New to Salesforce, or about to be? LevelEleven CEO Bob Marsh’s new CRM manager blog post — 4 Mistakes You Can’t Afford When Launching Salesforce — shares a few pieces of advice for you to read. Here’s an excerpt, with 3 of the mistakes that he says, “can push you off of the path that leads to getting the most from the CRM.”
1. Not talking to your end users.Who at your organization is designing and implementing Salesforce? Is it someone who understands sales? And are they designing your org from their own perspective, or that of the sales team? These are crucial questions to consider. Much too often, those designing and implementing Salesforce focus purely on the technical to-do’s without taking time to consider how the implementation will actually influence the team using it.
That being said, you should pair someone who has technical knowledge with someone who understands your business when setting this up. And both of them need to understand where the end users stand before and after the launch.
They can start by talking to your end users before launching Salesforce to ensure what is built will bring them value. Then, conversations can’t go stale once the platform goes live, either. Someone needs to check in regularly to see how the CRM is helping your team and how you can improve it to offer even more.
2. Not aligning the CRM with business objectives
Salesforce is not just a database to house organized information. It’s a tool that can help build a better business. So, when building out your org, you shouldn’t start by looking at the technology’s capabilities. Rather, take confidence in the fact that Salesforce is so customizable it should be able to fulfill all of your CRM needs. Start by looking at your objectives as a business and then going back to Salesforce and asking: “How can this help me to accomplish those goals?”
3. Not requiring managers to use the CRM
Here’s a simple rule to understand: You’re not going to achieve strong adoption from your sales team if sales management does not use Salesforce. Especially at larger organizations where salespeople tend to care most about what their immediate managers think, reps will simply ask themselves: “My manager doesn’t use Salesforce, so why should I?”
The key with this one is to show your managers the value Salesforce can bring them. Ask leadership what data could make their jobs easier and more efficient. Then create automated reports that will get sent to them daily – or weekly/monthly, if more appropriate – with that data. In short, you just need to find out how Salesforce can align with management’s goals and then initiate that alignment.
Check out the full story here.
You can also read the free eBook: Getting Started with Salesforce: What NOT to Do.
