This blog post is the first in a three-part series about how sales leaders can be more successful by working with their Salesforce admins.

How much time do your sales reps actually spend selling?

On average, sales reps only spend 10% of their time actively selling, according to a Proudfoot Consulting survey. Travel time, paperwork, and other duties suck up the majority of reps’ time. Combined with the massive amount of data and distractions that we all deal with — emails, texts, and calendars — your team probably isn’t spending as much time selling as you’d like.

As a sales leader, you know that the time your reps spend talking to customers is critical. Today’s customers are savvy and don’t just want a sales demo — they expect reps to have a deep understanding of their needs.

So how do you give your sales reps precious time back to have those conversations that drive sales?

You invested in Salesforce to help your sales team be more productive. Hopefully, you’re seeing the results you want. If you’re not — or you’re simply looking for ways to get even more out of Salesforce — your Salesforce admin can help.

Collaborating with your admin can help you get the most out of your Salesforce investment, including increasing your reps’ productivity. Salesforce admins can show you what’s possible with Salesforce and help you reach your goals. Partner with them! You may have an admin focused solely on Salesforce or, if you’re a smaller company, it might be one of the key roles for a team member. No matter how your admin role is staffed, get to know the person and make sure he or she understand your business goals. Your admin can help build more efficient processes and make sure your team gets the data it needs to sell faster and smarter.

Here are five ways your Salesforce admin can help you carve out more time for your reps to focus on selling:

1. Ask your admin to help you use time-saving, productivity-boosting features.

Your admin knows Salesforce inside and out and can help your team use powerful features. Sales Path in Lightning, for example, makes it easy for your reps to see the next steps to keep deals moving forward. If you’re not using Sales Path today, ask your admin to help you get started. Your admin can quickly build out a path with clicks, not code, so your reps can get the information they need fast.

2. Partner with your admin to make sure every rep is using Salesforce.

If you’re entire team isn’t using Salesforce, you won’t get the data or the efficiencies that ultimately save your reps time. Admins love using Salesforce and can help you get the whole team on board. Your admin can troubleshoot issues that are holding your reps back and help your team learn Salesforce.

3. Give your team the right data to sell smarter.

Salesforce can help your team save time hunting for information. Your Salesforce admin can build custom dashboards that make it easy for your reps to see important details at a glance. Let your admin know what information is valuable to your team and ask how to make it more user friendly.

4. Take advantage of the power of Lightning.

The Lightning experience is designed to help your team sell faster, providing key details about opportunities, accounts, and contacts in a single view. But it doesn’t work if you don’t use it. If you’re thinking about moving to Lightning, your admin can help you make a smooth transition. Admins are tuned into what’s new in Lightning and can help your team get up to speed. If you’ve already switched to Lightning, work with your admin to make sure your team is taking advantage of key features.

5. Enlist your admin to bring your strategic vision to life.

Bring your admin into the conversation when you’re defining your overall strategy. Your admin can help you identify Salesforce features and capabilities that align with your goals. Together, you can build a plan to help your team use Salesforce effectively, so you can get the results you want.

When it comes to boosting your team’s productivity and getting the most value from Salesforce, your Salesforce admin is an invaluable partner. These five suggestions are just a few ways your admin can help. Pick your admin’s brain for even more ideas about how you can use Salesforce to help your team be more productive.  

For more tips to help you get the most out of Salesforce, check out our free e-book “5 Ways to Get More Value from Sales Cloud.”

This blog post was co-authored by Suzanne Bernal-Gomez (Senior Principal Success Specialist Lead).