CRM implementation is still growing strong with small businesses now moving into the CRM industry; however, long time users of CRM are starting to become familiar with one of CRMs major hurdles: adoption.
A main topic of discussion at the Salesforce World Tour in New York was ‘adoption’ (Source: Ancile, 2015). With implementation at record highs, and sales adoption of CRM beginning to decline (Source: DestinationCRM, 2014), a spotlight is being cast on CRM ROI and effectiveness.
Today we examine the declining adoption rates, and offer our suggestions for greater CRM adoption.
CLICK HERE to read our previous article about the gap in CRM procurement that leads to a poor sales stack, with 4 steps to ensure your sales stack enables the desired goals.
(Image Source:ClientTether, 2015)
Declining Adoption Rates
Destination CRM pointed out in 2014 that CRM adoption rates by users have started to decline for the very first time.
In 2015 Gartner Group ran a study that found user adoption rates below 50%, with other studies suggesting adoption could be as low as 26%. Gartner concluded that $9 billion of the $20 billion CRM market is being wasted on poor adoption (Source: TopSalesWorld, 2015).
SmartSellingTools wrote their own analysis of the challenge, calling it the “$12 billion CRM debacle.” Their valuation was for a $24 billion CRM industry, but the adoption challenge is consistent.
Finally, ‘adoption’ reigns as a key topic of discussion at CRM conventions like the Salesforce World Tour (Source: Ancile, 2015).
As CRM implementation continues to grow, many are headed down a path fraught long term adoption challenges and mismatched ROI outcomes.
Why is Adoption Declining
In our last article we found a gap between the trigger for buying CRM, and the expected benefits from CRM implementation. The fact is, CRM is one of five essential sales stack components which work in unison to enable an efficient digital sales approach tailored to shifting buyer personas.
Perspectives at Salesforce World 2015 in New York,
Marianna Noll, Director of Channel Marketing with Ancile, noted these top adoption challenges being shared among many:
- Users aren’t buying into or using the system;
- Users aren’t entering data properly or completely;
- Once a problem is acknowledged, organizations still struggle to improve adoption; and
- Adoption is negative due to high turnover.
She notes that the CRM system needs to be drop-dead simple with one-click access to the details those users actually need for their sales process. The user needs to be able to do the right thing without sacrificing time.
Forrester’s Perspective,
In a 2012 article about avoiding CRM pitfalls, Forrester offered these figures around adoption challenges.
- 22% of all challenges with CRM are ‘people challenges’; and
- Among ‘people challenges’, half are related to slow user adoption of the CRM system.
The remainder include inadequate attention being paid during change management and training (36%) and difficulty in aligning the organizational culture for new ways of working (15%).
As we can see, the adoption challenge has been growing, but even in 2012 Forrester suggested that more functional user education and stronger staff development are needed for CRM adoption.
SmartSellingTools Perspective,
In 2014, Nancy Nardin pointed out that CRM tools are taking too long to use with few real time benefits for the actual sales rep. Many do not have functional mobile access, and most are starting to see it as an admin detour that benefits the upper management.
In many cases the sales team already has a process they are comfortable with, and if the CRM doesn’t support that process, it won’t be adopted.
Other Perspectives,
Jacques Werth, CEO at High Probability Selling, notes that executives believe they understand the sales process of their best sellers, but those same best sellers don’t use the CRM and everyone else is handicapped with a CRM sales process that doesn’t work.
Peter Strohkorb, a business consultant, notes that adoption is not the problem but instead the challenge is that many see it as sales management to inform executes about their daily behaviour. Essentially providing valuable information to be micro-managed more tightly.
(Source: DestinationCRM, 2014)
How to Sustain Adoption
We can’t stress this enough: CRM is one part of a holistic sales stack. It provides a database for comprehensive client information and a backdrop for predictive analytics and future interactions.
Without the right enabling components, CRM will become an admin detour with little real-time benefit for the user.
Three ways to sustain adoption include:
Focus on the People, Get them Onboard, Keep them Updated
The people using CRM should be front and center in the adoption engine.
During procurement & implementation you want to bring the users together and understand what they want/need from this solution. Mark Hunter, Sales Trainer, Keynote Speaker, and Author notes, “if you allow people in on the decision-making process, they are much more willing to accept it and spread the word about it.”
This tactic is also known as the “consultation” strategy of influence, one of nine principals of influence in organizational behaviour (Source: Celani, 2016).
Once CRM is in place, a contextually relevant training program must be part of an ongoing CRM adoption plan. Of the 9% who reported their CRM training ‘exceeds expectations’, 71% indicated over 90% CRM adoption among sales reps (Source: DestinationCRM, 2014).
[RELATED CONTENT] There are three types of sales training, and scientifically proven ways to improve motivation without additional incentives. Learn more in Chapter 2 of our Sales Enablement Success series.
Make it so accessible that CRM writing is automated and easy
The challenges lie with usage, and accessibility is the core barrier to usage.
- If sales feels like using the platform adds undue hardship to their sales process, they won’t use it;
- If the platform is too hard to use, sales will make mistakes using the system; and
- If you don’t fix the problem of usability, identifying the problem won’t change anything.
Keeping in mind that CRM is your database, automate the update process rather than pushing the sales team to double back and remember their interactions.
Keep the Outputs Contextually Relevant
CRM supports everyone, but if the sales team sees executives & planners as the only benefactors, they won’t use it and everyone loses.
We all know CRM can be comprehensive, yet the information that sales needs is prior to a call is specific and straightforward (learn more about those needs in Chapter 2 of our Sales Enablement Success series).
As noted by Joel Mudler, consultant for Heller Consulting:
“For your CRM users the system is only as good as the detail that you can get out of it. Even if you have the most user-friendly, streamlined CRM in the history of CRMs, if your users can’t get reports, dashboards, and other outputs that are easy to generate and accurate they will soon stop trusting the system, and eventually “rogue” spreadsheets and outside database will appear. Avoid this scenario by carefully listening to your users’ output needs and keeping a special focus on these outputs.”
Therefore, your sales reps need the fluff removed, and the value placed front and center or they’ll just find their own way.
Are you implementing CRM? Or maybe you already have it and struggle with adoption? This is because CRM is only one part of an effective sales stack. To see how you can refocus on the user, improve accessibility & automate writing, and tailor the outputs to sales, request a demo and let us show you what CRM for sales enablement can be.
