Getting New Hires Up to Speed with CRM- ASAP!

By: Michael @wCRMblog Taylor

If you are a CRM Administrator, you know that time is of the essence. You have a lot on your plate, and having competent employees helping you is always necessary; yet, having new hires introduces a new set of responsibilities for you. For starters, you need your new employees to be proficient and knowledgeable with the CRM in the shortest amount of time possible. This way, they are able to help with the workload and allow you to shift your focus to other areas. You have CRM processes in place that new employees must learn to use correctly. Improper CRM use could lead to troublesome customer relations. Gartner states that, “CRM process flaws and inadequate technologies could derail customer loyalty strategies”.

So, what is the best way to train your new employees in the shortest amount of time and get the best results? Check out these 5 helpful tips!

1. Showcase CRM Benefits

If you want people to master CRM, you need them to understand what the strengths are and how they will benefit from using CRM. Enterasys Global Support Manager Patrick Zanella says that “showing users the benefits upfront allows them to see the end game before the first piece of data is entered.” In other words, it shows users what they will be capable of and can motivate them to do better. Employees are much more likely to work hard and persevere if they know what they can accomplish rather than flying blind.

2. Train for the Process

Be sure to train your users for what they will be encountering with the CRM. Employees need to understand how they will be interacting with the CRM, not how everyone in the organization will. It doesn’t make sense to train someone for every aspect, and that’s why you need to make sure that each training session is tailored to meet the needs of the current user.

3. Train in More than Just the Classroom

Teaching in the office ‘classroom’ isn’t quickly becomes tedious. There are too many factors that can prevent learning or be distracting. Richard Boardman, founder of Mareeba CRM Consulting has said that “attendees are not going to soak it (training) in- they’ll have their minds on other things, they’re on their Blackberrys or they’re called out on an urgent call.” You need to make sure that your training is sinking in, and there are much more effective ways to ensure learning is occurring.  Many organization use learning tools like digital guidance systems to help users learn about CRM and the intricacies that are involved with it.

4. Highlight Super-Users

Be sure to take a moment to spotlight the best CRM users that you have. Whether you want to bring someone skilled to the new group or highlight the best of the current bunch, showing how others use CRM to become super-users shows everyone that it is possible to be proficient with CRM. It can serve as motivation for the rest of the group.

5. Get Feedback

Lastly, you want to make sure you take a moment to get feedback from everyone about their experience. Feedback will help you fine-tune your training process and help get your new hires up to speed. If everyone is having the same problem, you’ll be able to fix it when you need to train the next group of new hires.

Conclusion

In the end, it is up to you to give your new hires the foundation that they need to become successful CRM users. While there is no magical formula that will solve all of your problems, identifying and understanding what your new hires need to grow and succeed will help you cut down on the amount of time and stress that you have to deal with it.  Make sure that you set yourself, as well as your teams, up for success by following these tips and getting your teams proficient the first time around.

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