You have probably noticed: when faced with a long task or a difficult path to a goal, heavy procrastination sets in. The fear of starting to write text, code, take care of your health, or pursue your education... The result is simple and incredibly frustrating: time passes, and nothing changes; you haven't done anything to make your life easier. At some point, you feel regret for the wasted time. Since a business is not an independent 'organism,' but consists of people, its crises are similar. In the business world, procrastination and delay can be deadly: competitors are already here, clients demand perfect service, and you also need to build a financial cushion for another global or local crisis. Instead of postponing decisions for better times, it's better to gather your strength and take the first steps toward a better life right now. That way, you'll be ahead: while everyone else is just starting to recover, you'll already have goals, streamlined business processes, and well-trained employees. It's a great time for successful maneuvers; the main thing is to start.
We implement our for many years, and experience shows that implementation, even in small businesses, is a serious workload that clearly doesn't fit into a week or a month, and sometimes takes even longer. By the way, if someone promises implementation in a day, an hour, or 15 minutes — steer clear, because those folks don't understand what implementation really means. So, implementation takes resources: employees spend part of their work hours on training, the IT specialist or lead manager is busy with requirements, configurations, data checks, etc.; all of this takes time. And it creates a very strange situation: the CRM seems to exist, but it doesn't work at all. Thus, the payback period for the project increases and expectations significantly decrease. Moreover, while implementation and the subsequent ramp-up are ongoing, employees may start to boycott the CRM system. After all, why would we need a tool we bought six months ago that still hasn't done anything?
This is one of the major challenges in implementing all CRM systems and other business automation tools. Fortunately, there is an elegant and simple solution: start working immediately without waiting for the vendor to finalize any ultra-specific features or for the last barriers to training, like Serafima Ivanovna, the warehouse manager, to be overcome.
Modern installations on the managers' workstations are very quick (whether it's cloud or desktop), meaning that the interface and all system functions are available almost immediately. Training must be conducted in parallel, along with implementing reports, templates, fine-tuning, and working.
What can you do in a CRM system right away?
Add clients — there is nothing difficult about adding client cards with data. If automatic data migration is not possible, managers can start manually inputting client information, which will only familiarize them further with the system; if migration is possible (there is usually a way to do this) — it must be strictly enforced that information about new clients and deals is entered into the CRM immediately, and old methods are forgotten once and for all.
Set up the sales funnel. The company's managers clearly understand what types of sales are used and how the funnel looks in their area of responsibility. Therefore, they need to quickly design the main forms of this report for your company, agree upon them, and input them into the CRM.
Manage calendars and planners. Even if you have the most distant plans to start working with your CRM and want to launch it fully functional with tuning and enhancements, get your employees accustomed to calendars and planners. These are excellent, convenient tools for planning and coordinating the entire team's work, monitoring employee workloads, and maintaining discipline. If an event is in the planner, there is almost a 100% probability that the manager will not forget about a meeting, call, document delivery, or any other client-related event. Such punctuality from employees will instantly give you a boost to your business reputation.
Start filling the knowledge base. Most popular CRMs include something like a knowledge base, a notebook, a collaborative workspace, etc. For example, in our These are structured folders that allow for creating knowledge base elements in an integrated text editor. Employees can start filling the knowledge base with existing materials or delegate responsibilities to write new instructions, regulations, and rules. Firstly, this organizes work within the company, and secondly, new employees can access this base and begin training from the first moments of their employment without distracting experienced colleagues with every minor question.
Communicate with clients via CRM: send and receive emails, make calls, and record calls, etc. Email and basic telephony in CRM systems are set up quickly (and in some, for example, in they also work excellently in both directions — this is such a clumsy sarcasm), so there should be no issues at the start.
Very simple items, there are quite few of them — from an interface perspective, anyone who knows how to use a computer can handle them. However, starting to work with them from day one has a powerful effect:
- employees get acquainted with the new work environment in a comfortable mode, and they will be less intimidated by complex things like business processes or dealing with heavy reports;
- a habit of using CRM in work is formed;
- routine in operational work is significantly reduced right away;
- errors made in these points are not critical to the system and cannot seriously break anything, so employees can confidently and fearlessly enter the CRM;
- users have time to get used to the interface and the specifics of working with this particular system.
