MAKING TIME TO LEVERAGE THE BENEFITS
Rejuvenate Your Organization’s CRM Program
Over the years Conrin Inc. has helped EDOs implement and leverage the benefits of Salesforce.com. We make a point to keep in regular contact with past clients to keep up to date with current trends affecting all clients in the economic development space. One of our primary findings is the need for Salesforce training. This is especially important for clients who have been using Salesforce for extended periods of time. The primary reasons include:
- Staff turnover – Minimal (or no) training for new employees often results in a lack of Salesforce user compliance.
- Common language – Reporting requires everyone to be on the same page regarding data entry. A data dictionary that defines the purpose of all fields is a basic requirement for accurate reporting.
- Data hygiene – Many EDOs have been using Salesforce for more than a decade. With today’s workforce turnover rate, contact record accuracy quickly degrades. Contact records must be validated on a regular basis.
- Navigation – System navigation frequently doesn’t meet current requirements.
- Unused features – Salesforce includes many features that go unused by EDOs. Duplicate record prevention, enhanced dashboard functionality, and mobile applications are common underutilized features.
- Reports and dashboards – Salesforce reporting and dashboard functionality are robust and leveraged.
While the number of items to consider may look daunting, many examples of low-hanging fruit can be quickly improved through training. The following five-step roadmap outlines the process for the development and implementation of an effective training program.
STEP ONE: THE HEALTH CHECK
- Discuss the current “wish list” with senior management
- Demonstrate Conrin’s edoforce.com application
- Analyze user activity
- Review page layouts and navigation to identify opportunities to improve ease of use.
- Pinpoint unused Salesforce features
- Examine current data hygiene and data management processes
- Present final punch list of improvements to senior management for approval
STEP TWO: IMPLEMENT CHANGES
- Develop streamlined navigation enhancements
- Data entry and validation tools designed to make it “hard” to enter bad data
- Implement the Salesforce duplicate prevention feature
- Enable unused features
- Create login and activity reports to manage ongoing user compliance
- Present development to senior management
STEP THREE: MANAGEMENT APPROVAL
- Present Salesforce updates to senior management
- Update changes based on input from senior management
- Develop custom training documentation
- Schedule training sessions
STEP FOUR: DELIVER TRAINING
- Schedule and deliver the initial training session in the following format
- Identify and address questions that come up during initial training
- Deliver follow-up training
- Provide documentation and recorded training sessions for future reference and new hire onboarding
- Review user feedback to identify future enhancements
STEP FIVE: POST IMPLEMENTATION MANAGEMENT
- Ongoing analysis based on user reports and dashboards
- Confirm data quality and entry compliance
- Revisit common language understanding using EDO-based best practices
- Create a list for future upgrades and feature enhancements
SUMMARY
Training is one of the fastest, cost-effective ways to increase the ROI on your Salesforce investment. Conrin leverages its extensive industry experience and best practices to create custom training programs for EDOs.
We are currently offering a complimentary one-hour consultation to discuss opportunities to improve your organization’s ROI on its Salesforce investment.