Is Salesforce driving productivity and results in your organization?
If not, you’re doing it wrong. We often see clients use the system as a management tool and completely miss the value of using it as a CRM.
After all, CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management and it should be the primary purpose of the system. If your team is leveraging Salesforce to manage customer communication and follow-ups in the sales cycle and all the way through the customer service lifecycle, management will naturally have access to the information AND results they need.
Properly implemented and ingrained in your organization, Salesforce can be a real difference-maker.
Otherwise, it will likely harm productivity and morale.
We’ve learned a few things about productivity and user adoption over the last few years working with hundreds of clients. Here are the top four (4) issues:
First, it’s easy to “over-engineer” the system. Too many required fields and validation rules will add to the complexity and make it harder to drive productivity. You also need to help your team work manage all of their customer communication in one place. Integrating your email is an absolute must.
Second, not everyone is comfortable with technology. Most people will “get it” but need time to build their skills. You need an approach to help even the most technology-challenged become comfortable with the system.
Third, a traditional approach to training is not effective. One and done training only allows time to give an idea of the capabilities of the system. If a user does not immediately and continually practice what they learned, they will forget most of what was taught.
Lastly, companies always underestimate how hard it is to create a new habit. This is really the most critical component for driving user adoption. It is difficult to train our brains to do something different. It is not that the technology is hard to use, it’s that it takes mental energy to change the way we do things.
Studies show it takes an average of 66 days to create a new habit. My experience is that it takes longer than that.
To realize maximum value from your CRM investment, you need a program to address all four of these areas.
- Design or redesign your system to be intuitive and light and facilitate your best practice business processes.
- Create a training and ongoing support program for all levels of user that delivers consistent reinforcement, coaching, and technical support until new habits become second nature and are executed from muscle memory.
Thank you for reading. We are here for your Peace of Mind. Please share this post with others that may benefit.
Have a blessed day!