CRM adoption: How do you get sales reps to use your CRM system?

Hi Dan,

I have to agree with Paul that consistent 100% adoption is unlikely. I do have a couple of brief thoughts on what has worked for me in making CRM attractive to Sales Reps:

1) Give them back more time than you are taking.
Anything your CRM can do to save non-selling time is a bigger factor for adoption than just about any carrot/stick. E.G. Do the Reps use outside research tools (Jigsaw, LinkedIn, GoogleNews, etc.)? Get those tools into your CRM and make sure you are saving them time/keystokes/energy/effort.

2) Give them insight they can't get anywhere else.
Does you CRM give instant/obvious access to deals that have been won/lost to the same competitor? How about companies of similar size/vertical? If you can build this kind of "help me sell" intelligence into the system, I think you'll see Reps using and learning to love the CRM.

I hope my (extremely broad) thoughts give you a few ideas specific to your needs. Best of luck.

Hello -
As a sales executive who has lead several adoptions and a former CRM sales person, I can tell you that there are several components to a successful 99.9% adoption. CRM is about change management and all of the components follow true change management theory.

1. It is a top down initiative. If your CEO, CFO, EVP of sales and marketing aren't using the system, the initiative will fail miserably.

2. (This could be 1B) Everything must be driven from the system - in other words - you can't let Executives and managers send them excel spreadsheets or other forms to fill outside of the system. CRM data must be completed so that all needed reports, etc can be driven from the system. This won't happen if Executives aren't using CRM.

3. or !C - Everybody must use the system or face repurcussion up to and including firing. If your "sales star" or #1 VP is not using the system as required, your team will become de-motivated. It is true. Every organization will wind up having to fire a high profile employee to get their point across at some point in the implementation. Non compliance is a cancer that will quickly spread and kill your investment.

4. The rollout should be multi-phased. Start with sales or a small portion of your sales force so that any "problems" can be identified before a full rollout. Sales will be the first to try and "break" the system and this will allow you to address any early problems without failing the project. Start by using only part of the system (lead management) and phase in new sections as they become familiar with the system.

5. Invest in training. Training will need to be repeated and on-going during the first year. They can't learn everything in one 3 day training sesssion.

6. Eventually you will hit a "compliance wall" - 60, 70, or 80% with no discernable increases month to month. That is when you have to start taking more dramatic measures. I call this "if it is not in CRM it doesn't exist." If a sales person wants to discuss a deal that isn't in CRM . . it doesn't exist. If they want resources for a deal that isn't in CRM . . it doesn't exist. If they want to expense against . . you see the pattern. You don't need meetings, resources or money for deals or contacts that do not exist.

They will start by inputting data right before the requst, but shortly it will become a part of their daily routine.

Dan,

First, CRM for sales people intimates accountability for time and effort. Some sales professionals are detail oriented and have no issue. Others entered the sales field to minimize the oversight that they might experience with other kinds of traditional sales.

Second, CRM / sales automation is an excellent method to create sales projections (for the company) and sales quotas (for the sales person / sales manager. Either of these two are anathemas to some sales professionals.

Lastly, sales CRM applications are terribly time consuming for most. In my opinion you will get much higher compliance

My solution or recommendation is to reduce the barriers to use of a CRM as much as possible. That means reducing input by the sales person. Even if the sales person can use the stored infromation about an account; you've won a bit of the contest of getting adapation to a CRM

But no CRM success story can be done without a champion in the sales division. If a champion can be identified and proselytize CRM and how it helps them close deals, I would bet that more sales personnel would you use CRMs. Right now, most sales persons think it is just busy work to monitor sales person.

Dan:
Give them carrots for using the CRM system. The tactics I have seen are:
(1) Give them new leads through CRM system only
(2) Push useful articles to CRM system. Tell sales reps to forward relevant articles to their prospects and customers.
Both appeal to their "greedy" instincts to get new sales and customers.

Hi Dan,

As a "greedy" sales person myself, as well as CRM end user, I have some thoughts on CRM adoption as well.

Establishing protocols and expectations right off the bat are crucial for adoption. I've started for companies and their CRM protocol has been a little grey which does not work in CRM.

