As customer expectations continually change, businesses must adapt by embracing modern concepts like digital sales. To keep up, organizations rely on cloud-CRM solutions like Salesforce to automate sales processes, understand the customer journey, reduce workload, and boost sales efficiency.
CRM systems are somehow complex, and it becomes harder due to customizations. The best way to keep up with CRM digital adoption is to enroll in training and certification programs.Â
Why Should You Enroll in CRM Training?Â
With the increasing reliance on CRM systems for sales processes and frequent product updates, CRM training is crucial.
Such training programs will not only aid sales professionals’ career growth but also drive productivity and performance for the entire sales team.
Undeniably, CRM systems help organizations grow by making customer data easily accessible and usable.Â
If your organization’s CRM adoption rate is low and employees spend considerable time figuring out how to use CRM effectively, your CRM investment will yield minimal ROI.Â
It’s crucial to support your team members continuously with CRM training, especially during employee onboarding, new CRM implementation, and when systems roll out new features or updates.
What Are Different CRM Training Methods?Â
Let’s look at some of the best training approaches you can consider for CRM training:Â
Online Certifications
Online certifications provide a blended learning experience by incorporating various training techniques such as online video courses and instructor-led classes.Â
Upon course completion, they guarantee a certain level of competency, so both employees and employers feel they have achieved a specific level of proficiency in their CRM.Â
Organizations should consider investing in CRM certifications for their sales professionals as a default training task when hiring new sales team members or reskilling existing ones.
Personalized On-Demand Videos & Webinars
Instructor-led classroom training is designed to teach many professionals at once, with a fixed agenda.Â
On the other hand, on-demand video lectures and webinars provide users with the opportunity to gain expertise in a specific topic and refer to the content as per their individual requirements, precisely when they need it.Â
This makes on-demand videos and webinars more interactive and personalized for individual sales professionals who are learning to use a CRM solution.
Apps & CRM Communities
Salesforce AppExchange can help your team overcome missing default CRM functionalities and introduce integrations with familiar apps to drive CRM engagement with automation and integrations.
Applications like Salesforce Chatter and Salesforce Trailhead empower your employees to achieve their self-learning goals and interact with fellow users.
Salesforce CRM Training and Certification
Salesforce is a widely-used CRM platform in various industries, offering more than 100 training resources and 30 official certifications through its Trailhead Academy. These training options include both self-paced online classes and instructor-led sessions.Â
Salesforce provides certification courses tailored to different user types and roles, making it easy for interested professionals to find a certification that suits their needs.
The courses are different in terms of course length and format. Completion of these courses can be an effective strategy for organizations to drive Salesforce adoption, and sales teams should consider making it mandatory for their members to take courses relevant to their job roles.
Salesforce certifications for different roles are as follow:Â
- Salesforce consultants
- Salesforce architects
- Salesforce Administrators
- System Architects
- Application Architect
- Technical Architect
- Sales Cloud Consultant
- Community Cloud Consultant
- Salesforce Developers
- Service Cloud Consultant
- Marketing Cloud Consultant
- Salesforce Marketers
Non-Salesforce certifications are also available that include:Â
| Course Name | Provided By | Professional Level | Cost |
| Salesforce Sales Development Representative Professional Certificate | Coursera | Beginner | $49/Monthly |
| Complete Salesforce Certified Platform Developer Course | Udemy | Beginner | $10 |
| Salesforce Certified Administrator Path | Pluralsight | Beginner | $25 |
| Salesforce Certified Platform Developer I | Pluralsight | Intermediate | $25 |
| Salesforce Administrator Cert Prep: 1 Introduction to Administrator Certification & Setup | Linkedin Learning | Intermediate | $20 |
| Salesforce Certified Advanced Administrator: Online Learning | Skillshare | Advanced | $9 |
Zoho CRM Training and Certificates
Zoho provides a comprehensive training solution called Spark to address the diverse training needs of its users. The training program covers various use cases and is delivered through both online and instructor-led sessions.
| Course Name | Provided By | Professional Level | Cost |
| Zoho CRM Training | NobleProg | Intermediate | $9000 per team |
| Learning Zoho CRM | Linkedin Learning | Beginner | $15 |
| Zoho CRM: Complete User Training For Small Business | Udemy | Intermediate | $68 |
Zendesk Trainings and Certificates
| Course Name | Provided By | Professional Level | Cost |
| Zendesk Support Administrator | Zendesk | Intermediate | $350 |
| Zendesk Guide Specialist | Zendesk | Intermediate | $200 |
| Zendesk App Developer I | Zendesk | Advanced | $350 |
Microsoft Dynamics Trainings and Certificates
To assist sales teams, Microsoft provides a range of certifications for its Dynamics 365 CRM software. Before pursuing role-specific certifications, it’s recommended that all team members complete the beginner-level Dynamics 365 Fundamentals certification.Â
Some courses of Dynamics 365 include:Â
Dynamics 365: The basics
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Essential Training
Introduction to Microsoft Dynamics 365 (CRM)
Microsoft Certification Training: Dynamics 365 Certification
