Doug Davidoff
CRM is at the center of any serious growth effort. It's estimated that companies spend $4.6 billion annually on CRM implementations. Today, CRM represents the largest category in the tech stack, with $80 billion in annual revenue by 2025.
But, something is still fundamentally wrong. Depending on what research study you use, technology implementations (and especially core apps like the CRM) fail to deliver their intended results 50-70% of the time.
The primary reason for failure? Poor adoption and utilization. Your CRM is only as good as the data it houses, and that is dependent on how it's being used. Over the last two plus years, we've been involved in almost 100 implementations, getting a firsthand seat into the good, the bad and the ugly.
We know this scenario too well, and it can become frustrating fairly quickly. To help you navigate through the transformation, use these 22 tips to increase your team adoption.
1. A strong, documented business process that drives the implementation & utilization of the CRM.
2. Implement changes using The 3 Execution Zones™ approach.
3. Conduct quarterly CRM launches.
4. Focus the implementation and ongoing management & optimization of the CRM on its real purpose - sales performance. As such, never refer to it as a CRM or technology initiative. It should be viewed, communicated, and acted upon as a sales performance initiative.
5. Design a unified growth stack - all tools working together and orchestrated.
6. Ensure everyone has an individual account.
7. Make it easy(er) to do everything from within the CRM or to record activities & data in the CRM.
8. Make it hard(er) to do things outside of the CRM.
9. Automate backend and communication processes like proposal development tracking, pipeline management, account reviews, etc.
10. Utilize contextual Playbooks to reduce/eliminate the friction in data entry and data retrieval.
11. Utilize dynamic properties that are automatically changed based upon the data in other properties to reduce keystrokes (data entry) and enhance usability.
12. Automate prompts - actions to take, dormant contacts, new triggers, content to use, failure to log in, etc.
13. Create a sales utilization/enablement center.
14. Create a robust library of email templates that are cataloged for easy review & access.
15. Create a robust library of snippets that are cataloged for easy review & access.
16. Implement an internal communications protocol that highlights the role of the CRM and sales enablement center.
17. Implement a robust sales rep feedback program utilizing surveys, interviews & workshops...and report on the progress.
18. Run utilization contests that align with business processes and objectives.
19. Role models - managers and executives must set the example.
20. Manage communications in the CRM.
21. Don’t ask questions about information that is in the CRM.
22. Communicate, communicate, communicate
CRM adoption isn’t hard, but it’s not easy. If your sales team doesn’t find value in what you’re doing, they’re not going to do it. If the process isn’t being used, they won’t use it. So if you’re struggling to get your reps to use the new system, lock down these tips. You’ll be doing you and your team a favor.