Good examples of sales/marketing frustrations I've heard from clients and experienced in CRM:

-Establish how leads are to be entered. Are they entered as leads or Accounts in your business? Having more than one method causes to poor CRM data in the long run.

-Establish clear policy with creating accounts and marketing campaigns.

-Are the appropriate fields required to ensure consistent data is being entered in all departments?

These are common undefined areas in CRM that can potentially give CRM users too many reasons to avoid using it.

Also, new employee’s people need to understand this is your best practice, and you expect the data to be there for reporting and forecasting. What should I think if I look and see my sales people have donuts in their pipeline? Firstly their either not doing their job (selling) or their not using my CRM to the degree I'm asking. Neither are ideal situations.

Sales and marketing are resistant at times to enter their day to day actions, because it takes time I agree. Not because CRM is complicated. Bottom line, for CRM to really pay off, they have to live in it, and embrace it. For this to happen they might need more training, and developing a champion on your team to help lead by example with mastering the product.

I admit, there are times when the last thing I want to do is enter data into CRM, but if I want my reporting to be accurate, I know it's what has to happen.

I agree with Matt here, give them back more than they put in. I've seen the you must comply model tried before, you will get compliance i.e. they will do things that look like what you asked for but you will also get a lot of fake data and/or its done as an afterthought and chore so it doesn't help them to be more productive and the accuracy and value is much lower. One other problem I saw is that you won't punish your top sales guys if they don't use the CRM, and you shouldn't, you should get the CRM that works for them AND fufills your management needs.

I would look at CRM's that bring something new to the sales guy, it could be integrating social feeds for contacts and companies to bring sales intelligence or google alerts or LinkedIN updates (all of which Matt pointed out), it might also bring them sales knowledge from within the company that will help them like the won deals that Matt talked about of product and market info.

Dan,
All the responders so far have focused on three areas
1. Provide value to the users
2. Provide incentive for use
3. Make using the system easy.

Let's "Focus" here on number 3, making the CRM system as painless as possible to use. If you were a member of your own sales team, your biggest issue with CRM would probably be time consuming and sometimes painstaking data input, particularly if you are slow on a keyboard. This is the number one complaint that I hear when drilling down into user resistance.

Here are a few ideas on how to take the pain out of information input, particularly for a mobile sales team.

1) Anywhere Access
Make sure your CRM system is mobile enabled. Let the team use i-Phones, Blackberries, web access from hotel or home etc. so they can enter AND access information where they live (on the road) and when they need it (now!)

2) Full PDA capability integration
Make sure the CRM system makes use of all the great mobile communications tools available including email integration from the road, intant mapping and allowing pictures taken with the PDA to be attached to the prospect or client record and be made available immediately from the system to all authorized users.

3) Call-in transcription (Maybe the best idea of all)
Provide a call-in transcription service for entering info into the system. Besides better buy-in from the team, YOU will also benefit from
- increased productivity
- better information recall - fewer forgotten details
- one-and-done efficiencies
- the ability to generate immediate follow up in the office
- multitasking while driving to the next sales call.
The increased buy in and productivity that you will get out of your sales team will be well worth the cost.

If you have in-house sales team members, using transcription software with CRM can increase your team's productivity just as a call-in transcription service can increase outside sales team productivity.

Finally, be patient but be persistant. If you have REALLY configured your system to be user helpful and not just a management reporting tool, the success and the buzz from early adopters will help to drive late adopters to get with the program.

Bring ease of use and value to your team. As a manager, you know that what's good for your sales team members is ultimately good for you too.

Best regards,

Steve Hosmer
President
AM&B Marketing Corp.

When choosing your CRM system, look for strong usability and functions that help your salespeople in meaningful and apparent ways.

There are some excellent apps on the market that actually help salespeople win more deals and automatically create sales forecasts. Does your software leverage a sales methodology? It's one thing to be recording your customer interactions and punching in data for the sake of storing it somewhere secure and organized. But, the next generation of sales tools will actually help your salespeople win more deals by offering on-the-fly sales coaching and prioritizing their time to get the most out of each quarter.

With these sales tools, it's not only in their best interests to use it, but it's obvious right away that they are gaining an edge by using it. This instant feedback loop goes a long way to positively reinforce use of the CRM software.

If the software is user-friendly, this alone can make a big difference in whether or not it gets used. Extra mouse clicks, too many menus or pop-up forms can make it feel like a never-ending online survey. And that's no fun. CRM software that is painful to use, just doesn't get used. Simple, but true.

In addition to some of the great comments above, it is worthwhile to expand on the concept of Control Points. Take critical process points, such as quoting, lead retrieval, or order processing; and develop the business process to require the software. Work backwards - whatever your expectations of using a CRM system are (or planned ROI), build the process points to support it.

This is actually the easiest and fastest with, for instance, Field Service.

Dan,

This is really a tough question esp. since we don't have background info. End user adoption is certainly the most difficult challenge for all CRM projects and the most common failure reason.

What I generally advise my customers to avoid the adoption pitfall is to focus on 3 pillars;

1. INVEST ON THE 'BUY-IN' PROCESS; create excitement about it; show it's both a significant investment and a great productivity & time-saving tool; prove your top executive commitment; involve key users at all levels and turn them into project stake-holders; insist on user training (more than once); emphasize on 'life-saving', teaser-features; create 'CRM heroes' and many more.

2. BE FAIR TO THE USERS - can you move to their standpoint and answer the question 'what's in it for me?' ; Keep your system simple - as few screens, clicks, typing, etc. as possible. Offer comprehensive dashboards and relevant only data to anyone; your functional requirements should only serve your business goals. Try not to be overwhelming with available functionality and do not expect everything from 'phase 1'; Do not simply expect people to 'feed' yet another application - you need to provide them with true automation tools and integration.

3. DO NOT SEEK VOLUNTEERS ANYMORE; Having done all the above, connect appropriate CRM usage to everyday management processes (eg. sales meetings, pipeline, marketing campaign progress, service call stats....) and if possible to users compensation scheme.

Should you require any further info, feel free to contact me.

--Myron Flouris

Dirty Data - Disaster in the Dump

How interesting that in a month and a half of answers no one (including myself in an ealier post) mentioned database cleansing.

Many CRM implementations are initiated with a blanket dump of previous prospects and customers, sometimes from multiple sources.

One particular lesson in Glengarry Glen Ross was clear:
Salespeople recognize old, tired leads when they see them.

Spend some time before releasing your new or re-released CRM system to cleanse that data. Just getting rid of old, too-tired leads can make a big difference in user enthusiasm for your new CRM.

The likelyhood of getting around to data cleansing after the new CRM goes live is much smaller than if you plan data cleansing in advance.

Steve Hosmer
www.amb-marketing.com

You're not alone. Typically, but certainly not always, the most frequent users of CRM software are sales/marketing people. Being in that discipline usually calls for people that are social, extroverted, perhaps gregarious... and not usually prone to typing in contact details all day long. But one thing they DO like is MONEY. Implement an incentive program that is very simple to manage. For example, a common way to motivate sales people is to provide them a commission on closed sales. All well and good, but the lead time can be long, and there are other activities that benefit the company in an intangible way. For example, just making contact with prospects helps indirectly. Net, net, net: provide smaller monetary rewards simply for the ACTIVITIES that can lead to sales. I.E. number of phone calls made, number of emails sent, number of letters sent... number of names in the contact database... easy stuff... not only the big things like closing a sale. Sort of like: "Watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves." Watch and reward the ACTIVITIES, and the sales will/should follow. Make them feel like every time they hit the Save button, it's money in their pocket. Good luck!

Dan,

Think you have gotten alot of good input on this front. And will add a couple ideas:

1) Make it as easy to use as possible. If your CRM has Mobile functionality I would enable that as a start. Additionally, I would work to add as many tools into your CRM so that is becomes a repository of all information a rep would need to close business with new prospects (Hoovers, Insideview, Jigsaw, etc) and expand business with existing customers (Billing history, Ticket history, relationship history, etc.)

2) Create some incentives - Someone already mentioned only giving them leads through the CRM system. That is a good start, but I would also set up a workflow in the CRM based on the more leads a particular rep works to close (won or lost doesn't matter) the more leads they get. Sales people are competitive by nature, leverage off that, if they feel other sales people are getting more leads and there is something they can do about it, they will. But also make it known how the leads will be distributed and the measurement system (workflow).

3) Start with a Carrot around incentives:
a) If they move a deal through the process, and record those steps in the CRM, then they get a multiplier to the commission component of the sale.
b) If that doesn't work then go to the Stick - and this approach may be extreme but have used it with great success in the past - If a deal closes and only gets put in the system the day before or after it closes (and your sales cycle is normally 6 weeks) then deduct a portion of the commission. If the deal never gets put in the system the no commission. This usually works the best, and in my experience you won't need this punitive approach for long. And you will usually be entertained with all the stories of why they couldn't put it in the CRM.

Cheers

Steve Cadley
Managing Partner
SalesXecution
A Sales Performance, Social Media & CRM Consultancy

Work with your sales people and not against them. If they live in Outlook, pick a CRM solution that integrates well with Outlook. (This need not be Microsoft CRM, many established CRM apps do this, e.g. Oracle)

If your sales people are road warriors, leverage their iPhone, or blackberry etc. and don't make them do duplicate entry. No one wants to do busy work, and no one will do busy work twice.

Always be honest with the WIFM's (What's in it for me?) Make sure that you buld a solution that is valueable top down and bottom up. E.g. a simple, easy to use interface for sales/service and marketing. A UI that can be personalized. Reports that are specific to the users consuming them. E.g. Executive level dashboards, management dashboards AND reports that simplify the lives of people in the trenches... e.g. map integration that shows accounts close to you when you finish or are stood up on an appointment. A list of people you haven't touched in the last 30 days... a list of your time wasters and a list of your valuable clients so you spend your time doing what makes you the most money.

Make sure that the implementation considers ALL of your users and is done right from the get go, becasue it's much easier to win them over initially then to fall on your face and ask for a second chacne.

After a number of excellent advice available on this page, its really difficult to add up more.
Yes, 100% adoption is a dreamy target but it is a goal worth pursuing.

A salesperson's job is very focused on targets and selling, anything that eats away time which could have been otherwise used for sales efforts doesn't make him/her excited.

While the above mentioned incentive schemes are very useful but getting your management to offer incentives on the CRM program is a tough task due to cost issues.

Below is a set of suggested options available at your disposal, a mix and match of these may just do the trick:

[1] Buy In: Management buy in is critical but the end user buy in really drives adoption. Involve select opinion leaders from the sales team while the CRM implementation is on. Request your vendor to give a pilot 'before' the actual product is finally delivered. It helps setting the expectations and also highlights potential usage issues

[2] Inertia: In case you have an existing system (spreadsheets or custom software) which has been used for years, you would notice an inertia to move to a new platform. Moreover, fresh CRM implementations are often buggy and need time to stabilize, this is when the users get frustrated and compare the new solution to the old one forming a perception that the new tool is not as useful as the old one. This expectation management is of utmost importance.

[3] Incentivise: Plenty has been written above on this.

[4] Policy and Implementation: Sometimes a strong is also needed to push adoption. After a sufficient cool down period ensure that no incentive or performance will be tracked if its not on the CRM. Like someone said, If its not on the CRM, it never happened.

[5] Tool: Probably the most important of all the options. Integrate your CRM with existing tools used by the salesreps like Outlook, Lotus etc...Allow them to carry it in their pockets. Used task based UI to reduce time to enter data and finally identify and show the important details (like planned calls etc...) to the user on the main dashboards. The trick is 'Reduce clicks always ticks'
Tools integration is typically not delivered in the initial implementation, and this sets the dissatisfaction ball rolling. Communicate to the users about the future plans.
Ensure that the users do not think of the CRM tool as a way for upper management to churn reports.

[6] Monitor: Track usage through in built reports/data dumps and pick champion users. Involve these users in training of other reps and solution enhancement

Dan,

There really has been some great feedback to this question, and my experience with salespeople and CRM echoes that mentioned above.

