How to facilitate the Adoption of your CRM by your sales?
The use of CRM software is growing in popularity with companies aware of their ability to significantly increase their sales and business efficiency. But getting your sales team to adopt this new tool won’t happen overnight.
Indeed, its impact seems vague at first and it implies that they change their working methods. So how do you support your sales people to make your CRM deployment a success?
The benefits of CRM: the arguments to convince
Each year LinkedIn produces a report on the evolution of the activity of the commercial teams. According to the LinkedIn State of Sales 2020 , 65% of salespeople use a CRM, and 90% of them consider sales technology to have a “big” or “very big” impact on their business.
In their 2021 report, 77% of them even indicated that their company planned to invest “more” or “much more” in business intelligence tools for the coming year. The idea of digitizing commercial activity is therefore gaining ground faster than the adoption of CRM solutions.
However, the Return on Investment (ROI) of implementing a CRM would be $8.71 for every dollar invested, according to a report by Nucleus Research. But this figure may not be enough to convince a salesperson that sales CRM will have a beneficial impact on their daily life.
For this, put forward the following arguments:
- The ease of accessing the customer database, which is centralized, to find out more quickly about their needs;
- Saving time and productivity thanks to the automation of the various tasks to be performed (calls, emails, reminders, etc.);
- Simplification of customer follow-up and their activity thanks to reminders and dashboards
- The satisfaction and retention of prospects/customers facilitated through prospecting and support that meets their expectations;
- The increase in sales and therefore in turnover thanks to the 360° vision of customers enabled by the CRM.
Our 6 tips to make it easier for your salespeople to adopt a CRM
Despite your famous power of persuasion, it is possible that these simple arguments are not enough to convince your salespeople to use your CRM in an optimal way. Don’t worry, adopting a CRM still requires a lot of time and education. But the game is worth the candle!
To successfully deploy CRM software , it is essential that you have a structured plan to encourage its adoption by your sales team. To do this, we recommend that you follow the following 6 tips:
1) Involve your sales team in CRM selection. This way, you will better understand their needs and they will be more favorable to the chosen solution.
2) Customize your CRM software. During the selection, make sure that it can be adapted to the real needs of your sales representatives. Do not hesitate to choose a specialized CRM, for example, such as an SME CRM . Then, regularly collect their feedback on CRM challenges and involve them in implementing solutions.
3) Train, train, train.
- Do not skimp on the means devoted to the training of your team;
- Provide them with user guides that are intuitive and regularly updated, as well as a FAQ;
- Schedule regular long-term booster sessions;
- Integrate CRM training into your onboarding process for newcomers.
This is the major mistake that leads a CRM project to failure: the lack of user training. Many companies underestimate the time required and leave it up to the salesperson to finish learning on their own. While it is complicated for him/her to take the time to train alone if he/she has a lot of work and does not see the usefulness of a CRM.
4) Put a long-term communication strategy in place around the benefits of CRM.
- Regularly share key figures that reveal the positive impact of CRM with your team;
- Task sales managers with spreading the benefits of the software on a daily basis.
5) Reward those who use CRM well, to inspire others.
- Calculate their commission only on the basis of sales recorded in the CRM;
- Organize contests with a prize to be won for the best seller based on CRM figures;
- Don’t hesitate to be creative!
6) Above all, do not make exceptions. All your salespeople, from the youngest to the most experienced, must enter their sales into the CRM. This also applies to sales managers: they must lead by example to be credible.
By following these 6 tips, you will avoid the main pitfalls of a CRM project . You inevitably encounter difficulties both from a technical point of view and during the adoption of the software. But this is the case for any project of this type and the benefits are worth it: saving time, improving customer relations, increasing sales… It’s up to you!
Do you have questions about your CRM deployment project? We are CRM integrators ; do not hesitate to contact us to discuss with one of our Microsoft Dynamics 365 experts.