Choosing to implement a customer relationship management (CRM) solution isn’t a decision you take lightly. After identifying your needs, doing the research, and selecting the tools that best fit your situation, you will have invested quite a few hours into the process. Knowing all the good that your new CRM system can do for your company, it can come as a bit of a shock when some of the people you work with resist using the tools you worked so hard to give them.
If only you could beam your expertise into everyone else’s brain, right? While we can’t claim to have developed any kind of instant mastery of technology a la The Matrix, we do want to make the transition to your new CRM system as seamless as possible. Here are five ways to help you and your team make the leap together.
1. Get leadership onboard early.
Your team leaders are likely the people who will have more change to adapt to, so getting them up to speed early on is a great idea. Whether you hire a CRM expert for a bit of one-to-one tutoring or call a special meeting to give everybody a leg up at once, by giving your leadership extra attention you give them the right tools to lead by example and answer questions from their teams themselves.
2. Recruit and nurture a team of CRM champions.
Make your end-users the heroes. Identify the individuals within different business groups who will be most likely to adopt the new solution and get them involved early on. Get their feedback during the requirements process and give them early access to the system so they can get excited about it and evangelize the project. Different groups of people will find value in CRM in different ways, so make sure you have a good mix of different roles so you can identify opportunities to drive value as you onboard the masses.
3. Only give users what they need
Not everyone needs access to everything your CRM system can do. Actually, it’s supposed to help simplify the day-to-day workings of your business. Especially at the onset, making sure that each member of your team only has access to the functionality they need will do a lot to reduce confusion. For example, you might tailor specific dashboards to the roles of your team members so that each time they log in, they know exactly what to do.
4. Make adoption a friendly competition
While easing the transition to your new system goes a long way, never underestimate the power of a healthy rivalry. Offering up a fun reward to the first team to prove their proficiency can make the adoption process fun. The appeal of winning an after-work party or even simply a trophy and bragging rights can engender the right sort of motivation. You know your team best, so make the reward something they really want.
5. Give users CRM where they work
Most users will prefer to enter and track information via the web on a larger screen, but you can increase adoption and end-user satisfaction by providing CRM on their smart phones or tablets. Whether your team uses Windows, Android, or iOS, we’ve got apps as well as “express” access to CRM on smaller form factors. Check out this guide for installing CRM for phones and tablets.
As CRM adoption grows within your organization, know that we have solutions to cover different teams. Going team by team to share the specific ways the new system will save them time and give them powerful new tools can do a lot to get everyone excited about the new software. Show marketing a demo of the visual campaign designer, talk to sales about customer insights, or mention your new social engagement tools to customer service.
While the decision to implement a CRM solution isn’t a small one, there are a lot of ways you can go about lessening the impact the transition has on your business. For even more tools, download our user adoption kit here.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM