Implementing and using a CRM

Organizational communication and management of expectations are crucial to the successful implementation of a CRM. 

 

Making the transition from no CRM or another CRM to a new CRM is fraught with challenges.

Here’s how we recommend tackling those challenges:

• Take a long-range approach and communicate early and often. Open up communication channels and identify power users and or support people.
• Set expectations and support them.
• Break implementing a CRM up into small bites that can be managed and accomplished. A simple expectation of mandating the use of a CRM to capture all sales information can be very problematic for many salespeople, particularly seasoned salespeople who have relied on other methods to record and track their sales efforts. Patience and persistence will be rewarded.

Information in VS. Information out

The old adage: Crap in = Crap out is very much at play. Your talented salespeople have been turned into data entry and data management people. Sometimes it’s new data or it’s cleaning up old information and there could be a lot of it. Quality of data is critical to reports and the value that comes from them.

You may need a data person to clean up old data. You will likely want to set some standards to make sure that the language of your sales team is well understood – for example, when a word such as lead is used there should be a common understanding/definition of what that means.

The reports you count on from your CRM will be so much more valuable to your salespeople, management, and other departments when the foundations, structure and process elements are in place.

 

Read more about implementing a CRM on our website!

Are you ready to begin your sales management journey?

Are you ready to build a sales-focused organization with a high performing sales team and an effective sales management solution?

Whether you’re satisfied with the effort, focus, and results of your sales team, many people we speak with have been hesitant to act – simply because they don’t know where to begin. If you’re open to a brief call, let us know and we can take the first step together.

Call us at 248-468-7400 or fill out our contact form to receive a sample sales candidate assessment report! Together, we can assess how your company is doing, what potential it has, how to realize this potential, how long it will take along with expected gains. We are here to help you determine the best way to achieve your goals.