Does Sales CRM Adoption Really Matter?

This blog summarizes our white paper: Does CRM Adoption Really Matter? 9 Proven Ways to Improve CRM Adoption and Drive Revenues—Without Driving Salespeople Crazy.

Many businesses turn to CRM systems to control costs and revenues, but struggle to extract the value they expect due to low adoption. A recent LinkedIn poll showed 52% of sales managers said reps don’t use CRM like they want them to. (Say your company spends $500,000 per year on CRM—that’s $250,000 you’re throwing down the drain!)

If your sales team isn’t using your CRM system, your company is in trouble. When such critical information resides in your salespeople’s notebooks (or in their heads!), your ability to make accurate forecasts and effectively manage your capital goes out the door. The consequences can be pretty drastic, too.

That’s one of the reasons why it’s so important to keep your CRM system healthy. With a CRM tool like Salesforce.com, you can automate the best practices of your peak performers while eliminating bottlenecks and dramatically improving forecasting. Instead of managing on hunches, you’ll execute on predictive science and act fast to seize opportunities.

Below are some of the latest proven strategies that today’s leading sales organizations use to motivate their salespeople to adopt their CRM tools and drive the revenue they expect. It’s a summary of a white paper we just published.

To dig deeper, download the white paper here: Does CRM Really Matter? 9 Proven Ways to Improve CRM Adoption and Drive Revenues—Without Driving Salespeople Crazy.

9 Proven Success Strategies for CRM Adoption

1. Gain Executive Sponsorship

Salespeople only take new tools seriously when management uses them, too. Use these tips to get even your top executives actively involved, and spread CRM adoption across your company.

2. Refine Your Sales Process

Only 42% of sales forces have a documented sales process. Of that percentage, fewer than 12% actually execute it in the field. This section will guide you through a series of questions to diagnose your sales process’ health and create a firm foundation for strategic, revenue-generating tools.

3. Achieve Buy-In From Salespeople

Salespeople need to know what’s in it for them. Discover highly effective ways to train, educate and motivate your sales force in a way where they gradually uncover the benefits of user adoption themselves.

4. Offer Effective Training—Continually

Trying to train reps in a single day is like getting them to drink from a fire hose. Learn and apply the specific actions used by one well-known company. The company benefitted from 350% ROI on its CRM implementation, and moved from the bottom of the global sales scorecard to the number two position in a single quarter.

5. Start with Minimum Functionality

Just as training shouldn’t happen in a day, its best to teach new parts of your CRM tool one at a time. This section describes the four phases of CRM adoption you should encounter, according to a leading CRM implementation expert.

6. Measure Everything

Data is your lifeblood in a CRM system. Use these tips to improve accuracy across your entire sales process and give your management team the predictive visibility it needs to get the results you want.

7. Break Old Habits—Fast

Many sales organizations see incredible results when they use sales contests or SPIFs, especially with tools specifically designed to increase CRM adoption. Learnthe four elements of high impact sales competitions. For more, you can also download ePrize’s Sales Contest Toolkit

8. Give Consistent Feedback

If salespeople record the progression of their sales accurately in your CRM tool, managers can refer to the status of current deals to guide reps through what the next step of their sales process should be. The reports and dashboards found in Salesforce CRM are particularly good for team meetings and one-on-ones.

9. Choose the Right Apps

A CRM is not an isolated tool. It’s an ecosystem of applications that drive sales effectiveness. However, choosing the right apps can be tricky, so find out what five features your applications must have to be successful.

Conclusion

Not so fast! 😉 To read the conclusion, you need to read our white paper: