MSCRM How-to for End Users and Administrators: 5 Tips to Get Better at CRM

No one wants their performance to be mediocre. We all want to be outstanding performers. We want to be MVPs...but we're busy, overworked, and doing our best to stay ahead of our inboxes. CRM is a behemoth, but it can be tamed. Here's some advice on staying ahead of the curve, being a CRM superstar, and bringing your organization along with you.

1. Get involved in the community.

You could spend your time reading and researching on your own, but there are thousands of other people in your same position. Reach out to them. Ask questions. You may be surprised by the quality of the responses. Many of us are going through the same issues, or have already found and implemented a solution to the problem you're facing. Going it alone is like refusing to use a web search. You can get by without it, but you'll get answers much quicker by tapping into the free resources out there. A few communities, blogs, and twitter feeds are referenced below to help you find information relevant to you.

2. Share your knowledge.

Contributing what you know through posts, answering others' questions, providing walkthroughs with screenshots, creating videos, writing a blog, tweeting, or even hosting webinars will empower other users. Even telling others how you perform your day-to-day tasks can make an impact on others.

3. Go beyond your comfort level.

A great way to advance your skills is by experimenting in as of yet untouched areas. CRM is a robust warehouse of data and there are many aspects to explore. If you're untested in creating or modifying one of the many components, create or access a sandbox and try your hand at something new.

4. Train, Train, Train.

Create a training schedule for yourself or your team. Discuss the topics that are relevant to your skill set and in line with both where your company is today and where the company's vision and needs are for the future. Find upcoming and recorded webinars, training aids, PowerPoints, and onsite or online training sessions. Then put them in the budget and on a timeline. With a plan for training yourself and other users in your organization, you'll experience wider adoption and greater communication among your users.

5. Get and give feedback.

There will always be new features you and your users willl want to add. Have a mechanism for supplying and receiving user requests. Prioritize and make these requests available for dispersion among your team and users. Keep everyone educated about the feature and development timeline for your organization's CRM. By making this information and process widey available, users will know what to expect and when to expect it. And when new features are added, ensure that anyone affected by the changes is given proper, detailed training on its use.

Below are a few of the resources to get you started. Dive in and find the right mix for you.

Communities:

CRM User Group (CRMUG)

http://www.crmug.com/

Microsoft Dynamcs CRM Commmunity

https://community.dynamics.com/crm/

Blogs:

CRMguru

http://blog.crmguru.co.uk/

Jason Lattimer's Blog

http://jlattimer.blogspot.com/

The Microsoft Dynamics Team Blog