Launching a new CRM system for your organization is never easy, especially when you have old timers in your ranks. Many older employees resist the push to use company software, especially a new CRM system that they are unfamiliar with.
According to Forrester, less than 50 percent of CRM roll-outs succeed. The reason is user adoption.
Sales people are stuck in their ways, sales managers are too busy to enforce the new CRM policy, and executives do not know how to measure user adoption.
I will provide a plan with simple steps to ensure your organization does not become a statistic. User adoption success boils down to five things.
- User Adoption Dashboard
- Training
- CRM Roll-out
- Enforcement
- Accountability
These five points I will discuss in detail because they are the key to a successful CRM deployment. Surprisingly, they are all very simple and will ensure your organization adopts your new CRM system successfully.
User Adoption Dashboard
There is one thing you must do before rolling out your new system, and after you finish configuring your new CRM the way you want it - configure your user adoption dashboard.
Dashboards in CRM systems allow you to see multiple reports on one page. It is an overview of your company performance and data in one central view.
Dashboards are usually made up of charts and graphs for the reports you select to see on that dashboard. It is common to have a Sales Dashboard, Customer Support Dashboard, and Marketing Dashboard; each presenting you with an overview of the data for that specific category.
Another dashboard you need, especially when first rolling out your new CRM is a User Adoption Dashboard. This dashboard is strictly for the management team at your company. The data you will see when viewing this dashboard are reports similar to those listed below.
- Logins Per User
- User Activity
- New Data Created By User
- Edits Made By User
- Average Time Logged In By User
The point of this dashboard is to help your management team understand which users are using the system, and which are not. These reports will instantly show you who is not using the new CRM system, allowing you to quickly nip in the bud the issue these specific users are having.
Training
Once your new CRM software is configured the way you need it, and you are ready to deploy it to your team, a group training session should be held for your users prior to the roll-out date.
CRM training is normally conducted in group sessions, where you have one training session with each department at your organization. One training for the sales department, one training for the customer support department, etc. The point of this is that the employees in your sales department will be using the CRM differently than your support team.
These training sessions should focus on how you expect the users to use the new CRM. Including simple usability knowledge, such as creating a new lead, editing a customer, scheduling tasks and logging calls, etc.
Additionally these trainings should also include a clear directive to your employees that they are now required to use the new CRM. It is also a good idea to inform them that their system usage will be monitored and analyzed daily.
CRM Roll-out
When it comes to rolling out the new system it is important to do it in a structured manner. Choose a day to deploy the new system, and make sure all members of your team are aware of this.
Rolling out a new software successfully requires structure. The chances that your employees will use the system successfully and correctly are slim to none if you just tell them out of the blue that you have a new CRM, and they can use it if they want.
Enforcement
After the roll-out it is critical that your CRM administrator monitors the User Adoption Dashboard daily for the first few weeks. What often happens when deploying a new software is after a few days of using it, users begin to get lazy and slip back into their old habits.
This is where usage controls come into play, and the User Adoption Dashboard will help you identify this as soon as it begins to happen. When you identify a user getting lazy and not logging in to the system, it is your job to immediately meet with them and reiterate your expectations.
Enforcing system use is part of the CRM administrator's job, and for the first few weeks will be something they need to be extra diligent about.
The users must know that using the system is now part of their daily job duties, if they are not using it than they are not doing a critical aspect of their job.
Accountability
User accountability is another important aspect in ensuring successful user adoption of your new CRM. One good way to achieve this is to setup a default dashboard for all users in the Sales Department, another for all users in the Support Department, etc.
How this works is that when a sales person logs into the CRM, they will land on their home dashboard. Which will show an overview of the sales team performance. Some of the reports they will see include charts like a Sales Leaderboard, Leads Created By Rep, Calls By Rep, etc.
These types of reports visible to all members of the team will add a competitive aspect to the system. Where each sales person dreads seeing themselves as the worst performer on the team.
Conclusion
User adoption for any software is a challenge, but can be achieved with your CRM software by following these steps. Each of them are important and does not work without the other.
I would recommend you work with your CRM account representative to correctly configure the dashboards. At Snapforce we offer full implementation support, and assign you a dedicated CRM expert to hold your hand through the deployment process. To learn more about this please contact a sales representative to learn more about this.