In this series, we are exploring the key factors behind user adoption. In part one, we had talked about how to plan for adoption before implementing CRM. In part two, we will discuss four critical post-implementation items.
Part II – After you rollout CRM: Measure and Fine-Tune
Measure user adoption regularly: Measure your adoption KPIs (key performance indicators) regularly (at least once every month) and realign your business goals accordingly. The KPIs for user adoption vary from CRM usage (number of sign-ins, number of records entered, time spent in CRM, old and obsolete data, etc) to departmental goals of sales, marketing, and customer support.
Provide only one version of data to everyone: The quality of your CRM data is absolutely critical for user adoption. If your users lose their trust in the data from your CRM, they will reject the system. Review, scrub, and de-dupe your data before you import into CRM. Review the data weekly for correctness and relevancy. Provide all your departments with only one version of data to keep everyone on the same page.
Tie adoption to compensation: Identify and reward your strongest adopters. Review how your employees have used CRM during performance reviews. Announce and acknowledge the strongest adopters within the company and promote how they follow best practices.
Provide training including “training the trainers”: If your CRM is intuitive, you probably won’t need to provide excessive training for your users. However, make sure your users are familiar with the best practices of using the system to be productive. Conduct user trainings specifically targeted for different user roles. Ensure that all the users in that role follow the same procedures. Train the administrators extensively so that they are prepared to provide the first line of support and answer user questions.