Salesforce. It is one of the leading players in the CRM (customer relationship management) industry.
The global CRM industry was worth over $58 billion in 2022. From now until 2030, that is expected to increase by about 14% annually.
If you are someone that wants to get involved in this business but does not know where to begin, then the Salesforce Trailhead program is where you need to start.
What is Salesforce Trailhead? How will it help you learn Salesforce and learn about the CRM industry?
This is your guide.
What Is Salesforce Trailhead?
Before we can go into further details and the benefits of this program, you have to understand what exactly Salesforce Trailhead is. Essentially, this is a program that will teach you the basics of what you are expected to use Salesforce for.
This can be a great way to get your feet wet not only with this platform but with the industry as a whole. The program is free and the goal is to help users be able to use the more modern version of Salesforce.
It can teach people digital skills and customer relationship skills that they need to succeed. With that in mind, let’s take a deeper dive into how this program works.
What to Expect
Since this is a learning platform, think of this as an online platform to help improve your customer relationship skills. With that in mind, in the beginning, you will be given modules with information in each of them to help drive each lesson home.
Trailhead tries to make this easy to understand and also tries to make it visually appealing. An example can be using videos and images to get lessons across rather than making it feel like a textbook.
Along with these things, there will be some tables and charts in these modules when the situation fits. From there, you will be given clear instructions on what you have to do next.
This type of learning caters to the majority of people because of how we process information. People tend to remember 80% of what they see.
In contrast, people only remember 20% of what they read and 10% of what they hear. Salesforce Trailhead leans into this because its modules are almost entirely visual. So, they try to make it as easy as possible for people to process information and remember that information for the future.
Taking Quizzes
Once you complete part of a module, you are going to be expected to take a quiz on it. Think of this quiz as a recap of everything that you just learned in a module. It will ask you a certain amount of questions about what you just learned and once you complete the quiz, you will find out how you did on it.
These quizzes tend to have more of a pass or fail aspect to them rather than receiving a letter grade. If you do well enough to pass a quiz, then you will receive a Trailhead badge.
This lets you and others know that you know enough about this specific set of information to pass that module and it is Trailhead’s version of certification on that subject. Once you do this, you can feel free to go on to the next module.
Trailblazer Ranks
Once you start taking these quizzes, you will notice that your account has a ranking next to it. These rankings are levels you are on with Trailhead once you complete certain modules.
Everyone starts off as a Scout. To get to the next level of Hiker, you need one badge and 200 points.
There are 12 different rankings that you can have with this.
The final one that you can get is called All Star Ranger. What does it take to get this one? Well, you would have to get at least 600 badges and over 300,000 points on Trailhead.
This system can let you know how dedicated people are to learning it and how good people are at the skills being demonstrated on these modules.
Trailblazer Community
Another aspect of Trailhead is that it has its own community where you have the chance to interact with other users. The best part is that this gives you the option to do as little or as much communication as you want.
An example is using the discussion boards to your advantage. There, you can simply ask a question that you want to get more information on and have someone respond to your question with an answer. That right there can be a simple way to begin interacting with the community.
If you still want to get information about CRM subjects from other users but you want a less formal way of doing it, another option that you have is to join groups in the community. This allows you to narrow down who you talk to and people that are interested in your specific niche.
Here, you can try to exchange information with other people in the group or you can simply laugh at things that are going on in the industry.
If you like what specific people are saying, you have the option to follow their account in the community. These people can be anything from MVPs in the community, other group leaders, or just ordinary people that are commenting on posts and groups like yourself.
What if you think there are one or two specific people that you feel you would benefit from having a long discussion with? Well, that is our next subject.
Meeting People
If you feel like you are getting along with a few specific people in the Trailblazer Community, take the next step and try to organize one-on-one meetups with them. This can be someone that you see as a good friend or someone that you think you would benefit from having a business relationship with.
It is important to take this step because networking can be key to your career goals. It is statistically proven to be the best way to advance your career.
This community encourages two different ways to meet these people.
The first way is the easiest way in that you can do a virtual call with someone. This creates a safe environment and a less serious setting to try to get to know each other better and see if you can build a friendly relationship or even a business relationship from there.
Now, if you want to take this a step further, you can try to meet in person to get a better idea of what you two are all about.
An example can be that you two found out that you live virtually in the same area. If you live in the same city or are under an hour from each other, that can be a good excuse for you two to go out and meet each other, even if it is just over a beer.
If you guys live farther apart, that can create its own set of challenges. You two may have a business event that you are both interested in in a neutral location. Or, one of you may live in a city that the other wants to visit.
Either way, find opportunities to meet people that you form a special connection.
How This Helps With Salesforce
Since this is a learning platform for Salesforce, a fair question may be how it helps you use the Salesforce platform.
The first thing that it does is it can help improve your networking skills. You have to go through lead generation to get new clients and if you interacted with the Trailblazer Community, it can help you network with potential leads.
Another thing that this can help you with is organizational skills. Trailhead is designed to have a series of trails in its modules to help you better understand how one thing connects to the other.
Well, a similar thing happens in the Salesforce platform. This helps you keep track of your leads and what stage of the process you are on when it comes to closing these leads. You can see these leads in columns and have a better idea of what you need to do next.
On top of this, Salesforce has a home page where you can keep track of how certain aspects of your business are performing. That can give you a better idea of how well the trail you took to get to this point is working out for you.
Also, Salesforce lists out things that you need to do for your business on any given day step-by-step. So, it is showing you the order you have to do things to reach your goal.
If you learn these skills, you can advance in careers on Salesforce such as an administrator or a developer. An administrator would need to be organized and delegate certain tasks, which you can start learning here.
A developer can help make Salesforce a place that is even more organized and more efficient just by improving the layout of it.
Grow Your Business
This is your quick guide on how to use Salesforce Trailhead and what it can do for you. Read over the modules carefully and take quizzes at the end of each to make sure that you retain that information.
Then, use the Trailblazer Community to sharpen your networking skills and connect with other people in the community.
Do you need help with your business? Get in touch with us today.