The 3 Biggest User-Adoption Mistakes You Can Make Implementing Salesforce

Many companies fail to generate high user-adoption rates when implementing new technologies and CRM systems such as Salesforce.

In fact, less than 40% of CRM customers have end-user-adoption rates above 90%.

Key technology implementation mistakes can cause projects to fail and goals to be missed. More importantly, such mistakes lessen the impact of the systems and technologies in which the company has heavily invested.

Listed here are the most common mistakes and pitfalls companies make when implementing Salesforce and other technologies – and how to avoid them.

1. No Change Management Process

Companies that don’t enact proper change management are much more likely to fail when they launch new technology platforms and systems.  When it comes to implementing new systems – the “build it and they will come” mantra does not hold true. 

Moreover, simply launching a new system or philosophy will not make it successful.  Companies that don’t properly manage change realize some employees don’t adopt the change, adopt it incorrectly or not to its full potential.

Why?  Many workers may hesitate and actively resist change. In fact, change often causes negative impacts on employees.  It can create feelings of anxiety, fear and of a loss of control.  Users may prefer to avoid change and do things the “good old fashioned way”.

Left unchecked, pushback allows cracks to form in end-user-adoption paving the way for organizations to miss their goals. To combat this, companies must plan for the change, manage the change as it happens and reinforce the change. 

Change must start at the top and with the vision and support of executives.  Companies that succeed with CRM implementation understand that executive support and sponsorship lay a foundation for the project. Executive leaders deliver expectations, remove roadblocks and demand user-adoption to be taken seriously.  This sets the tone for successful change.

2. Failing To Focus On Front Line Managers

Companies that don’t gain buy-in by their front line managers will have a hard time driving end-user-adoption and acceptance.   Like anything, change flows downhill.  When manager’s don’t accept the change or adopt the new system, employees are sure to follow suit.

Front line managers drive their teams to accomplish company goals and objectives. These managers should outwardly adopt and champion the change themselves. 

Front line managers are not only management and leadership, they’re also hands-on.  With proper training, managers can influence the users to adopt the CRM without many issues.

They should coach staff on the reason for change and the benefits it will provide.  They can provide comfort to staff by coaching, continuously training and answering questions. 

3. Not Providing End-User Reinforcement

Many companies provide a one-size-fits-all training solution by sending all employees to the same classes.  They will not offer follow-up courses or reinforcement.  All too often, management simply set the trainees free and expect them to remember, and execute, what was covered during the sessions.

Such companies are sure to struggle to gain user-adoption because employees don’t always retain what they learned during training. In fact, 70% of users forget what they had been taught within one day.

In contrast, companies are best served offering formal training upfront such as Instructor Led Training or Self Paced Learning. This training provides a great base line from which end-users can learn and execute the platform.

But, employees need further help beyond the initial push and many companies fail to continue teaching. Users need training beyond the initial push to truly understand, grasp and use the system.

Once formal training has completed, corporate trainers should offer repetition, reiteration and reinforcement to ensure staff understands what to do and how to do it.

As example, after initial training classes complete, companies should offer further education methods such as contextual help and additional classes, as outlined below.

Reinforce Training With Contextual Help

To help offer training-in-the-moment, companies can build contextual help directly in their Salesforce or other technology platform. 

Such technology offers users powerful, context-aware help content that embeds directly in the application. Such tools can place a help button, directly within pages and records. When selected, help tools such as video, text, and URL type features will guide the user through the training needed. This allows end-users immediate help, in the midst of their workflow when they forget –or need to learn– a particular action.

Reinforce Learning With Training as a Subscription (TaaS) Options

Beyond an initial training push, companies launching new systems often find they need to rerun classes to train new employees, to train employees on new skills and simply to refresh training users may have already taken.

Many corporate trainers now turn to Training as a Subscription platforms. TaaS subscriptions act as an annual pass offering companies access to a provider’s full course class catalog at a significant discount.  This allows trainers to offer multiple classes to multiple employees as needs arise throughout the year. As a result, they can reinforce existing training and meet additional training needs.

So, What’s Next?

Want professional training services for your end users and managers? Stony Point offers world-class instructor-led Salesforce training. With classes for beginners all the way to experts, we can help you train your employees to be more efficient and productive.

Did you already purchase training but still see your employees struggling with adoption? Digadop Help by Stony Point is a Digital Adoption platform designed to increase user adoption. With customizable, targeted help, you can create a different help experience for each employee, no coding needed. Digadop Help reinforces the training you paid for and builds on it.