How to Get the Sales Team to Use Salesforce

Salesforce is a strategic tool for the growth and evolution of companies, but if it is not used to its maximum capability, it may lose its value. How to get the sales team to use Salesforce can become a real headache if you don’t know how to manage it well. It is usually common for people to fear change, more so if you have been doing your job in a specific way for years and suddenly you must change it. So how do you support or drive this process?

Salesforce benefits for the sales team

The first thing to do is to show the sales team the business and personal benefits of adopting Salesforce. Some of these are:

• Centralization of customer data: having all the customer data in one place makes it possible to speed up the access to the necessary information. Sales teams will no longer need customer cards, business cards, nor a piece of paper with a number on it. With Salesforce, the entire team can access the required information while also optimizing response and action times with any customer, which helps reduce the risk of losing contacts.
• Report automation: With Salesforce, team members can create reports on a regular basis without having to consult to different spreadsheets. The centralization of the data allows the automatic compilation of the information and simplifies the writing of reports.
• Calendar management: events and appointments with clients can also be automated; this avoids the risk of sellers forgetting them. Salesforce helps with notifications and reminders for calendar management.
• Better time management to sell: Streamlining and optimizing the data collection and reporting processes, this allows the sales team to focus more time on the sales process itself. In other words, salespeople will have more time to spend interacting with customers and closing sales.
• Mobile capabilities: Salesforce is available for any device, anywhere, anytime, which gives the sales team the advantage of working from anywhere. Evaluate whether your salespeople are more efficient outside of the office and give them this opportunity. With the Salesforce mobile app, salespeople won’t just find the information they need;they will be able to record calls and visits, process orders, update customer files and forward timely content to the clients without being in person at the office. Additionally, the ability to access the CRM from a familiar interface reduces the stress that software adoption can entail.

Tips to help get the sales team ready to use Salesforce

Well, if you are already determined to implement Salesforce but you still notice resistance from the sales team or in some of its members, you can follow several strategies to encourage them. Some of these are:

1- Active participation in the selection: Allow your sales team to participate in the selection and purchase of the Salesforce solution. In this way, they will not see the software as something imposed and will be more receptive to change. Likewise, it can allow sellers to interact with the tool in its trial period and thus explore the most liked and necessary functionalities, in addition to generating expectations for its use. So once Salesforce adoption begins, there will be fewer reluctant members and you’re sure to end up with a product that gets used.

2- Effective communication: listen to your salespeople and find out where the main obstacles are with respect to the adoption of Salesforce. Then, from this feedback find the most effective solutions to eliminate these obstacles and insecurities. This way, not only are you trying to make the transition as smooth as possible, you also show empathy to your employees and work on building strong and trusting relationships within the business.

3- Ongoing training: Salesforce adoption by the sales team will not take a day but it does require adequate and ongoing training. If marketers don’t know how to use the software, they will refuse to use it and adoption will stall. Training in Salesforce goes beyond just introducing the program and your dashboard, then leaving your staff on their own. Instead, the continuous support of the supplier and the planning of training sessions is needed initially assiduously. Then, once the sales team has adapted, more scarcely in time.

4- Healthy Competition: Salesforce gives team members the option to create custom dashboards, either individually or in general, to monitor progress. Each member can set their goals and show the results obtained. This way workers can be motivated when they see themselves getting close to achieving their goals or they see their colleagues achieving theirs. A friendly battle to get to the top of the day can become part of company culture and therefore increase productivity.

5- Incentive programs: following the same concept as above, you can create incentive programs that make Salesforce adoption by the sales team more fun. For example, you can create weekly or monthly contests to motivate the team members to use the CRM. Contests can range from whoever has registered the most sales through the software to who has added the most contacts. The rewards do not have to be monetary, you can think of something motivating, but at the same time fun. Something that serves as a reminder and at the same time a recognition of the effort and dedication of your staff to their work.

6- Success Stories: Identify those sales team members who have adapted best to Salesforce and invite them to share their experience. When adoption is well underway, recognize the results of those people who exceeded their sales goals thanks to the advantages of CRM and bring their achievements to the attention of the entire team. Success stories will always be viewed favorably and can generate empathy with Salesforce.

Ready to start the Salesforce adoption by your sales team? We can help you. At SkyPlanner we have platform training and adoption programs based on a set of Salesforce-specific tools, methods, and standards, with the aim of involving users in the adoption of CRM. Together, we work to create a structured approach and strategy that meets the needs of your implementation, accelerates platform adoption, removes barriers, and quickly exposes the value of Salesforce. Contact us at hello@theskyplanner.com.