Using digital guides makes internal communication and sales more straightforward

When you want all your employees to be on the same page, you need a communication channel that is easy to reach and understand. Read how Resco uses its own product, Resco Steps+, to communicate the company’s benefits and sales processes to its staff, harvest feedback, and implement improvements.

At Resco, we have recently launched Resco Steps+, a module that lets companies gather knowledge in the field, review it, and publish it. It is available for Dynamics 365 and Power Platform.

Resco employees recognized the module’s potential and started using it immediately. We talked with Internal Communication Specialist Slavomir Chovanec and Sales Manager Michal Kubala about how they chose, implemented, adopted, and used Steps+ within their teams.

In this blog, you will learn, how Steps+:

• helped the internal comms team close knowledge gaps
• helped the sales team keep their data tidy
• supported the onboarding of new sales team members

All employees can easily access information

Steps+ were first used in Resco’s internal Resco+ system, which allows employees to claim their benefits and upload receipts for reimbursement. Resco+ is built entirely on the Resco platform and customized for the use case.

The new Resco+ benefits app has brought a need to let people know what they can claim, how to ensure they have uploaded the correct documents, and what the next steps will be.

Everything in one place

At first, Slavomir Chovanec, Internal Communication Specialist, considered putting all the documentation on SharePoint or in a Word document. But when he learned about the benefits of Steps+, he concluded that this module would be a much more effective solution for employees.

“Steps+ not only make it possible to have all documents related to claiming benefits directly in the app itself. You don’t need to leave the benefits app to get the information you need. The guides look nicer and are more user-friendly. They even allow us to collect statistics and feedback,” explains Slavomir.

Thanks to Steps+, we were able to deploy a whole new app and process after just one online company meeting instead of having to do dedicated training with people in the office.

Four guides for two groups 

The Internal Communications department has created four guides for the users of the Resco+ benefits app.

The first two guides are aimed at all users. One contains instructions on how to use the app. The second guide lists the types of benefits that will be reimbursed by Resco – for example courses, trainings, sports cards, etc.

The third and fourth guide are for administrators. They describe the workflow to employees involved in the approvals process. Only users with the right permissions can see them.

Thanks to setting up user roles in Steps+, people see the content relevant to them, specifically. Anyone in HR or administration, even newcomers, can get all the information without needing to ask.

Easy iteration

Slavomir describes the advantages of working with Steps+ to capture and distribute knowledge: “It was very easy to create the guides. My colleagues and I could cooperate and add images, links, PDFs, and videos.”

Tweaking the guides was smooth, too.

“When we wanted to go for another iteration, we simply made a new copy of the whole guide and tinkered with it. It was pleasant to work with different versions of the guide before publishing the final,” Slavomir adds.

Notepad for new ideas

Steps+ makes it very easy to collaborate on creating content. Slavomir’s team took advantage of this feature.

“We are just getting started with the Resco+ benefits app and we have many ideas for the next steps. We asked ourselves, why not brainstorm in the app and use it as a tool to collect ideas? This allows our app admins to keep track of content ideas that will be used in the next application versions.”

Steps+ in CRM help keep the sales data tidy

In Resco, guides are not only used in the benefits app. They have also found their way into the internal CRM, for which we use our own product – Resco Field Sales+.

Before explaining how Steps+ help the sales team, let’s look at how the CRM works. It is Resco’s hub for the entire sales process from lead generation to customer success and retention.

People in four departments rely on the CRM data: the sales department records the entire sales process, the financial department processes invoices and orders, the marketing department provides leads, and the product department gathers data on the use of products by customers and partners.

It is salespeople who enter most of the data into the system. Sales Manager Michal Kubala explains: “In the CRM, we try to keep all the data as tidy as possible because many processes and plans depend on it.”

Setting a basic standard

Why is it so difficult to keep the data up to date? Michal Kubala sees salespeople as individuals with specific personalities. Everyone has a different approach. Some may be super organized, while others might give lower priority to the administrative part.

“CRM is a problematic tool if everyone uses it differently. If at least a basic standard is set, we’ll immediately have more accurate numbers and better data to work with,” Michal adds.

Michal and his colleagues felt a need to create a best practice guide that would explain the process to all salespeople: “We needed a guide that reflects a single point of truth. All salespeople should look there whenever something is unclear.”

At first, they started tinkering with a text document. “We put together a CRM guide in a text form. The problem was that it has been quite text-heavy. Some salespeople were reluctant to look into it. It was on our SharePoint site, and it took time to find where it was kept.”

“Our CEO Andrew Lorraine introduced me to Steps+. We saw it as a way to make our sales manual easier to access and understand,” says Michal.

Onboarding new sales representatives is easier

The sales team started documenting three parts of the sales process that have had the most significant impact – opportunities, quotes, and leads. These have already been transformed into guides. “We want to start working on pricing and licensing as well. Then we’ll collect feedback and see what will be needed.”

“When completing their work, salespeople now know what should go where and what is important. They see warnings for tricky or complex areas of the process. They are provided with tips and tricks on how to work with CRM. It is especially helpful for new salespeople. It’s much easier to onboard them now,” says Michal Kubala.

The plan is to make the entire documentation for CRM reachable from the CRM itself. Individual guides will link to the right places in the CRM. When a user creates a new opportunity, they will see an icon that will open the guide describing opportunities.

The new guides are already boosting the productivity of the whole sales team. On average, our sales teams used to collectively spend about five hours a week on CRM topics, which we’ve now reduced thanks to including Steps+ directly in CRM.

Try Steps+ for yourself

Steps+ can help you fill knowledge gaps in many areas – not only in internal comms and sales, but also in the field.

Our customers and partners are already piloting Steps+ in various scenarios. They appreciate that the text, photos, or videos for the guides can be added by employees, on any mobile device, even with limited or no connection. The guide can then be completed, approved, and published by employees in the Head Office.

If you can imagine Steps+ solving your problem with knowledge gaps caused by an aging workforce, the high cost of onboarding newcomers, or inconsistent use of information in your organization, start a trial for free.

We will be thrilled to help you get the most out of the tribal knowledge.