CRM Best Practices - Roll It Out Right

Picture this: You are the head of your company and you have spent months testing and rolling out a brand new contact management, or CRM system. You are anxious to see the system in action and start realizing the return on your investment in the form of better customer relationships and increased sales. There is only one problem—your employees are skeptical of the system and they aren’t using it.

The answer to this typical challenge lies in understanding that CRM affects not only technology, but also people, their behaviors, and processes. It is a tool capable of transforming an organization for the better, but only if utilized properly. There are several common reasons why end users resist using new technology, but the bottom line is that providing effective training and reinforcing proper behavior through incentives and rewards is the best way to ensure that employees use the new system.

Your CRM system should be tailored to match the behavior and processes people use every day. Salespeople, sales managers, executives, marketing team members, and support personnel all have different needs and processes. If existing processes—such as tracking sales activities and customer ticket resolution—were not properly mirrored in the CRM system during the design phase and tested with the users before roll out, you may have significant problems with processes after the system is implemented. Only once you meet these needs can you use CRM to make improvements in efficiency and productivity. In many cases, as users become comfortable with the system, they will suggest these changes to you. Work with your CRM consultant to reassess the system and make changes while keeping users involved. This will increase utilization.

Invest in adequate training. Many companies do not invest enough time training staff to bring them up to a standard of proficiency on their CRM system, leaving users frustrated. When approaching training, begin with an employee survey to assess the skill level of each individual. Then, break employees into groups based on skill level, and tailor the hands-on training to match the developmental need of each group. Employees are given additional training when required, but those who are proficient move on. Training can be done in-person or remotely via the Web or video conferencing.

Insist on reports. You cannot manage utilization and effectiveness of CRM until you can measure it. Many companies overlook this critical step. By creating a series of reports and dashboards for end users and management, you can see, in real-time, who is using the system and how they are using it, including activities, results, and critical business information. Based on this information, both management and the end user can take action to improve and excel. When used properly, measurement can become something that is embraced, not feared. Measurement helps you to improve and prosper.

Tie incentives to use of the CRM system. Old behaviors may continue to persist. Employees turn back to comfortable, often archaic, processes when they are frustrated, instead of using CRM. That behavior can be changed through constant reinforcement of positive actions. There are many ways to reward behavior and many of our customers have set up monetary and non-monetary incentives for their employees to use the CRM system. For salespeople, these include recognition and awards for using CRM to serve their customers better; additional quarterly bonuses; and even withholding commissions for not using the system. For customer support, you can measure customer- issue resolution and effectiveness, and provide bonuses based on individual ratings calculated from CRM. It’s important to find out what will work best within your company and culture when you put incentives into place. We track everything through CRM and visually display the data on a big LCD monitor in the sales bullpen. Reps can monitor their progress in real time and stay motivated to reach their goals.

Of all the best practices outlined above, there is an additional one that is critical in shaping corporate behavior and utilization of a CRM system—LEAD BY EXAMPLE! It is vital for management to demonstrate to their employees that they are serious about the utilization of the CRM system. The best way to show this is by using the system yourself and listening to and addressing end-user concerns and suggestions.
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