New Year - New System
Moving your company from your current system to Salesforce is not an overnight transformation, not yet anyway. Even after your superuser group has signed off the initial setup for the 1st phase, they still need to get the buy-in from the rest of the users.
Onboard users during Phase 1 can be successful with:
Intuitive clean UI and user centric experience. It is important that users will have an intuitive experience, and that they would feel comfortable navigating through the platform without worrying about “breaking” something while doing so. You might have already sent out the - this is how the new platform will help us meet our business objectives - email, but the people who’ll actually use the platform on a daily basis just want the new platform to be simple and not get in their way. They have tasks to complete, KPIs goals to hit, and no one wants their daily routine to become a never ending treasure hunt. Keep it clean, simple and highlight the most used actions so users won’t waste time looking for them.
Support. Supporting your team during the transformation should not ONLY be about making someone available to answer their questions. Real support allows you to ask all the small questions (there are NO stupid questions) and more importantly gives time and headspace to do that. Yes dear managers and board members, this means lowering and adjusting workloads and KPI goals during the transition.
Time. Want to make sure all the data lives in SF from now on? Want to make sure individuals won’t use their spreadsheets and old made up systems to complete tasks that should be managed in Salesforce? Give them time to get used to the new platform. No, I’m not only referring to you being patient while people get their head around things, I mean actual hours in the day to do so. Users often say that they are using their old spreadsheets and post-it notes because its faster. Establishing the “if it isn’t in Salesforce, it does not exist” will be possible only when users can take time and get familiar with the new system. Again, a modified workload will provide these valuable hours and ensure user adoptions.
Long term is the only term. I know, I know, the idea of reducing the workload in the short term might not sit well with the stakeholders’ and board members’ idea of ROI. “We invested a lot of money into this new project, adjusting workloads and KPIs goals is another big expense.” Yeah, true, and…? Let’s face it, moving to a new system is an expensive step in the short-term (months to a year). Is it better to spend all that time, money and other resources into this type of project, only to find out in 5 months time that no one is actually using the new system?! I have seen and heard about way too many great projects that failed for this exact reason. Supporting your team will always result in lower turn overs and a better-stronger brand, and isn’t it the real goal here?
Define success. In the initial stages success should be defined as - all users are now using Salesforce as the only way to capture data and manage workload (assuming this is supported by the Org setup). You might be surprised, but success most times will look like a bunch of complaint emails. While this might seem counterintuitive, it is actually a sign that users are engaging with the system and try to find their way around. Acknowledge their concern with a “we are doing this together” kind of reply (obviously mean it sincerely), followed by an explanation to how they can accomplish the task in a more reliable way with the new setup - “we know you need to input more data than before, and things are taking longer to complete; but this is the best way we could find for all of us to support the data analysis and marketing teams.” . Don’t be afraid to turn this around and invite new ideas “Is there a repetitive info we can pre-populate to make things better for you?”. Don’t worry, Salesforce is just amazingly flexible in this way, and these small requests are often quick wins that will make everyone happier.
I would love to hear your thoughts about the ways in which project sponsors - and the rest of the team - can support each other through the transition period. What were your strategies and learnings from your phase 1 and user onboarding experience?
For more info about onboarding users into a new Salesforce Org, checkout the trail: Empower Your Salesforce Users , or the official SF knowledge article - Salesforce CRM Getting Started Workbook.
