Effective Training For Social CRM

By Barton Goldenberg

To ensure high user adoption of Social CRM systems, as well as happy and engaged users, the following three components are required:

• Effective Social CRM training
• A Responsive Help Desk
• Comprehensive systems administration

These three components often determine the long-term success of any Social CRM implementation.  In this blog post, we will discuss Effective Training.

Effective Social CRM Training

Based on actual data compiled over the past 30 years, I have concluded that for every $1 spent on Social CRM technology, $1.50 should be budgeted for training over the lifespan of the project.  In other words, if a customer spends $500,000 on technology, approximately $750,000 should be allocated for training costs over the life of the project, which typically has a lifespan of five years.

There are multiple types of training needed for a successful Social CRM implementation.  Among the most common are:

Business Process Training: For each business process, whether the process is new or enhanced, it will be necessary to train users on these new processes.  I like to bring users together and present how to utilize the new or enhanced business process within in multiple, real-life business scenarios.

By far the most challenging Social CRM business process training is in the area of Social Media process training.  Training appropriate users how to monitor and filter information, how to take the resulting social insight and integrate it into customer profiles or elsewhere in the Social CRM  system, and then how to utilize the social insight in the customer engagement process is not intuitive to all.  This training is critical since if social insight is not leveraged in the customer engagement process, the full impact of Social CRM will not be realized.

Application Training: Application training typically consists of face-to-face training sessions that are held at the organization’s facilities, at the vendor’s facilities, or at a third-party site. Each application training session should provide users with an overview of the system by providing ‘a day in the life of’ training, then go into individual system functions and features.  After each training section, it is important to ensure that participants take a hands-on test to show that they have understood how to effectively put to use what was taught in that section.

Train-the-Trainer: This type of training is used when an organization prefers to do its own training or in cases where there are so many users that it becomes unrealistic to train them all at once.  The participants of this session are the organization’s internal trainers who need to learn how to use the system so they in turn can teach others users.

Systems Administrator Training: This training is typically offered by the Social CRM software vendor.  This specialized training takes place between the vendor’s trainers and the organization’s assigned systems administrators.  The objective of the training is to teach the systems administrators how to perform day-to-day system maintenance and other related areas.

Remedial Training: Individuals who are trained on the system and who use the system soon after training are likely to retain much of their training.  Remedial training sessions should be scheduled within three to six months after the system has been implemented and done at least annually thereafter.

New User Training: All too often, organizations forget to set up new-user training, which should be done every three or so months.  In fact, in most companies that have low Social CRM user adoption, the root cause is often a failure to train new users properly.

Closing observation: Never underestimate the importance of training for to a Social CRM project’s overall success.  There is no such thing as over-training on a Social CRM system.  Too much training is not enough, more is better.

In my next blog post, I will specifically look at the key factors that make up for a responsive help desk.

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Barton Goldenberg, is the founder and president of ISM Inc., customer-centric strategists/implementers serving best-in-class organizations globally. As a CRM leader for 30 years, he was among the first three inductees in the CRM Hall of Fame. Recognized as a leading “customer-focused” author, his latest book, The Definitive Guide to Social CRM, is hailed as the roadmap for Social CRM success. Barton is a popular speaker on “maximizing customer relationships to gain market insights, customers and profits”. He is a long-term columnist for CRM Magazine and speaker for CRMevolution and frequently quoted in the media.