These actions will 'train' employees in the CRM system, making further integration overall more comfortable and, in some cases, faster. Well, clients will immediately notice the difference in the work of managers and will not take their money to competitors.
Place a pen and paper in front of each employee.
Strangely enough, these are great tools to help automate the company. Ask employees to do a few things.
- Record all problems and questions that arise during the use of the CRM system. Even the most silly, embarrassing, minor ones. Warn them that everything is important.
- Outline the main actions that are cyclically repeated in your work, specifying all involved employees (preparing proposals, promotions, analyzing work, preparing reports, launching billing, etc.).
- Write about how you would actually like to perform your tasks and interact with different departments.
The first sheet will be useful during your training and when preparing the knowledge base for the CRM system. The others will be necessary to implement the coolest feature currently available in CRM systems (not everyone has it, but we definitely have it in RegionSoft CRM) — designing and automating workflows and business processes. This will make your company almost a money-making conveyor with excellent customer service that cannot be hindered even by self-isolation, COVID, or the Great Depression, because the process can direct actions and discipline both the office and remote teams.
Talk about the CRM system
If you are a manager, top executive, department head, or an early bird in the company implementing CRM, take charge of the implementation. Let it be more than just installing new software on old PCs; make it an event that you are personally discussing. This means it's important and employees should pay special attention to it.
A few sets of internal meetings will facilitate acceptance of the CRM by your employees. Don't hesitate to meet with subordinates and colleagues to discuss everything happening with the company's automation.
- Hold a general meeting where you explain the reasons for implementing CRM, the goals, tasks, and expectations. Clarify what attracts you to the chosen solution and what you expect from the collaboration between your employees and the CRM system.
- Send everyone an email or make a post on the corporate portal in a friendly, non-bureaucratic tone explaining how the implementation will proceed, who will be affected, and what it will bring. This is not a superfluous step, as some particularly anxious employees may refer back to the email or post several times without bothering others with their worries.
- Gather 3-5 of the strongest employees who are ready for implementation, discuss their roles in supporting the CRM implementation, and make them evangelists and ambassadors of the CRM system among the staff. By the way, you can pay a bonus for this.
- Gather 3-5 of the most cautious, timid, and aggressive employees and discuss their fears and concerns, providing some education.
- If there is an outright rebellion against the CRM system, find the instigator and discuss all their confusing and frightening questions with them. Try to turn this opponent into at least an expert ally in the implementation process.
If the CRM system is being implemented top-down, silently, without explanations and open discussions, it will be accepted much worse because employees may see it as a tool for control, oversight, and punishment. But that's not the case. Moreover, communicating with employees (future users of the CRM) will make the implementation more accurate and suitable for your business.
This article, compared to familiar treatises on CRM, seems simple and even somewhat obvious. One would want to ask: "Isn't it usually the other way around?" Unfortunately, this is rarely the case. Everything outlined here is the foundation for a simple and high-quality CRM implementation. The CRM system that people will actually use, not the one that's easier to hate. Pay attention to these details — after all, nothing is more important than the little things. As is known, the deeper you go into the forest, the more firewood you find.
We have a special offer in effect — you can purchase RegionSoft CRM on very favorable terms:
- For those who buy immediately (100% prepayment) a discount of 15% off the standard price list is provided.
- For those who purchase in installments — a zero-interest installment plan in 3 equal payments, with one payment per month, provided the total cost of licenses is from 38,000 rubles.
- Subscription instead of purchase — a discount of 30% is offered when paying for a 3-month subscription. The minimum cost of the subscription is 3,400 rubles per month (excluding discount).
And we also work great remotely: we install, implement, train, and provide support. Call or leave a request — the online demonstration is free, detailed, and interesting.
Source: habr.com
