I never wanted to be a Salesforce Trainer

Author: Peggy Schael | Salesforce Trainer | WeLearnSalesforce

Not in my wildest dreams did I see myself as a Salesforce Trainer. And now, there I am, five years later, being a full-time Salesforce Trainer. And let me tell you that it’s been the best career change of my life.

It all started with a job as a Salesforce Project Manager I had taken on a little while back. Read about how I stumbled upon Salesforce in my previous article.

Based on the very limited knowledge of the Salesforce platform that I had at the time, I more or less guesstimated what this CRM platform was capable of and what it was not capable of. Yes, we did have a great consulting partner and in-house IT support, but when you don’t understand the basics properly, they can tell you anything, right?

Not long into my job, my manager asked me whether I wanted to attend a Salesforce Administrator Training. Guess what, I rejected. I knew secretly if I did that I will have to do administrative jobs too, not just manage the projects. I was busy enough!

Well, my manager kept asking me over and over, months went by, and eventually, I gave in. I signed up and there I was sitting in my first ever Salesforce Administration Essentials Training as a student (coded ADM201 back then).

Wow, I cannot tell you enough how enlightening that was. All these features and functionalities that Salesforce can do, that I had no idea about. I didn’t even know these features existed, and they were right there in front of my eyes.

I had to (of course secretly to myself) admit, that I really enjoyed that week of training. I learned all the essential elements the Salesforce platform had on offer. Back at work, of course as expected, I had to take on a few administrative tasks. But let me tell you that I was getting into the groove and really enjoyed working with the setup of the system and seeing successful changes come to life firsthand.

Plus, the knowledge I gained helped me a lot in my role as a Project Manager. The discussions with the consulting partner and IT department became of a very different quality. And, the internal stakeholders, such as executives and sales teams, started trusting my recommendations and the ability of the system more and more. Win-win.

It came a time when my manager asked me to run a few internal Salesforce training sessions with our sales teams. I thought to myself “Are you kidding me?” I told my manager: ” I do not want to become a Salesforce trainer, I am the project manager.” So, I tried to find excuses and managed to postpone these training sessions. But well, someone had to do it eventually. And of course, that someone had to be me, since I’m all trained up and the sales team trusts me.

I set up the required training sessions. At first, they were a bit clumsy and awkward. After a few of these sessions, I actually started enjoying them. My training materials became more professional and my teaching skills improved a lot over the first few weeks.

And this is how I had gotten myself into the role of a Salesforce Trainer, not full-time. Yet. But it became an essential part of my job description.

How this turned into a complete career change, I will tell you in the next article.

Until then, think about something you have always wanted to try out. Go for it.

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