Market Builders CRM for Investment Management

Strategies for User Adoption Assure a Better Return on Your CRM Investment

page 1 | page 2

Best Practice No.5
Define a change communications strategy. Users typically assume the worst in an information vacuum, which is why user communications are a critical element to improving user adoption. One of the primary goals of the change communications strategy is to ensure that end users clearly understand why their company has invested in the CRM application amessage that may not have been clearly communicated during the initial roll out. The communications strategy is essentially an inhouse marketing communications program designed to build support and enthusiasm for the CRM system.

The communications strategy should include a branding name and a logo that immediately identifies the system to users. The strategy should also define the required communications vehicles for each of the primary business units, including e-mail newsletters, road shows, company meetings, or any other communications vehicles that may be effective. Focus on subjects that will demonstrate specific and tangible benefits from using the system. For example, describe reports that answer specific types of business questions, or proposal templates or on-line literature that can help users save time. And ask successful users to document their experiences and thoughts on the system. If employees hear positive things about a new application through their peers, they are likely to feel less apprehensive and more accepting.

Best Practice No.6
Develop user adoption retraining materials that are aligned with the primary performance objectives. If the training program for your original CRM deployment only covered how to navigate in the application, then you probably missed an excellent opportunity to communicate the advantages of the application to your users. The components of the training program should be tailored for each unique business function and should embed the performance objectives defined earlier in the workshops. These objectives can be communicated through exercises and examples that use the company’s data and business processes. That way individuals can clearly see how they will need to use the system once they return to their desks or hit the road. If these are new business processes, then more in-depth information on the advantages of the new process should also be included in the training materials.

When you begin to review what a retraining effort will entail, it is important to focus on the best selection of training components to do the job. Consider any combination of reference guides, instructor guides, job aids, classroom guides, a special training database that features realistic data, computer simulations, distance learning, or any other eLearning tools that will clearly demonstrate to users how they are expected to use the application on a day-to-day basis.

Best Practice No.6
Define an on-site assistance program. Once the CRM application is redeployed, it is important to continue providing training and support to any user that may need it. This includes working with individuals on a one-onone basis at their desks. On-site assistance can also take the form of setting up one-on-one meetings with each user in a proactive mode, or simply serve as a resource that users can call or visit when they experience problems. This assistance should be continued for several weeks after the system is deployed, or as long as required to ensure that utilization is not negatively impacted because individuals simply don’t understand the performance objectives.

Best Practice No.6
Monitor progress on the performance objectives after the system has been redeployed. Once the system has been redeployed, monitor system usage to ensure that users are adhering tothe performance objectives defined by the management team. This monitoring can take two forms. First, specific system usage can be defined through the systems administrator, including how often users are synchronizing or how many new contacts, activities or new opportunities they are adding. It is very important that each user has a clear understanding of the performance objectives from their managers, and that they will be evaluated on how well these objectives are met.

Second, the performance objectives can be monitored directly by each user’s manager. If managers require that users input a minimum number of new opportunities per quarter, for example, then this information should be automatically rolled up to the manager’slevel. If the user is not meeting the performance objectives, then the manager can take immediate, proactive measures to change the behavior.

This article is adapted from a white paper, Post Deployment Strategies to Improve Adoption: Helping to Leverage Your Customer Relationship Management Investment, written by Stephen Gondert, who has worked in the CRM industry for over fourteen years serving as a both a sales rep and a marketing manager for several high technology firms. The complete paper is available upon request from Market Builders.