How to Get Your New Hires Up to Speed on Salesforce

Salesforce is a very powerful tool in the right hands. Salesforce Administrators are tasked with training new hires so that they are proficient with it. This isn’t always the smoothest of processes, and that’s due to a number of different reasons. While having inexperienced users can be a headache, proper training can eliminate many of the issues that Salesforce Administrators face today.  There will always be a few difficult employees in the bunch, but you can drastically cut down the amount of time you have to spend with new employees by following some simple and painless steps. Here are 5 of the easiest ways that you can train and educate your users to make them Salesforce masters in no time. 1. Educate Users about Salesforce Methodology You don’t want to just focus on what Salesforce is and what it has to offer. Take the time to talk about why Salesforce came to be and how it’s moving forward. If you cover the principles and company mission, your new employees will have a better understanding of why they are expected to use it. Too many administrators focus on the main bullet-points and forget that people like to know why they are learning what they are.  2. Train for the Task Salesforce is flexible enough to be used in a number of different ways, but that doesn’t mean that your new hires will have to master all of them. Think about the tasks that they will be performing and cater your training towards that. Ask yourself if it’s really necessary for them to learn something at this certain point and time in order to perform their job well. If it’s not, then it should be saved for a later day. Trying to train your employees in too many areas can end up overloading them and causing them to shut down. 3. Small Portions is Best Whenever you can, break up your training into shorter sessions. If you give your user a list of steps to follow, they will be much better at performing that task. Keep in mind that many of these people have not ever encountered Salesforce, so it’s important that you take it slow. Break up your training sessions and make sure that everyone is mastering what you are teaching before you move on to the next point. It is important that your employees complete their tasks successful. If used improperly, customer relations could be damaged. Gartner analyst, Michael Maoz writes, “CRM process flaws and inadequate technologies could derail customer loyalty strategies.” Ensure processes are taught and carried out correctly before moving on to the next training step. 4. Train to Create Good Habits If you are training someone, you want them to do what they are supposed to be doing. Samantha Kinstrey of 2e2 training says that it can be something as easy as “ensuring data is always entered in the same format…a best practice rule may be to ensure certain data is always entered in the same window in the same way.” By letting users know what you expect from them, you’ll be able to have a more uniform workforce. Start creating good habits now, because it’s much harder to break them than it is to make them. 5. Never Stop Training Lastly, learning never stops, which is why training shouldn’t either. Richard Boardman, founder of Mareeba CRM Consulting says “It’s surprising how few organizations bear in mind maintaining the long-term value of their investment…by making sure training is topped up on a regular basis.” Be sure that you keep your users up to date on their training because software changes and so does the knowledge required to work a system. Conclusion In the end, it’s important to understand what your new hires need to succeed. With the best Salesforce training and tools, everyone can become a Salesforce expert. Keep these tips in mind and you’ll be on your way to creating the best teams for the needs of your organization.