The problem is that due to the commission structure many sales people work by CRM can be seen to take them away from their main source of income - potential clients. Time spent off the road is time wasted, and it is easy to understand why they think like this. I think many of us would too if we were in such a role.

It is imperative, therefore, to make the CRM system as easy to use as possible, and if possible give them the tools to use it on the road; make sure they carry laptops and a portable internet connection, that are readily available and affordable. This will remove the barrier of the time it takes to use the CRM system. If the CRM system is easy to use, and quick and easy to input the necessary data (which is should be!) the salesperson can simply enter all the relevant details whilst waiting for their next meeting or while have a coffee break at a service station.

There has been much said above about how to create incentives for the salespeople and how to enforce use in the answers above.

From the beginning, however, when looking to integrate any new functionality or system in to your business your main aim should be to reduce the barriers that make people hesitant of adoption; ask them what their main worries are and what would solve the problem. Only then can you move forward with incentives and rewards.

Stefan,

CEO of WinWeb.com

I have been both poacher and gamekeeper in the CRM debate - having purchased, implemented, and used CRM systems whilst now working for Maximizer CRM. Having sat both sides of the fence (to start mixing my metaphors), getting sales guys to adopt CRM is fundamentally the same as getting everyone else in the organisation to use CRM.

You need to engage users early and often before, during and after CRM implementation. They need to clearly understand WIFM or ‘What’s in it for me’. Sales guys especially, will circumvent a CRM and continue with business as usual if they don’t have a clear understanding of the benefits to them personally.

Does it help me sell more?
Does it stop me looking like an idiot in front of customers?
Does it give me more time to do the stuff I want to do?

As mentioned in an earlier reply, mobile CRM is a great way to hit all 3 of these hot-buttons. (Which is why Maximizer has been providing a mobile CRM solution since 1995).

Ideally a strong, executive level, CRM champion must be able to involve the staff who will actually use the CRM to ensure the best CRM processes for the organisation are implemented. It is vital a CRM is simple, quick, easy to use and more convenient, otherwise frontline users - of all departments will simply work around it. So again user engagement pre and post implementation is essential. The champion should also be a business leader rather than someone from I.T. CRM is a major business initiative not technology, someone “commercial” will make getting key users, like sales people to see the real value in the CRM system a lot easier and quicker.

User engagement is your biggest hurdle, gain acceptance and reduce resistance to change. It just needs a bit more ‘sell’ to the sales guys. I have produced a short and simple 12 point guide to success in selecting and implementing CRM called ‘The Diamond Dozen’. This lists how to avoid some of the potential costly pitfalls and disastrous mistakes when choosing, implementing or upgrading a CRM system and the means to achieve the most from your CRM. It can be downloaded free from the Maximizer website at http://www.max.co.uk/index.php/community/simple-crm-guides.

In my experience the most successful rollouts have made the CRM a one stop shop of sales people. I like the comment above also that stated that everyone including management needs to be using CRM and not having sales people filling out forms and spreadsheets outside of the CRM is key.
Have all the information that a sales person needs at their fingertips, all the tools they need, all the forms and all the processes laid out. If you work with the top sales people to do this it’s hard for anyone to argue that it won’t work.
The problem I see most that cause CRM to not be accepted is that it slows the process down and make it more complex. This is usually due to a lack of understanding of why the system is being put in place and what is really needed by the sales people to be more productive. In many cases I’ve seen that the sales management doesn’t really understand the true sales process.
It takes a little longer to integrate the systems, find the correct add-ons and figure out the best practice process but for those companies that do so the adoption rate is much higher. You will never get 100% but if you get 80% running much more efficient than before then you revenue numbers will go up.

You'll never get 100% compliance... it's a myth.

Many times, a CRM is a hindrance to the sales process. A salesperson will make a 60-second call then is expected to spend 3-5 minutes putting notes into a system. High performers will either do the exact minimum required or find another job if it's forced down their throats.

1) I would recommend giving them an extra incentive if they utilize it. I'm not talking about a few dollars for each contact that's updated... your low-level producers will put in a bunch of information just to make a few easy bucks. Instead, give them an extra point or two of commission if you can track back the sale through CRM. This way, they won't input it at the last minute, they'll be more willing to utilize it throughout the process.

