Didn’t Know Your Salesforce Tool Could do That?

Measuring the Effectiveness of Your Software Training Program

Do any of these comments sound familiar when you think about the employees at your organization using Salesforce?

What is the point of using this program-the reports aren’t telling me anything useful.

Why do I need to waste so much time putting in this information-no one is using it.

I’m in sales, why am I wasting time with data entry?

Why isn’t Salesforce helping us achieve the goals they said it would?

Or one of the most common- “Oh, I didn’t know Salesforce could do that!”

If you recently introduced Salesforce CRM to your organization or are adding an upgrade, you could be dealing with a lot of resistance when it comes to the new change. But a strong training and change management plan could help save your investment.

One of the biggest issues that our clients here at TrainingFolks are dealing with have to do with the actual understanding behind the software’s capabilities. This is usually due to a poor training experience or simply the wrong content being presented during the initial training process.

Simply put, if an employee can’t see the personal benefits from using the Salesforce platform then they won’t be motivated to do so.

Designing the right training program can make all the difference and is not something that is cookie-cutter. Instead, a truly customized approach should be considered for optimal user adoption.

Here are some common training mistakes that organizations continue to make when it comes to new software implementation training.

When IT is the Trainer

Now there is no doubt that your IT team members are likely Salesforce experts. But, does that mean that they are experts at using the tool specifically as each end user will need to? Can you IT Manager for example create engaging training that will explain to Sales how to use the tool specifically for maximizing each sales call made while also showing Marketing how to use the data that is captured to further enhance their content marketing strategy? In the cases where IT is the trainer, companies have opted for a more blanketed approach to training on the software. Showing users how to navigate, walking them through the functionality and providing assistance on how to pull reports are all helpful but not enough to take employees to the next step towards adoption.

Generic Training Modules

Another training hazard occurs when companies decide to use generic training modules to walk employees through any new software including Salesforce. Whether its Salesforce Sales Cloud, Salesforce Marketing Cloud or any other SaaS based product providing the details is what counts. When providing off-the-shelf training around the products you’re not able to give the end user specific answers to their unique questions in some cases. You’re also not developing the training to meet your audience’s learning needs. Let’s say your training involves 4 hours of in-class training but your new customer service team is comprised mostly of Millennials. How far do you think your training is going to go without any video, gamification or social aspects involved? Providing a customized approach however, would address learning styles in the design stage.

No Training!

Although this sounds absolutely insane its not far off base! In many cases a new employee may join the team and although they have Salesforce experience in their repertoire it doesn’t mean that they have the experience that they need to use the tool specifically for their role in your organization. Each company’s objectives, KPIs and reporting vary and therefore, so does the way in which a user will interact with any software program. Simply leaving the employee to figure it out or ask around if they have questions is another recipe for disaster.

So hopefully by how you also see the value in providing a highly customized approach to your Salesforce CRM training program. But now the question is, what are the important elements to include in your customization?

Here are 5 Salesforce Training Best Practices:

1.  Talk to your audience, not at them.
2.  Create content that is based on real life situations.
3.  Engage your learners by adapting content to learning styles.
4.  Make sure you answer, “what’s in it for me?”
5.  Provide ongoing post-training support.

Download 4 Tips to Successfully Implementing Your Salesforce Training Today.

Before getting started on your new software implementation training or upgrade training, remember the important of a Training Needs Assessment.  Your Instructional Designer should be able to save you further hassle and course correct your current training if need be. From speaking to employees, themselves, to looking at the current process your learning gaps will be identified and filled with your newly designed training program. 

Download your free Training Needs Assessment Checklist here.

If you’re organization doesn’t have the internal resource you need or if your Instructional Design team is already overwhelmed with ongoing projects, working with an Instructional Design company like TrainingFolks could be the key to turning around your Salesforce problems.   We provide local talent that is not only Salesforce certified but is also highly skilled in specific industries and has real work experience using the tool. 

Help employees to understand how to better use the tools that the company has invested in to reach your KPIs today. We provide a no obligation meeting to discuss your specific needs and how to best approach a training solution to meet them effectively.