Onboarding a new team member is always a challenge, and the more complex your sales or support process, the harder it is every time. It is especially difficult to deal with when your team works together to close deals or resolve cases. You’re always answering the question “what’s next?” You might have a flow chart or step-by-step instructions for your team to follow, but depending on the number of scenarios, following these instructions can require as much training as the onboarding process itself. It would be so much easier if you had a mentor to stand over the shoulders of your team to help them along the way while they’re still learning the process, and to help your seasoned team members when difficult scenarios arise. Well, with one custom field and a few workflows, Salesforce will let you guide them along every step of the way!
Create a text field on your Leads or Cases called “Next Step” (use the standard field on Opportunities). Write up a list of the step-by-step directions to follow in a spreadsheet with one column for Scenario, and another for Next Step. It should look something like this – Scenario: “If the Lead has been qualified and has requested more than 500 widgets.” Next Step: “Email warehouse to confirm inventory before converting.” Add another column to your spreadsheet called “SF Criteria”, then go through your scenarios and identify what fields and values in Salesforce correlate to them, such as “If Lead Status = Qualified, Decision Maker? = True and Qty. Requested > 500.” In Salesforce, create a Workflow Rule for each scenario using the criteria you just created with a field update listing the Next Step. Make the new field read-only on the page layout to ensure they always know what’s next in the official workflow, or leave the field editable to let your team add their own notes to help guide their teammates as they pick up each other’s records. Now, you can mentor your team every step of the way and not even break a sweat!
-Jared and the Salesforce Guys
CEO of CloudMyBiz Salesforce CRM consulting services with a deep knowledge in the lending industry. Taking keen interest in the project management side of operations, playing a vital role in the 31% YOY company growth. Strategic leader, mastering the ability to problem solve at every level of the business, providing effective solutions for clients.