2) Make sure you get a CRM that's easy to use and can be accessed with mobile devices (smartphones, ipads, etc.). When they're sitting in a parking lot before or after a meeting, they'll be more likely to look up information and add to the database.

-Bil Moore
www.bilmoore.com

Gartner Research Director Chris Fletcher said in the July 2010 issue of Customer Relationship Management, p. 18, that] originally, CRM systems were “geared toward high-level managers and CIOs.” The result was these CRM systems didn’t “give salespeople something they wanted to use, something that makes their job more efficient so that they don’t mind spending the extra time imputing data. . . . [so] People were using probably 15 percent of the functionality in 80 percent of the implementations.”

Technology is not a business strategy. What are your processes? What do you plan to change? How does the data flow? Where are the gaps in your process, i.e., what are you doing now that you want to do differently, and how do you get there? Everyone has to be involved to answer these questions, bottom to top.

The guys at the bottom may not know the larger business strategy. When involved they can recognize that their primary goal, making more money, will be enhanced by what the company is doing (let's assume the company has such a strategy). They also have great ideas on how to make things work better, if only the top will listen, but that's another discussion.

The guys at the top started at the bottom, but as soon as they moved up a couple of steps, they forgot everything they know about how it works at the bottom--not just sales, but running a remote office, fixing the plumbing, buying supplies, planning meetings, all the things that go into getting the sale. How often I've heard a sales VP cavalierly say "we'll just have so-and-so do it, he has lots of time." Huh?

Now figure out what technology will do what you want. How does it make getting things done easier? Basically, how many people can I fire, or how many more can I hire, when I implement the system? The system is going to make things easier to do, eliminate manual steps, provide more information, cut costs, so it will generate more revenue. Therefore, I can either maintain the same revenue stream with fewer people, or have money to invest to hire people and grow the company.

Automation means less for an individual to do to get the same result. Will it automatically capture data, schedule activities, get LinkedIn profiles, show what other people in the company know about the company, order status, inventory levels. Will it tell a sales rep or manager if an opportunity is stalled in the pipeline and suggest what to do about it? Easy to navigate? When I install a more complex system, the first thing I customize is hiding most of the buttons and tabs with all the great features nobody will remember how to use after a few hours of training. They come back in later according to a phased schedule. (This is also a great billable opportunity since I get to come back often.)

Once all of this is established, people have to be trained, and a plan is needed for training new people hired after the system is implemented. Documentation of business processes and how they're handled in the system. (Someone said this very well earlier.) If a new hire is paired with an existing user to learn the system, what makes this trainer proficient in all areas and interested in mentoring the new hire in the first place? Then they have to be trained again. There has to be a go-live team available for a period of time, relative to the size of the implementation, to help people over the hurdles and resolve any problems. (Relativity and evolution are theories, Murphy's Law is fact.)

Planning and training. Planning and training. Planning and training. These are people, not a block and tackle where one can calculate exactly how much weight to put on one end to lift a heavier weight at the other end.

The most overlooked question, and one the people selling CRM systems don't talk much about, is - how does entering data into your CRM help a sales rep close a deal faster? Unless there is a clear answer to that question, you will always have to come up with incentives, punishments, etc.

What does your CRM give back to the rep to help her close sales?

Hi Dan,

Short of the military, I don't think 100% adoption is ever likely. In my opinion, the best way to go is a two pronged approach.

First, appeal to their greedy nature with examples of how using the system helps them earn more--sales reps are coin operated. Second, recruit strong buy in from senior management. Having a CEO request compliance can mean a great deal more than when it comes from you or me.

Good luck!
Paul Young

Steve,

Actually, without distilling the kind of information that is absolutely needed, no matter how elegant the process is, if the there is extraneous information being collected, even a "simple" solution as you suggest are still too complex for some.

Hi Dan,

If using CRM is an established business process, then a salesperson is obligated to use it or get another job. Compliance is as simple as that. If the policy is adhered to at all levels of the company, it will produce 100% compliance.

