We're now on our second CRM roll-out and I still can't seem to get all of the team to use it as much as they should. Does anybody have any recommendations how I can get them to start using it? I don't want to get hard ass on them but it's getting frustrating. We're just throwing money away otherwise.
I hope you can help me!!!!
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It needs to be part of their remuneration. Sales people tend to only do the things that they need to do and if one of the things that they are required to do to get paid is use specific parts of the CRM system then they'll do it.
You should also see if there is a reason why they're not using it. Is it too time consuming? Do they not understand the value of the information that is being gathered? Do they not get any benefit from using it themselves?
Once you answer some of those questions then you'll know why it's not succeeding but if you do end up having to force them to use it then withholding their commission until the CRM update is complete would almost guarantee that they'll use it.
Hi Gordianssis
Sorry to hear you've had problems but I'm afraid you're not the first and won't be the last. If the sales system is already in place and you've got adoption problems (i.e. users won't use the system), the problems started at the beginning of the implementation and are very hard to fix at this point. Changing the CRM doesn't solve it.
Implementing a CRM system means changing the way people work. Simply putting it in, and asking people to use it rarely works and usually results in extreme resistance (open or hidden) to the system and its rejection. I don't know what size of organisation you have but you need to engage stakeholders and users in the project from the beginning and do various things around ensuring the sales team either get value out of the system or understand and buy into the need to support the business, even if it makes their life harder (it often does).
This blog may help http://clicky.me/dontblamesales but also I'm happy to have a chat on the phone and give you some tips, if I can find out a bit more detail, about how to salvage the situation or whether to go back to basics. Always always, we underestimate the change that needs to happen with CRM. Doesn't have to be that way but most organisations don't know how to do it another way and only learn after some significant pain. (BTW I'm Kate, not Sameya, my colleague and can be reached on 020 7692 0642 - feel free to pick up the phone).
Sales people are by nature difficult to manage but they are normaly money motivated and in order to earn they need to hit their targets. They normally take the path of least resistance in order to hit their target so you have to show them that by using the CRM system that it will make their job easier.
To do this you have to show them that the software that you are asking them to use is intuitive and that it is easy to access and update from home as well as in the office. You can force them to use a system but as you have already experienced if you do that they will input rubbish data and the reports that you get out of the system will be rubbish also - so a waste of time and money.
CRM software should look like a website and navigate like a social media site so that the information that the sales team need is only a few clicks away. It's worth looking at http://www.clickhq.co.uk which has been built from the perspective of an entrepreneur who has run businesses and sales teams. Most alternatives are dreamed up by companies from the USA by techies who think they know how sales teams think.
Very simple: Make it a condition of their comp plan. No commissions on deals not managed in your CRM system. Lots of companies are doing this and it's a simple solution to the problem.
This is a very common question for companies that use or are implementing a CRM solution. Encouraging user adoption is a key, I highly recommend you to read this whitepaper that will help you solve this problem http://www.intelestream.net/en/whitepapers/crm-adoption.html
Gordianssis
This blog post my help: http://www.mareeba.co.uk/blog/2010/05/getting-people-to-use-crm-technology.html
Regards
Richard