Essential Training Techniques for Every Admin

Editor's Notes

• #2: The reason I wanted to talk about Training today is because it very quickly becomes part of an Admin’s role. We’re given a system and users to support and then expected to be trainers as well. Now I do actually believe that we should be the ones delivering the training so I don’t have any qualms with that, but that doesn’t make it easy or something that can be done without any preparation. So in this session I will talk through why well planned and delivered training will lead to higher levels of user adoption and I will provide guidance for new admins, or those new to training, in how to plan and deliver successful end-user training.
• #3: Let me start though by introducing myself. I am Louise Lockie, I am Head of CRM at Wilmington plc, and I have been working with CRMs and databases for nearly 20 years, and with Salesforce specifically for 5. 
• #4: Naturally enough it should all start with the planning stage. This might sound obvious but can we all honestly say we have gone into every training session, every refresher, every demo, with a plan? I know I haven’t and I know they all haven’t been my finest hours.  Sure, I’ve made do but a little planning goes a long way.
• #5: Why is the training required? What is the situation? Is this part of a deployment, is this a training on a new feature, is this re-training because of a pain point, is this due to the move to Lightning. 
• #6: Who are you training? Know your trainees, know their business, know their roles How to group your trainees? How many sessions are required? Numbers will play a part in this decision. Although you can train a mixed group in logging in / navigation / searching / activities. Anything more than that needs to be role based and so I strongly advise against trying to train a mixed roles in one session. If logistically possible I recommend several shorter sessions rather than trying to get through everything in one sitting.
• #7: Hands on vs. instructional vs. combination? Different people learn in different ways and so a combination of instructional and hands on is often best but I do find that putting a computer in front of every user is a sure way to lose their attention to the internet.
• #8: Which environment should be used? Depending what you are training your users in, is a dev environment, a sandbox, or Production the place to do it….?
• #9: When to schedule the training? As close to their go live date as possible – it is easy to forget – I once had a go live in January which meant that the training had to be Dec, which meant it had to be before the Christmas break…. Everything was forgotten after all that mulled wine and mince pies.
• #10: What set up is required? Do you have time to complete the set up? Factor it all in. What is the businesses strategy regarding Salesforce, is it part of a staged deployment, what is the business using Salesforce for, are their integrations or other systems to consider.
• #11: You’ve planned, you are all set, but what’s on your pre-training checklist?
• #12: Confirmed Attendees – I’ve lost count of the number of times I have completed the head count only to be told that so and so is not coming as they are too busy. Make sure you tackle this ahead of time. Of course their time is valuable but so is yours. Agenda – make it clear what you will cover, you may even find out that someone has changed roles and so should be in a different session. Set times for sessions and breaks – let them know what food will be provided. Is lunch provided seems to be the first question I am asked! Access – you don’t want to lose half an hour to password reminders and waiting for verification codes.
• #13: So the day is here and so are my top tips.
• #14: 1. Temperature / Light / power sockets / water / biscuits – they all make a different. If they are uncomfortable they will be distracted.
• #15: 2. Check out my favourites! You don’t want them to be distracted by them, or your emails coming in, or your desktop icons…. Incognito window and check your desktop for any interestingly named documents
• #16: 3. If you are lucky enough to have access to a full sandbox then I strongly recommend you use this for training. Avoid using production like the plague. A dev sandbox might work for the basics but searching won’t work very well without data. A dev edition won’t give them a like for like environment at all.
• #17: 4. Make sure you do all training logged in as a user with the same permissions as your trainees. This is super key, particularly if they are following along, they will see different fields and have different views. Also, you don’t want them to know a delete button exists if they won’t have access to it.
• #18: 5. Don’t go into robot mode, following a script, delivering the same content each time. Engage with your users, try and use examples that are relevant to them. I always ask them to provide some use cases for leads etc so that I can tailor it to them. It will also require their input, allowing you to check they aren’t asleep or on facebook!
• #19: 6. I feel like I spent half of each sentence repeating myself, referencing 5 different words for Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities. Everyone will call them something different but if you can get them to start talking Salesforce then you are on the road to Super Adoption.
• #20: 7. Always explain why. Personally I learn a lot quicker if I know why I am doing something, why it works as it does and why my entering in a job role can help us analyse our data etc
• #21: 8. WIIFT – Sell it to them
• #22: 9. Remember you are not teaching them Salesforce, you are showing them how to do their job in Salesforce and all the great new functionality.
• #23: 10. Play on their competitive nature. I use the Knowledge Checks from some of the online training Salesforce produces – works a treat 
• #24: But all your hard work will be lost if you train and run.