Getting your salespeople to like your CRM system and use it is another matter. Most of the answers here have excellent advice on making CRM a better tool.

No CRM inputs = No Leads and No Incomes!:-)

Seriously ...
Who could compete and manage an indirect sales force without a CRM?

Easy. Link incentive payments to complete records in CRM.

Unless an Opportunity is in CRM and tracks through your main sales phases do not pay out.

Link Process / CRM to Results and Commission.

I agree with all the responses. Try using gadgets/widgets to make it easy for a rep to add and update an appointment.

If we particularly talk about Sales Team CRM adoption rate, as per my experience, following points may help:
a. Sell the CRM application to the sales team by making Output (reports such as customer factsheet) as a primary point instead of Input data ( Activity, Opportunity etc.).
b. Accessibility of CRM system via both Laptop & Mobile Handheld devices platform.
c. Involving Sales Team during initial design phase.
d. Internal Sales meeting discussion based on CRM generated reports.

My 2 cents to very interesting, important and professional discussion. Difficult to add anything new so I would like to propose a small innovation. We found professional coaching to be very useful in changes management and are going to do use it at the time of CRM implementation.

You seek the Holy Grail.... Some think that 100% adoption simply is not possible.
I think that it is but you need to be realistic about what 100% actually means. Perhaps the first objective is to get all the sales team to list their opportunities correctly, then all activities and so on etc. Whatever you do you must get the users manager to start only using CRM generated reports, (or reports from the CRM data), for sales reviews, pipelines etc. I've sometime made the statement that if the opportunity is not listed and worked in CRM then no commission can be paid. That said dont forget to offer some benefits and carrots to keep people sweet

Dave L

Hey Dan,

Sales reps love to sell their stuff and make money! Anything that takes away from selling time and puts them behind a computer or in the office doing "call reports" is a waste of selling time (see Neils comments on "Sales Rep DNA"). Most CRM's are built from the top down, are manager enforced, and offer little or no return to the sales rep considering the amount of time they put into entering data just to keep the database active.

Think in reverse, ask your reps what would help them increase sales. Odds are they will tell you less office/computer time and more time with customers. When considering a CRM solution ALWAYS consider if your chosen system brings value to the ultimate end user, the person doing the data entry. The more value they see, the higher the user adoption. If it's too labor intensive to update information, or track deals, they will not use it. Simplify, simplify, simplify.

Final thought, it must be mobile!

Best of Success,

Tom

Based on personal experience, as well customer feedback, I'd say make it easier and more accessible for them by way of mobile apps. Enable them to automatically update their records and/or opportunities from their cell phones in addition to tying it to compensation.

Bruce, if the sales rep missed this question, then it isn't the customer's fault if the implementation fails. Data entry is a major step in the data flow process and as such, the implications of not doing this correctly should have been addressed before a solution was presented.

The question I ask that always seems to get a bunch of heads nodding is "Have you ever been embarrassed visiting a major customer to present a new and improved product only to find out that he has been on the phone with tech support for days trying to get his old product to work? Other questions refer to not having an accurate sales forecast resulting in inventory shortage, missing opportunities because a prospect didn't appear in a query, and open opportunities falling through the cracks.

Maybe this data is entered by customer service, maybe by a sales assistant, maybe the sales rep. During the planning stage, everyone affected needs to understand the implications and agree on the procedure. I try to get the sales reps to bring up the question of data entry themselves, then ask them how to solve it. Sometimes it's really hard. I have the questions written in my meeting plan, but I have to pull teeth to get them on the board. (I've had some school teachers who would be excellent sales reps.)

I would suggest integration with the tools they already use. Here are my 3 favorites:

Outlook Integration:
If your sales force is always using outlook, then add toolbars to additional functionality without the learning curve. This can be done without necessarily changing any existing technology. Too many good ones to suggest without gathering requirement details.

