User Review
( votes)In every business, each step is driven by the person before you.
If you are in production and the engineer doesn’t enter the specs, you can’t produce. Estimating can’t start unless the job is entered by accounting. The order-entry people can’t enter it until they have the data from sales. There’s always somebody before you.
Except for the salesperson. The whole process starts with Sales.
So if you don’t give them a reason to use the CRM system – chances are they won’t.
How can you change this? Here are two ways…
- Make their life easier
- Help them sell more stuff
It’s pretty simple. If you don’t give your sales team a reason, why would they do it? It is just a waste of time.
Some managers take a different approach. They mandate it. We call this the “because I say so” method. That might work when your dad said it to you, but it doesn’t work with adults, at least not in the long term. Here are some more ways…
- Commissions paid based on CRM reports.
You can put a dollar sign in front of your reason. If your sales reps are commission-based and your commissions are driven by the report that comes out of CRM, the problem will fix itself pretty quickly because that is the only way they get paid. If it is not in CRM, then no payment.
Sometimes companies try to add a monetary incentive such as “Get a $50 gift card when your pipeline is entered in CRM.” I have never seen that work either. Sales reps tend to care about their whole paycheck.
- Sales meetings run from a list in CRM.
I was on a call this morning listening in on a sales meeting. Each sales rep was talking about their deals based on their memory or personal notes. That is a bad habit to get into.
You should be reading that off a list that lives in the CRM system. A list that everyone can access and show up on the big screen if necessary. If a salesperson mentions it in the sales meeting and it is not in CRM, it’s easy to notice, and easy to fix.
- Quotes generated from the CRM system
The technology is available today that allows a quote to be sent to customers automatically. The customer can sign it electronically, and it is instantly updated in the CRM system. This process will help sales reps get more done so they can sell more. Plus, quotes are less likely to fall through the cracks. The quote is tracked, reminders can be set, and goals can be calculated.
Find Your Reason
Even the very best CRM technology will not give the best results if key people don’t use it.
Salespeople are usually coin-operated, driven by sales. So it has to come down to dollar signs in some way, shape, or form. Either direct financial gain or making them more efficient so they can sell more.
At P2 Automation, we have worked with hundreds of sales teams. If you are having user adoption issues, we can help your team to look at the problem with a fresh perspective.
Once we help your salespeople find their reason, the rest is easy.
If you are evaluating CRM for small business or would like to review your current Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM system to determine ways it can work better for your organization, schedule a strategy session with us today.
Contact P2 Automation at (860) 426-8029 or sales@p2automation.com
By P2 Automation, www.p2automation.com
The post Give Your Salespeople a Reason To Use the CRM System appeared first on CRM Software Blog | Dynamics 365.
