By Swatil Binte Mahmud, Blogger, Lava Protocols
Sales reps have an initial dislike towards CRM because it’s something unfamiliar and unnecessary from their perspective. But the strength of a CRM lies on its users. Building a customer database is the foundation of your customer relationship and the more information you collect, the better you can tailor your solution to your customer’s needs. The better the fit, the higher the chances of closing that deal.
User adoption is one of the key challenges when it comes to CRM implementations but this is something that a purposely built adoption plan can always fix. This involves informing your team about changes and additions, providing them with training and information to enhance their understanding, and giving them confidence that a CRM would be beneficial for them, for the company, and the clients
Here are a few ways in which you can make your sales team fall in love with CRM:
Arrange Training
If your sales team does not understand how, when, and what they need to do with CRM, they will not be able to use it! CRM training should be an integral part of your organization or business. You need to create training documents, official processes, and guidelines for correct CRM usage for every step in the sales process. You need to define specific and detailed instructions on how to use CRM, and at the same time, you need to lay down the reasons for your sales team on how CRM will make their lives easier.
Salespeople who have received training on how to use the technology has become more efficient and effective. The CRM is the first thing they open each day, they can enter updates from their cell phones, and they have seen how this tool helps takes the complexity out of account management and helps them close more sales faster.
Gain Their Trust
It’s not just a sales manager thing. Salespeople can believe that the CRM was implemented to check on them and hold them even more accountable. This is because they think logging on to the CRM system every day always makes their location and other information available to you. It is your responsibility to be open and transparent with your team, showing them exactly how you came up with a new strategy and how it is based on the activity they’ve been inputting daily into the CRM.
Your sales team will be much more interested and comfortable in using CRM when they know how it benefits them. For instance, you can tell them that CRMS optimizes their workflow and keeps customer information in one place.
Uncomplicate Things
Salespeople are used to being in the field and their job keeps them on the move most of the time! They would rather spend their day selling instead of sitting in training or in their office cubicles to learn how to use the software. Therefore, the solution is a customizable CRM. Every company has a different sales process, with each stage defined by specific criteria. A CRM’s pipeline stages should be customizable to suit how a salesperson sells. If the CRM is aligned with the way your salespersons do their everyday job, a suitable CRM will make it easier for them to reach their goals.
CRMs include features like pipeline management tools, deal stages, workflows, etc. and if your company’s new CRM fits the sales process and is familiar to the sales team, it will make it easier for them to input the data.
Ask For Input
60% of CRM implementations fail because businesses choose the wrong software for their needs. Therefore, it only makes sense to involve your sales team at every step of the way as they will be using the CRM daily. Find out what features they need to do their job effectively, which feature is working and what is not working. Ensure that their needs are being met, the CRM helps to get their job done and communicate with them that there is always room for change. Taking their suggestions, comments, and feedback will only help your company’s CRM to mold into our company’s style of business.
Every day more and more organizations and businesses are investing in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system for their sales department to improve their sales effectiveness and drive more revenue to the bottom-line. This is because the right CRM can become your single voice of truth to determine sales pipeline, sales behavior, and customer activity. However, salespeople often push back and do not want to use the CRM because the tool was thrown on them and not sold to them on how it could benefit them. They believe CRM is basically one more way for the organization to watch them, challenge what they do, and spy on them!
There are many reasons why salespeople do not use their CRM and there really is no exact formula for successful customer adoption. All there is a guideline on how to manage the process.
Lava Protocols is an authorized Salesforce Reseller in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the ASEAN region. Need a CRM software? Drop us an email to schedule your demo: hello@lavaprotocols.com.