IP Phone + Outlook Integration:
Until now a massively expensive en devour, until SmartCallMonitor. Monitors calls using NCID (Network caller ID), VOIP Box/server to auto match incoming phone calls to data stored in MS Outlook Contacts, auto open customer datasheet with notes, call history, creating reminders, sale workflow, custom fields, etc.
http://www.jam-software.com/smartcallmonitor/

New System:
If you are willing to consider a new system, I would suggest a dark horse alternative such as: http://www.pimero.com/en/

Aaron Lintz

Let’s be honest - systems are enablers of business, not business itself. Unless, of course, you are in the business of systems.
Hence, parts of a CRM system that a user will NEED to perform their own role are more likely to have fewer adoption issues. E.g. customer service - be it in a Field service environment or n a Tele-service setup. As a front-line user you can't really get away without using the system in such business scenarios.
Parts of CRM systems where there are - and will always be - adoption issues are bits that seem 'administrative' in nature, i.e. something that is avoidable for that specific role if the system did not exist (remember - business and system are separate entities in the minds of such users, so the business would still exist) E.g. Sales reps needing to create a Lead before converting it into an Opportunity that can then have a Quote created for it, which in turn is placed as an Order. (It doesn't have to be that way, this is just an example. Most CRM systems today let you create an order straightaway). The rep would much rather just create the order, because that to him / her is the "end result" - capturing which in the system is NEEDED for his / her own good. It is needed for business, as he / she defines it.
So the issue here, as I define it, is not a system issue at all. It is a general business management issue - true for any problem requiring integration between organisational and individual objectives. Unless these are seen to be separate, the issue will remain. Like anything else in business that requires resolving this problem (aligning individual goals to org goals), CRM user adoption is also an issue that will require middle level managers to be the 'glue', the 'integration-agents' between what the management requires done to meet its goal and what hence the rep should do.
To me, this is an 'organisational behaviour' issue requiring an integrated action plan to resolve. Such an action plan would usually cover areas of:
- 360 degree corporate communication
- stakeholder management
- identifying, defining and communicating how the business does bottom-up reporting
- individual training / development
- HR / management intervention in the form of having system adoption as a mandatory KPI in the periodic performance appraisal system
- and last but not the least incentive compensation schemes to work as positive reinforcements if the KPI's are achieved.
Please note that this is not an exhaustive list of areas to be addressed, but an indicator to the fact that none of these (or indeed one from outside of this list of) actions if taken in isolation will suffice in most cases. E.g. just attaching incentives to using the CRM system without looking at it as an integral part of the user's job (i.e. by making it a part of the KPIs) is a short term measure that is unsustainable as it still does not make using the CRM system a NEEDED part of everyday work life for the rep.
Managing such a transition can be effectively taken care of as part of a well-managed programme of CRM transformation.
Hope this helps tie up the seemingly dichotomous situation between what your CRM rollouts set out to achieve and what ended up transpiring.

This is easy. Two musts:

1. Like any other system, the only way to get folks to use it is for the system to have actual, real value to the user. If it doesnt help them achieve their goals (which may be to make their job easier or work less), then they wont use it.

2. If it's not in the system, completely filled out, etc., you don't get paid. After all, the only way to get a salespersons attention is to hit them in the wallet/pocketbook...

Greetings Dan,

“Customer Relationship Management” by its name suggests that the CRM instance is designed to support present customers. Pipeline Management and Forecasting have also been incorporated into the solution. Nearly all CRM solutions execute these tasks adequately if not well. Most salespeople will adopt the CRM for these purposes.

However when you add the task of finding new customers to the CRM mix, CRM can actually be counterproductive to the task. To execute a best practice for finding new customers in a CRM involves much physical pain(mouse strokes and screens) and mental activity (what do I do now) and usually adds little to the salesperson’s day.

In short, the CRM is viewed by most salespeople as tedious and counterproductive for the task of finding new customers to obtain or exceed their sales quota (their livelihood).

So if you are going use the CRM for the task of finding new customers you must find an efficient and productive way for the CRM to help the sales person success at their job “Developing a territory, finding new customers or making quota”.

Although self promoting I invite you to register and attend an upcoming webinar New Salesforce.com AppExchange Tool: Call Productivity - Doubling initial appointments to keep the pipeline full!

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/296970803

Regards,
Roger Hamilton
VP of Sales
Contact Science