Now I'm not fan of talking about tools, but like any other jobs on earth, it's part of how we EXECUTE our work, and in this blog we are covering CRM tools.

Disclaimer: The best way to learn it is by actually using it to build your brain muscles and find hacks, but here's what I would do if I were you if I was introduced to a platform I never used before.

Step 1: Breathe and pick a pen and a paper (or notes taker on your laptop or ipad, whatever you use):

• Take a 10mins break and tell your self it's ok, you can do this (no need to cry)

• Don't compare it with other tools you have used before. While all are same same but some have differences in how they name their features and the UI.

• Get back to your strategy and think what you want to achieve from this platform and write that down.

• leverage the CSM team for onboarding or any tech question.

Step 2: Your user and dev guide is now your new best friend:

• Like I said all of em are the same, just diff feature names and UI.

• Read the user guide to understand the features, you need to know where the events are being stored, where do you segment, where do you do your campaigns and journeys and where is the dashboards and integrations and what are they called. Learn to speak the platform language.

• Dedicate 1 hr every day for reading and consuming knowledge.

• Take the coursed they have in the how-tos if needed as well.

Step 3: Practice, Practice, Practice:

• You need to build your muscle memory and be fast in using this tool, and also learns the hacks and ins and out of it.

• Dedicate 2hrs a day everyday for 3 weeks only to practice on the tool. Build journeys, segments, try new ways to calculate performance, build templates and test them, find new ways to do things or automate actions within the tool.

Step 4: Teach it:

• Try to pass your learning with different teams and stakeholders or even write about it, this will open a new dimension for your learning and presentation abilities.

Step 5: Take the tool certification:

• Not a fan of this and I'll never do so, but you can try to apply for the certification to test your knowledge and showcase it if you want.

Step 6: Keep learning:

• Stay updates with the new features and news, or join a community like CRM Collective ;) to help you get through any question you have and learn new ideas.

Disclaimer again: if you want to learn SFMC, sell your soul and join their community, that's all I can say and we have people at CRM Collective who can help you learn it also.

There you have it, 6 steps in 3 weeks is all you need and then continuous work.

Hope this helps and if you need support feel free to reach out! Salam 👋🏼