“The earlier you admit making a mistake the more time you have to fix it.”

In today’s brave new world, companies can display breathtaking efficiency and rapidly rise to the top, or they can flounder in the tepid waters of mediocrity. It all depends on how quickly they adapt to the times and correct their mistakes. As more businesses adopt Salesforce to manage customer relations, companies must learn how to effectively train their employees on the new system. Yet as popular as the software has become, Salesforce adoption comes with its own set of challenges. Let’s take a look at 4 Salesforce training mistakes that business should avoid.

1. Neglecting Training Analysis

When preparing for Salesforce adoption, management will go to great lengths to plan the actual training. However, companies often forget to consider their goals when adopting Salesforce. According to Dr. Eduardo Salas, a professor of organizational psychology, neglecting to analyze training needs before the process is one of the biggest mistakes a business can make. Failing to lay out clear objectives before the process means a business will not achieve the potential benefits of integrating Salesforce.

2. Employees Don’t Apply What They Learn

According to studies, employees forget 90% of what they learn during training within the first year of employment if the person doesn’t practice the material. In order to reinforce training, companies must give employees tasks that relate to the skills taught during training sessions. In this way, employees will retain the information and remember these skills. Otherwise, the training will waste time and resources for everyone. Additionally, one must not overwhelm their employees with large blocks of indigestible knowledge during the training process. Give them as much as they can handle, not more.

3. Neglecting to Provide Feedback

After an employee finishes an initial training session, management should provide feedback. Staff will understand where they excel and where they need to improve. Employees will feel more motivated with positive reinforcement and appreciate the chance to grow within the company as well as professionally. Motivation is a common issue in the sales industry, and when an employee feels lost or alienated, their performance suffers. A strong, guiding hand does wonders for keeping employees on the straight and narrow. Be a Don Draper. Show them the answers. Your employees want you to know what’s right.

4. Lack of Technological Tools

While presentations can help to introduce material, employees won’t retain enough information from a lecture. Technological aids can reinforce new material and give hands on training. For example, the WalkMe online guidance and engagement platform provides step-by-step instructions on Salesforce as users learn the system. This allows employees to practice as they learn while also accelerating training.

Deskero is a software suite that facilitates customer support across several platforms at once. One rep can simultaneously aid customers over the phone, proprietary chat, and social media. Using a tool like this can make customer support much easier. With Kitedesk, a sales employee can avoid duplicate leads, schedule tasks, and utilize contextual information to cut down on research time.

Companies can avoid making these mistakes by preparing for Salesforce adoption in advance. Laying out clear objectives for training will make sure training goals stay on target. Use tools to make sure employees apply what they’ve learned right away to reinforce material. In addition, provide feedback to employees immediately after training so that employees feel motivated to excel. Your employees are what you make of them—with the right frames, you can build a strong concrete building that will outlast earthquakes, but concrete by itself is just sand. Your employees need the iron.