Sunday, 9 September 2018

CRM Adoption Got You Down? Here’s Some Expert Tips to Help

Buying a CRM is one thing. Getting your staff to use it is another. We talked with some experts on h

When you adopt a customer relationship management (CRM) platform, you can feel inspired by all of the features that were pitched to you when you were researching options. After all, CRM platforms promise to empower your sales staff and help them close deals faster and easier. Plenty of businesses have learned the ways of these solutions, leveraging the technology to improve their sales operations. While the CRM providers would like you to believe they transform the working lives of every sales representative who uses them, there are those who say the reality of it is less bright. In fact, Byron Matthews, President and CEO of the Miller Heiman Group, says that CRM adoption rates among staff are actually as low as 70 percent.

“The truth of the matter is that there are a lot of sales reps who see CRM as an administrative chore, and then they don’t end up using the tools at all,” Matthews said. Many organizations have trouble driving CRM adoption and you, too, may feel discouraged if you have tried to deploy such a platform and have it not work out. With that in mind, there are some things you can do to help improve CRM adoption in your company. The following tips can help you get back on track and leverage your CRM platform into a useful tool.

Adoption Requires Adaptation

Anne Gherini is Vice President of Marketing and Relationships of Affinity, a San Francisco-based CRM platform provider. As part of her job, Gherini works with companies, helping them make CRM more effective within their organizations. When we spoke with her, Gherini was quick to establish that, in order for CRM adoption to be effective, it requires companies to rethink how they do business.

“So many times we adopt these new technologies, and a salesperson is able to put the hook in our cheek and get us to think that this is going to be the blanket solution for all of our worries and fears,” Gherini said. “The reality is that, as leaders, we really have to adapt our strategies around it. I think that comes from the top down. In order to do that, I think that there’s a couple things that can be done.”

Gherini suggests taking the time to properly brief the team when a new CRM system is purchased. “Any time that, as a leader, you’re trying to push the new technology, I think the real key piece is making sure everyone understands why. Tell your staff what the purpose of the system is and exactly why it is going to help the team hit their goals,” she said. “Once you’ve communicated that effectively, you can really drive adoption across the board.”

While Gherini was specifically referring to Affinity, her words ring true for all types of CRM platforms. Whether you use Affinity, Salesforce Sales Cloud Lightning Professional, or Zoho CRM, deploying a new CRM platform will take careful consideration in order to be effective.

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Article Credit: PC

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