By now you know the drill. Successful CRM user adoption in your organization is not a one-time thing. It’s a continuous work in progress that never ends.
First we discussed 9 tips to get your team fired up and on board prior to going live with CRM.
Then it was go-live day.
We provided another 8 steps to implement to users once they have access to CRM.
So you’re done right? Wrong.
CRM needs to become a way of life. Not just today but days, weeks, months and years AFTER going live. Here are 9 more tips to ensure that your users become CRM advocates.
1. Help is Available
Remind your users that it is okay to ask questions and more importantly ask for help – no matter how long it has been since their training. Make your Help Desk contact information easy to find. If you don’t have an official help desk, let everyone know who the subject matter experts are and that they are willing to assist as needed.
2. Use CRM in Meetings
Whether it is a one-to-one or team meeting, make CRM a part of that meeting. Having a Sales meeting? Use CRM when you discuss your sales pipeline. Marketing meeting? Pull up the last few marketing campaigns. Customer Service? Showing recent cases in CRM will make an impact on your team and remind them that if it isn’t in CRM it doesn’t exist.
3. CRM Competency Testing
We talked about testing on CRM competency during training. But are your users continuing to enhance their skills? Provide the same testing at future meetings to see how their knowledge and skills continue to grow (or decline).
4. Accountability is a Must
The first six weeks of CRM are the most critical. We all know those users that are reluctant to change. Given a company’s history of rolling out new initiatives, they may feel CRM is just a fad that will slowly be forgotten. Holding users accountable to the expectations you set will remind them that CRM is here to stay.
5. Critical Success Factors
We talked about creating critical success factors before launching CRM. A way to gauge your internal success of using CRM. If you are meeting, or exceeding those goals, share those successes with your team. And if you are not reaching those goals. Well, that’s a conversation that needs to take place as well.
6. CRM Tips and Tricks
You don’t have be a CRM MVP to provide tips and tricks for users to more efficiently and effectively use CRM. Just by searching online for “Salesforce Tips” or “Microsoft Dynamics CRM Tips” you will find an endless supply of resources to provide users (including Ledgeview Partners’ Blog). On a weekly basis push out at least one CRM tip and archive those for users to search as needed. In each weekly communication or meeting ask for users to share their tips. You don’t need to be an expert to provide a simple, time-saving tip!
7. Training New Employees
If you are reaching your goals with CRM, odds are you will be expanding your team. And that means new CRM users. Get feedback from your initial training, modify as needed and have a (full) training plan in place when new hires come on board. Too often I have seen CRM training become a quick 15-30 minute (or even less) overview. If CRM is an important part of that role, you need to make sure they are comfortable using the system. This isn’t a throw them in the deep end and hope they can swim kind of moment.
8. Follow-Up Training
Whether you kick off your monthly meeting with 5-10 minutes of CRM training or offer lunch n’ learn CRM training, continually offering training will not only provide users with the knowledge to gain efficiency and effectiveness but demonstrate the company’s commitment to CRM. The first one or two can be led by your CRM Administrator, a Manager, or CRM power user but then encourage others that are interested to lead training on specific functions of CRM that they are experts in.
9. What’s Next?
At Ledgeview Partners we preach that Rome was not built in a day. CRM has proven to accomplish amazing things at companies around the world, but when you rollout CRM, it’s best to do it in small (manageable) phases. Once Phase 1 is live, it’s time to start planning for phase 2 and beyond. – Seek in the input of your users, but make your goals and future rollouts realistic based on your resources.
Additional Resources:
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