CASE STUDY
Driving Salesforce Excellence
Strengthening Commercial Excellence
Following a period of heightened focus on Commercial Excellence, BD’s U.S. Region leadership identified inconsistent adoption of Salesforce, BDs customer relationship management (CRM) tool, across its Sales and Marketing teams. Executive leadership emphasized the need for all commercial associates to fully leverage the platform to improve visibility, collaboration, and performance tracking.
This global directive prompted the development of region-specific Salesforce training. While some regions had advanced further in driving adoption, others faced significant challenges due to limited resources and competing priorities. Resource gaps included a lack of dedicated personnel to design and deliver the training, such as instructional designers to create an engaging learning experience and communication professionals to connect technical information with user needs. In addition to these resource challenges, adoption barriers existed. Many associates viewed Salesforce as a reporting system rather than a strategic sales tool. Leadership needed a unified approach to build understanding, confidence, and consistent use across the region.
To support BD’s U.S. Sales and Marketing teams in fully leveraging Salesforce as a strategic sales tool, a comprehensive training initiative was developed to improve adoption, engagement, and commercial performance. Salesforce Essentials was designed not only to meet executive directives but also to create a sustainable, scalable learning framework that would continue to support new hires and existing associates over time.
Our Approach
Introducing Salesforce Essentials and The Enablement Academy
To meet the global directive for Salesforce training, each BD region was tasked with designing its own program tailored to local needs and CRM configurations. For the U.S. Region, Salesforce Essentials was born. Working in close collaboration with CRM subject matter experts, the team defined the core curriculum around six key modules: Introduction, Accounts, Contacts, Customer Events, Opportunities, and Inquiries (aka Leads).
Each module was designed to build user confidence while reinforcing best practices for data accuracy, sales funnel management, and customer engagement. The course was intended as an evergreen learning resource for both new hires and existing associates requiring recertification.
To make the training relatable and dynamic, the course follows the journey of “Jenny,” a newly onboarded BD associate learning to navigate Salesforce in her daily workflow. This narrative approach transformed technical training into a practical, story-driven experience. Interactive elements, including embedded knowledge checks, audio narration, and video demonstrations, kept learners engaged and reinforced comprehension.
Salesforce Essentials became the cornerstone offering of the newly established Enablement Academy, a centralized platform on Showpad created to house all
U.S. Region Sales Enablement training. Launching both initiatives simultaneously positioned the Academy as the go-to destination for commercial training content and established a new benchmark for enablement communication and learning design.
The program’s success extended beyond the U.S. Region. Due to its quality and effectiveness, North American counterparts in Canada and Latin America adopted Salesforce Essentials for their own teams, demonstrating the scalability and lasting value of the initiative.
Through this thoughtful, agile, and creative approach, BD’s U.S. Region transformed a basic compliance training requirement into an engaging, strategic, and enduring learning experience that advanced Commercial Excellence across multiple geographies.
Salesforce Essentials Assets
Insights
The program’s success extended beyond the U.S. Region, with other North American regions, including Canada and Latin America, adopting Salesforce Essentials for their own teams. This demonstrated the scalability and lasting value of a centralized, high-quality training program. Overall, the initiative established a sustainable framework for ongoing enablement, adoption, and commercial performance, providing key insights into how interactive, executive-aligned, and story-driven training can drive meaningful behavior change at scale.