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Training your team on Salesforce should be a priority. User enablement has been proven critical to the success of any CRM implementation project, and Salesforce CRM, with its many capabilities and expansive user interface, is certainly no exception. Training is included in the final part of CRM implementation, but often overlooked during busy periods of technical transformation. While getting the Salesforce build done is essential and a justified distraction, it is worth taking time to pause, in order to prepare yourself and your team for training. Why should management care about training and preparation for it? Training is a proven way to increase system adoption, which in turn will raise your chances of making a Return on Investment (ROI) on your Salesforce investment. There are two reasons for this: users’ productivity will ultimately drive revenue, and data input will feedback richer business insights in return. This post covers 6 guidelines, to work on in advance. By the day your training session finally comes around, time during the session will be spent more wisely, in a nicer atmosphere for learning, free of tensions and frustrations. You play a big part in making training effective to reach your desired outcomes, which will come apparent here onwards.
Setting a training date may seem obvious - so obvious, in fact, that you may be tempted to stop reading right now. But don’t! As we mentioned in the introduction, training is frequently overlooked, and unfortunately too easy to postpone. Training should be treated as a key project milestone, and should never be left too late, especially not after users are expected to use the tool. Commit to a date, get it blocked out in all participant calendars, and keep the momentum in the run-up to the date.
How will you be assessing the trainer? You don’t have to sound skeptical or patronising when defining trainer assessment. Trainers will appreciate a pragmatic approach to the topic, as this sets expectations and a benchmark for something that is otherwise subjective. No nasty surprises for either party. What metrics could you hold your trainer accountable for? Do you want to use user reviews on the session content, or leave it down to the system to give you numbers on logins, logged activity and data input?
Trainers will seldom suggest groups larger than 8 participants, and should not be pressured to compromise for the sake of saving a slice of budget. The ideal size depends on many different factors, but a good way to find a natural split is by looking at these factors in particular:
Once you know your participants and are familiar with their competencies, we suggest that everyone gets up to speed. Salesforce Trailhead is ‘the fun way to learn Salesforce’, a series of interactive learning modules, with an emphasis placed on gamification. The module on CRM Basics will give everyone foundational knowledge on Salesforce Lightning and CRM in general.
Encourage everyone to set aside some time to list down the responsibilities within their role. Think especially about the day-to-day tasks that are roadblocks to your efficiency. Which ones are so tedious, you put off doing them?Many of these functions will be moving into Salesforce, and your list can serve as a checklist during training for what you need to cover. At the close of the session, you should ask yourself: ‘am I comfortable carrying out these tasks in Salesforce?’ This exercise plays on users’ self-interest to craft their own training motivations. If something isn’t intuitive to carry out, encourage users to flag this. Most consultancies are happy to do minor tweaks to the user interface after go-live based on end-user feedback.
Going through all of this preparation, the last thing you will want to happen is not having suitable physical space to have the training. You will need a room, with a screen or projector, and a whiteboard/flipchart if possible. Don’t forget to arrange equipment such as laptops in advance - the most impactful training sessions are hands-on and would be a shame to revert last minute.Training your team on Salesforce should be made a priority, as it is a proven way to increase system adoption, which in turn paves the way for a higher and faster Return on Investment (ROI) on your Salesforce investment. While tailoring training content is the job of your Salesforce consultant, there are responsibilities on the client-side to optimise the training experience. These responsibilities have been covered in this post in 6 guideline ideas; by following them, you will hopefully prepare your team for a more productive and engaging session.About EMPAUAWhichever stage you are at in your Salesforce journey, we, at EMPAUA, are interested in hearing about your business as you start your business transformation. As a gold Salesforce Implementation Partner, we have worked closely with our hypergrowth customers to ensure they are setup to scale with the Salesforce platform. With 50 employees based in offices across London, Berlin, Barcelona, Madrid & Zurich, we are proud of our diverse Salesforce knowledge and experience. Not getting the most of your Salesforce setup? Get in touch with a consultant.
