I came across David Taber’s article in CIO titled “The CRM Talent Shortage: Here, Now” and agreed with some of his points, but there were some things he said that struck a chord with me. The article talks about how there is currently a shortage of CRM talent, and due to the fluctuating economy CRM professionals are hard to come by.
According to Taber, “there’s [an] increasing demand for external staff and consultants.” He also says that the vacant openings include “system administrators, operations types, data analysts, and power users.”
I have to say, I disagree.
Before you even look into outside support for you CRM solution, before you even consider implementing a CRM solution, you need to find a CRM that is easy to use. You can’t waste valuable time and money dealing with a complex application.
Ease of use allows for a smooth user adoption experience. CRM is all about having information available, easily, and right at your fingertips.
A point Taber mentioned that I do agree with is about growing your own talent.
“Grow your own talent, investing a junior technical person to give them CRM and business domain knowledge.”
I’m going to take this point one step further and say that not only should your CRM solution be easy to use, it needs to be easy to learn. Complex tasks should be limited. Yes, your organization should have a trained professional on staff or readily available for support needs. However, education should not stop with the initial introduction of the CRM solution. Your organization should provide ongoing CRM education to make sure the CRM application is being used to its fullest potential.
Make sure you review all of your options before selecting a CRM solution. Don’t just assume you need an entire team to maintain your organization’s CRM. Implementing an easy to use, easy to learn CRM will help you quickly and efficiently train your current team to help streamline your business processes, without wasting valuable time and resources.
If you worry about
employees’ reluctance to learn how to use the new CRM software your organization
has just invested in, this post may help ease your mind.
Since investing in CRM
software requires a substantial amount of thought and careful consideration,
you have the right to want everyone in your organization to use the software to
its full potential. You may worry that some people will be reluctant to use it,
or that they won’t want to put effort into learning how to use it. Although not
every CRM system is difficult to use, some people find it hard to
leave their comfort zone and become familiar with a new way of doing things - even if the new way will benefit them.
The following suggestions
may help ensure that employees are willing to adopt the new software:
Lead by Example
If you want employees to be
as excited about the new software as you are and to see the value it has in helping with everyday tasks, it helps to be an avid user yourself.
If employees know that you
don’t actively use the software, they probably won’t think it is worth it to
use it themselves. After all, why would an employee use software that a leading
figure in the company won’t even use? Take the time to explore your new
application and you will see how greatly it benefits you. You will then naturally
want to share your enthusiasm with others in the organization. Also, there is
likely going to be someone who stands out in your organization as a quick adopter.
Encourage this person to help and motivate others.
Train
Once the CRM software is
implemented, it can’t be expected that employees will automatically know what
to do with it and which buttons perform what function. Therefore, it is
necessary that there are learning resources available to employees.
Training sessions help employees
learn the purpose of certain functions within the software, as well as how to
enter data correctly. They help everyone to be on the same page and learn how
to use the software strategically. It helps to think of examples that are
applicable to your organization's processes to use during training. If you find
a certain tutorial video interesting, share it with those you think could
really benefit from it. Remember to take advantage of the learning resources the CRM vendor has available!
Written by Melissa Cocks
Touch Ahead Software LLC