Winning Strategies for Successful CRM Software Adoption

We often hear about the difficulties/failures companies experience with CRM adoption. Many tools have been created, such as Salesforce, Oracle, and Siebel, but few are well-received and utilized within a company. According to Merkle Group Inc., 63% of CRM adoption projects fail in large companies. However, when adoption is successful, companies are more productive and profitable and create more business value.

Numerous studies have shown that resistance to change is what truly hinders employees, not the technological aspect. Many prefer to use their good old productive and familiar methods. It is true that when we are encouraged to discover an unfamiliar new system and thus step out of our comfort zone, we develop a feeling of resistance. When faced with novelty, the employee is less confident and may be less productive in the short term.

When implementing a new CRM, the company must understand that it cannot remain passive and must adopt a process to ensure the system is well-integrated and useful for the teams. Here is a set of “best practices” for better CRM adoption:

Appoint a CRM Software Champion

A system manager/ambassador/expert must be appointed to provide ongoing support. They will work jointly with system users and be available to answer any questions regarding the technological and operational aspects of the system. Thanks to a sales force coaching platform such as Incenteev, they will be able to share best practices or an operating guide. Through their discussions and publications, they will need to demonstrate how this tool will add value and assist sales representatives daily.

Involve Users as Early as Possible

Before the Customer Relationship Management system is officially implemented, users should be involved to get accustomed to it and provide feedback based on their experiences with the tool. As mentioned previously, everyone fears the unknown, and familiarizing them from the start by being close to them and listening to their suggestions helps reduce uncertainties and clarify misunderstandings. If the company has the resources, it can also test different types of CRM with various stakeholders to discuss and choose the most suitable one. Employees should be involved as much as possible in the tool selection rather than having one imposed on them that wouldn’t suit them.

Guide – Sales Agility: The Keys to Success

Constantly Train all Employees

Adopting Customer Relationship Management software is not an overnight process and requires extensive training. It is better to offer several short training sessions than a single long one. More personalized training for each department may be necessary depending on their usage. After new updates, new training sessions must be organized so that employees can make the best possible use of them. Incenteev can be used by companies to train employees on a new CRM, with a short daily video and a quiz to better progress on the platform.

Reward Good CRM Software Users

Using new software requires a time investment from employees. It can therefore be justified to reward the best performers based on their KPIs. In the long term, it’s a good way to encourage the rest of the employees to follow these “leaders”. With Incenteev, it is possible to gamify indicators related to CRM adoption and organize challenges.

Conclusion

It must therefore be acknowledged that the CRM adoption process is a long-term endeavor and requires a time, human, and financial investment. One of the keys to the success of this adoption process is communication: it is important to communicate, share, listen, and even offer advice regarding the CRM to better adopt it together.

In the long term, CRM adoption should help sales representatives and improve their performance. The statistics don’t lie:

• Up to a 41% increase in sales per sales rep (Source: BigContacts)
• Up to 27% improvement in customer retention (Source: BigContacts)
• 65% of sales targets achieved with a mobile CRM vs. 22% of sales targets achieved without a mobile CRM (Source: Super Office)

Other articles that might interest you:

• 8 Surprising Events to Delight your Clients and Prospects
• 4 Steps to Win Back Lost Customers
• Strategic KPI: how to assess customer lifetime value?