Low CRM User Adoption

Low CRM user adoption is one of the largest hurdles to the success of a CRM initiative.   The question is why? There are many theories out there, comprehensive to myopic. I'm going to explore a few here to give you some idea what you can look for, and the potential hazards of not dealing with the proper cause.

But let's get something straight right from the outset, if you are reading this because you already have low CRM user adoption, I'm going to tell you to return to the starting line and begin again. I'm saying you need you need to throw everything away, but you have a lot of pent up push back floating around your organization and you can't just waive a magic wand and make it go away. There's a process you'll need to go through, just as if you'd done it right first time.

The Classic Complaints

I guess you could say that low CRM user adoption was a symptom, and it is. It's a symptom of CRM failures in general. But within this problem, there are a number things that you may notice. Let's just call them complaints, because they are usually accompanied by a lot of whining from sales people.

But right there is the first mistake we cannot make. We cannot focus solely on the sales force. If we do, it's likely because you rolled this CRM Software out only to your sales organization. Folks! That's not CRM no matter what the sales organization tells you. So, We need to look at complaints we might see in any customer facing part of the business (but the reality is it's usually only rolled out to the sales organization, which is another classic reason for CRM failures). Guess what, they're all pretty much the same.

• It takes too long to blah blah blah - Please, feel free to fill in the "blah blahs" with whatever you hear in your organization. Usually, it'll be things like "it takes too long to enter my sales calls", or "it takes too long to lookup and Account", or "it takes too long to boot my computer at a client site". The list goes on.
• I don't want so and so seeing what I'm doing - Hello, I thought we were working in a team environment? I guess we have a little team building to do!
• I've been doing this for 20 years my own way and I'm successful - And again, we have individualism rearing it's ugly head. No team mentality here.

The bottom line is that it only takes a few of these users to generate low CRM user adoption. What good is your data if it only reflects a part of your workforce. And what if those dealing with your best customers are not using the system? Here's a traditional list of reasons for those that want more structure in my writing:

• It will lesson a person's importance
• It may displace their job
• It will increase accountability
• It will require new learning
• Fear of uncertainty
• Additional Stress
• It's irritating and annoying
• My accumulated power may disappear

The End User Mindset

People don't like accepting things just because you tell them to. Have you ever tried telling someone who to vote for? Do you tell your prospect to buy something, or do they tend to discover that they need it? If it doesn't work in these situations it's not going to work in a CRM rollout. "Use this or you'll be fired, or demoted, or something!" Come on, you may be saying this to your top performer.

One theory I've recently read is about an aversion to activity controls, which drives low CRM user adoption. For instance, if you've determined that it takes 20 phone calls before there is a sale, you may be inclined to count phone calls and use a failure to make calls a performance measurement. If you haven't had a sale at the 21st call your manager is all over you. "What the...how did you...?" This is not an optimal environment to work in and Arne Huse talks about this on his blog, The CRM Dilemma.

Arne has developed a methodology called PACT for turning around low CRM user adoption, where sales folks feel that they are being, I guess, micromanaged. It's well thought out, and I certainly agree with his behavioral assessment of sales people. However, there is one problem that I don't believe has been addressed completely.....

The Real Cause

I've said it before, and I'll say it again (on every page), customer relationship management is not sales force automation. Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, Customer Support all face the customer. The information certain groups collect is used by others to understand how to communicate better, and at the right times, with customers. Each group has a very significant role to play in this customer centric way of doing business.

Someone at the top has to decide that this is the way your company is going to behave. No more silos. So, how do you get there? By going through a process of collecting information about your customers, analyzing their behaviors, developing a vision for leveraging those behaviors, as well as planning to adapt to changes in those behaviors going forward.

This process cannot be done by one person. It requires communication and interaction between representatives of your customer facing areas. They are the ones that will see and come to understand who their customers are. This process will drive ownership of strategies and tactics that your organization must employ to achieve higher customer loyalty and lengthen customer lifecycles....to your ultimate CRM end users.

CRM is more than software, so this process has to drive a culture of delivering to their customers, the service they require to remain loyal; whatever that is for your company. The software is just a means to an end. And having participated in developing the strategy and the tactics, it's more likely they will see the tools they've helped define as a benefit, and not as a burden. Getting rid of low CRM user adoption all about ownership, in my opinion.

Return to CRM Failures from Low CRM User Adoption