Salesforce Adoption Success: Get your people on the platform

So you’ve got Salesforce set up. It’s been configured to work exactly how you want it to. Congratulations. Now you just need your people to use it….

The good news is that this is entirely achievable, in fact we see businesses manage this brilliantly, all the time. How do they do it? Looking at the organisations that have got their team quickly and comprehensively working on the Salesforce platform, we’ve examined what these successful adoption stories have in common. And it turns out that…..

“It’s all about communication!”

Simple! OK, so not just any communication, but clear, consistent, frequent and two-way communication with the team, before, during and ongoing the implementation. Here are our top tips for adoption communication strategies for your team:-

• Two-way communication

Make sure your people are well informed about what is happening beforehand: What they can expect to see in terms of changes and when it’s going to go live. Deliver plenty of demos on the platform, answer questions and listen to requirements.

• Trainers you can trust

Training should start before the system goes live. Appoint a member of your internal team as the trainer, and train in small groups. In this way you’ve got an established relationship and after the session has ended, you have a go-to person in the office.

• Rewrite the rule book

Create some bespoke training documentation for your team. You don’t need to write a training manual, just the basics your people will want to refer back to frequently until the systems have become second nature.

• Keep it real

Use language that your people actually use. Technical jargon is a total turn off, as is business-speak. If you can’t explain the ‘why’ and ‘how’ clearly, then it’s probably not going to happen.

• Different channel, same message

Consistency is really king here. You can change up your delivery channel (Chatter/ small group seminar/ newsletter/ email/ Monday’s team meeting etc), but keep the message the same – We are on Salesforce now.

• Walk the walk

Everyone in the business needs to get onboard, from the top team now. Your directors need to be digital role model here, communicating via Chatter, using the reports and dashboards in Salesforce etc. No more spreadsheets!

• Champions for change

You can spread the love a bit more effectively still if you appoint digital champions. Call them Super-Users, call them Salesforce Evangelists – whatever works best for your people – but these guys have a key role to play in spreading awareness and driving adoption.

• Create a buzz

And don’t forget, THIS IS EXCITING! Have a launch party, a digital awards ceremony, a Salesforce champ of the month, whatever it takes to remind everyone that digital transformation is exciting and full of possibility.

• Keep it going

You might think you are getting repetitive, but communication for adoption is not a one-time roll out, it’s a way of life now. Keep talking, keep listening, keep training, keep celebrating.

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Finally, make sure your team feels supported. If you do not have access to Salesforce expertise (or perhaps you do have a Salesforce Admin, but their time is limited) then please give some thought to taking out a Salesforce Support plan.

For more information on making Salesforce a success in your business, download our guide to ‘Getting Started on Salesforce’ on this page.