You have now narrowed down the best CRM software to use for your team. You look forward to getting more information about the team and the pipeline. This will help with accountability and, most importantly, better customer service.
How simple will the implementation process be?
Change the Culture
CRM is a unique software installation for sales managers. Managers are faced with the challenge of changing the culture within the company. Software is more than a new way to do business. It creates transparency that allows people to see what they are doing every day, week, and month.
No matter which CRM brand you choose, it will impact the culture. Sales find this particularly difficult. They prefer to live in a fluid environment and do not like administration and reporting. It is a significant change for them and their worlds, so the resistance to CRM implementation can be substantial. It is not enough to change the culture with a simple training session.
These are the issues Sales Managers must address in order to implement the plan.
1. Salespeople
CRM would not be possible if it weren’t for salespeople. Salespeople love to be selling and in front of customers. Even if they do have a mobile application, salespeople don’t want to spend time updating their CRM data.
You will be asked by the passive-aggressive salesperson if you are implementing CRM. The answer is yes.
The CRM should not be limited to salespeople. It is about customers and performance. The information is also essential to other employees. Accounting examines the potential sales to determine cash flow operations for product supply and people engagement.
Salespeople are the ones who make it possible for a company to run smoothly. They have to be able to provide accurate information. Imagine salespeople being upset if they were told by accounting that they don’t feel like doing commission calculations or missing a few sales.
Salespeople must be held to the same standards that all other employees.
Sales managers must explain how data is essential to the company’s operation and show how others can rely on it. Once you have that acceptance, you’ll get the engagement you want.
2. Activity tracking
Implementing CRM is all about creating a customer profile. The CRM implementation includes all communication, including emails, notes, and documentation. You can access this information at any time, and anyone can review it. This will allow you to provide excellent service to customers and help them understand previous interactions. A team member can update the information from customer interactions, keeping a holistic view.
CRM allows salespeople to no longer own all customer communications. This information can be shared, making it even more difficult for salespeople to control all customer communications. It can also be measured and reviewed, and made decisions.
Sales managers must measure their performance against a sales plan. They must understand what type of activity is being performed, how many are involved, and how complete the pipeline is. They are playing a dangerous game, believing that everything will work out.
This information is crucial for identifying the coaching needs of salespeople. If there is a problem, or if a product is not clear enough, it may be necessary to remove the barrier. This shift towards seeing data and trends opens up the possibility of better selling and better management.
3. Goodbye Spreadsheets
You should aim to use as few spreadsheets as possible when implementing CRM. You can customize the system’s reporting functionality to provide consistent and easy-to-manage reports.
A customized system will give you the sales metrics that you need to manage your sales organization and help you benchmark the team individually or within regions.
If you have data that is not already in the CRM and you require it, the question becomes: “Why is this data not in CRM if it is essential?”. ”
4. Pipelines Performance
Your world revolves around your pipeline as a sales manager. What percentage of revenue will be signed in a given month, quarter, or year? It is easy to manage by focusing on the amount you have won.
Sales managers who are able to manage the velocity of their pipelines excel. What number of deals are currently in progress? How many deals do they close? What are the key points where sales can’t seem to get past? It is the information that sales staff are focused on every day, every week.
This information is crucial for coaching. How salespeople enter their data, how often they adjust the deal size, close date, and other parameters specific to your business.
5. Dirty Data Syndrome
You will most likely share data with marketing if you have a CRM. You will find lots of data errors when you upload or sync the data with other systems.
Salespeople must be held responsible for maintaining clean data. No clean data, no commission should be the mantra. This is the way serious sales managers should treat data. It is important to remember that others depend on the data within the company. Therefore, everyone must be equally responsible for maintaining the records.
6. Changing the Sales Meeting Dynamic
The dynamic of your sales meeting will change if CRM is in place and the sales team is engaged. The group no longer needs to email you notes about their activities or provide spreadsheets and projections. All of the information can be accessed in the CRM and put in the dashboards.
Because they have all the information they need, sales managers can conduct great meetings. They can also quickly get to the bottom of any issue that may arise. Salespeople are freed from the burden of meeting preparation, and the sales manager can prepare for the meeting at a time that works best for them instead of waiting to receive information.
Sales managers are the greatest obstacle to CRM implementation. The software is of no use to users, managers, or companies if it is not implemented and adhered to.
