1980s legacy system into a modern toolset and overseeing a nonprofit project — one of more than 70 nonprofits Boyer supports.
“That has been very refreshing … Helping people like that is a lot more gratifying,” he said.
Part of what Herscheid loves about his new job is “being the voice of the customer and … truly figuring out what is best for them.” Determining the best implementation process and technology for each client starts with understanding their needs and goals.
Microsoft’s recent restructuring of the price model for its business application solutions has greatly reduced the cost barrier for these smaller companies, Herscheid added.
“Now more than ever the Microsoft technology can truly serve small and medium-sized businesses with the agility of the Power Platform … and how quickly these applications can be built and implemented,” he said.
His background as a Microsoft rep gives him a unique perspective on what partners should — and shouldn’t — do. His goal is to shape the entire customer experience to ensure a smooth process for both new clients and the Microsoft reps involved. He wants his former colleagues at Microsoft to have confidence they are putting their customers into capable hands.
Herscheid currently lives in Maple Grove with his fiancée and their two dogs. He and Kaiyah plan to marry in June 2022. The couple loves traveling and managed to fit in a trip to Thailand before the pandemic hit. They also love camping and boating and recently purchased a 1985 ski boat so they can fully enjoy Minnesota’s thousands of lakes.
A true Nebraska native, Herscheid is a fan of the Nebraska Cornhuskers and fellow Nebraska native Warren Buffet.