Key Takeaways
Start with reading, then updating, then creating.
Record a ten-minute walkthrough.
Define what every field means in one page.
Review records together in week one.
Stage One: Read And Report
Give read access. Ask the assistant to pull a simple list, such as deals with no activity in two weeks, and send it to you. This teaches the structure without risk.
Stage Two: Update
Grant edit rights on existing records. The first tasks are logging calls, updating stages after your notes, and cleaning duplicates. Review a sample together after three days.
Stage Three: Create
Once updates are consistent, the assistant creates new leads and contacts from inbound forms and research. Provide a one-page field guide: what each field means, the allowed values, and what to leave blank.
Recordings And Field Guides
A ten-minute screen recording of you working a lead is the best training material you can make. Pair it with the field guide and a list of the five reports you look at.
A One-Page Field Guide Example
Stage: the step the deal is in; only move forward after a call is logged. Source: where the lead came from; use the dropdown, never free text. Next step date: required on every open deal. Notes: two lines maximum, newest first. Do not delete records; mark them lost with a reason instead.
Common Mistakes
Giving full admin rights on day one, skipping the read-only stage, and not defining fields, which leads to five spellings of the same source. All three are avoidable with the staged approach.
What This Looks Like In Practice
A sales team gives an appointment setter read access on Monday and edit access on Thursday. By the second week she logs every call and flags stale deals in the weekly report.
A Quick Checklist Before You Start
Read-only stage completed.
Field guide written.
Walkthrough recorded.
Sample review done in week one.
Questions Owners Ask
Which CRM is easiest for assistants?
The one your team already uses. Familiarity on your side matters more than the tool.
Should the assistant have admin rights?
No. Keep admin rights with you or a manager.
Written by
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