CRM success depends upon adoption
November 30, 2009
User adoption is easily the biggest variable to successful CRM which really starts with change management.
Without executive sponsorship and enforcement your project may wither and/or die. As an interesting example, Larry Ellison at Oracle explained the consequences of adoption or non-adoption and upon firing a few people adoption won!
Other tactics that work well include:
- Role-based user training
- Input from business and IT constituents
- Functionality launched at adoptable intervals
- Cultural shift addressed
In most CRM efforts the key opinion leaders are salespeople. Therefore, gaining their support is often the most critical factor in driving user adoption. Keep in mind the following:
- Training must not be about how to use the tool instead about how the tool helps meet performance objectives
- Salespeople are inherently skeptical and control freaks
- Salespeople think information flows in one direction to the benefit of the company and fear new systems and policies will bog them down
Targeting successful, influential salespeople as early adopters gives your CRM effort credibility. Salespeople need to understand how the CRM initiative reduces process complexities, improves team collaboration, provides actionable insights into data that begets better leads and reduces time to generate quotes, for example.
