Introducing CRM to your Team to Achieve the Best Outcome

Business is always evolving, looking for better and more efficient processes.

Over the past two decades, the capacity of CRM to deliver powerful business tools and provide better customer experiences, which drive higher productivity levels and greater profits, has developed year after year.

We believe every business will see the benefit of adopting CRM.

The reality, however, is that CRM failure rate is between 18% and 69%, according to researchers.

Why? Because the implementation is mismanaged and lacks follow-through.

To be truly successful, CRM has to be adopted and embraced by teams so that the software is used to its fullest potential and delivers a fantastic return on investment.

If you’re considering introducing a CRM to your team, here’s how we think you should introduce CRM to your Team to achieve the best outcome.

How to Introduce CRM to your Team most effectively

1. Discussion

Adopting a CRM is not something a business can do overnight. It takes time, planning and development. Due to the flexibility and potential power of CRMs, it is important for businesses to outline how they want their CRM to work and what processes will be included within the CRM system.

Start by having discussions with each department about their pain points. Ask questions and listen to answers.

In her book, Seven Essential Questions to Start Your CRM Journey on the Right Foot, Gill listed and discussed in-depth the following questions:

• What do you need the CRM solution to do for you?
• Should you use on-premise or cloud CRM?
• What’s the best way to compare CRM systems?
• Which provider should you choose?
• How can you motivate your team to use CRM?
• Is the system unique or configurable to your business processes?
• How can successfully manage changes in the system?

By taking all these into account, you and your team can build a CRM that makes everyone’s lives easier and streamlines the work processes. If CRM is seen as a useful tool to simplify people’s work and boost efficiency, your team is more likely to welcome its introduction.

By discussing your aims at the start of this project and taking on board recommendations from your management and their teams, you are including everyone in the process.

Communication throughout is key, and it helps people to feel like they are a part of the project, rather than just users of an unfamiliar system thrust upon them without warning.

2. Training

In order to use CRM systems efficiently, every team member needs to understand their role and how to correctly use the relevant processes. This is not something you want your staff to learn on the job unless you are happy wasting money on months of inefficiency and mistakes.

Providing adequate training for all your staff ahead of implementation is vital to hit the ground running and making the most out of your carefully chosen CRM system.

It’s not enough for management to be trained. Everyone whose daily work involves CRM programs needs to feel comfortable and confident with the software.

These are the key people or roles that should be included in a CRM implementation team:

• Executive Sponsor
• Solution Architect
• Internal Project Manager
• Business Analyst
• Technical Team
• Power users
• Trainers
• End users

Of course, their skills and knowledge in CRM will develop over time as they become more familiar with the systems. Still, the more skilled people feel on day one, the more likely they are to embrace this new process and the fewer (potentially costly) mistakes they will make.

3. Reinforcement

Reinforce the adoption of your CRM and lead by example.

Switching over can be a shock, particularly if your company’s processes have never been formalised in the way a CRM allows you to monitor and track projects and sales, for example.

Management must be 100% committed to adopting the CRM from day one. They should regularly remind their staff of any processes that the CRM could be used for to encourage a shift from archaic methods to the new, more efficient and more productive version.

We also recommend regular refresher courses or additional training. This keeps your staff's knowledge up to date and also improves their ability to use your CRM to its fullest potential. There are often teething problems with new CRM systems and any amendments that require training should be prioritised.

If your CRM changes and expands regularly, this training also ensures everyone is always kept abreast of these developments and that the latest processes are always followed correctly.

4. Feedback

Your staff are the people who use your new CRM every day.

Ask them how they feel about it. Listen to their thoughts and observations. This feedback is vital to developing the way in which your CRM is used. We recommend regular management meetings that include discussions about CRM usage to allow the company to be reactive to any issues as quickly as possible.

Staff need to feel valued and appreciated and having their feedback taken on board is a great feeling. Not only will this process keep your staff happy, but they will inform the way in which your CRM is used and, ultimately, make it more functional for your team which in turn will make your team more productive.

Every business knows how important productivity is and we firmly believe that the combination of a CRM with well-trained, motivated and talented teams is a formula for success.

If you’d like some further information about how to introduce CRM to your company, reach out to Opsis today. Our principal, Gill Walker, specialises in Microsoft Dynamics 365 and she’s open for advice whenever you need an expert guide on implementing CRM success with Microsoft Dynamics 365.