You have probably noticed that when there is a long job ahead or a difficult path to a goal, heavy procrastination sets in. Fear of starting to write text, code, take care of your health, get trained ... The result is simple and insanely offensive: time passes, but nothing changes, you still haven’t done anything to somehow make your life easier. At some point, it becomes a shame for the lost time. Since business is not an independent “organism”, but the same people, its crises are similar. Only procrastination and procrastination in the business sphere are similar to death: competitors are already here, customers demand perfect service, and you also need to create a financial reserve in case of another global or local COVID-XNUMX. Instead of postponing decisions until better times, it is better to get together and take the first steps towards a better life right now. Then you will be ahead: everyone will just start to recover, and you will already have goals, streamlined business processes, and pumped employees. A great time for successful maneuvers, the main thing is to start.
We are implementing our many years and experience shows that implementation, even in a small business, is a serious block of work that clearly does not fit into a week, a month, and sometimes a much longer period. By the way, if you are promised implementation in a day, an hour or 15 minutes, pass by, because these guys do not understand what implementation is. So, implementation takes resources: employees spend part of their time on training, an IT specialist or a lead manager is busy with requirements, settings, data verification, etc., all this takes time. And it turns out a very strange subject: CRM seems to be there, but it doesn’t exist at all. Thus, the payback period of the project is increased and expectations are significantly reduced. Moreover, while the implementation is underway, and then the buildup, employees may begin to boycott the CRM system. And really, why do we need a tool that we bought six months ago, and he still hasn't done anything?
This is one of the big problems of implementing absolutely all CRM and other business automation systems. And she has an elegant and simple solution: to start working immediately, without waiting for the vendor to finalize some ultra-specific function or the last barricades of resistance to learning fall in the person of the warehouse manager Serafima Ivanovna.
Modern are installed on managers' workstations very quickly (both cloud and desktop), respectively, the interface and all system functions are available almost immediately. It is necessary to simultaneously conduct training, implement reports, templates, fine-tune and work.
What can be done in the CRM system right away?
Get clients - there is nothing complicated in adding customer cards with data. If automatic data migration is not possible, managers can begin to fill in the client base with their hands, which will only familiarize them with the system; if possible (most often there is a way to do this) - strictly establish that information about new customers and transactions is immediately entered into CRM, the old methods are forgotten once and for all.
Set up a sales funnel. Company managers know exactly what types of sales are used and what the funnel looks like in their area of responsibility. So, you need to quickly design the main forms of this report for your company, coordinate and bring it into CRM.
Maintain calendars and planners. Even if you have the most distant plans to start working in your CRM and want to put it into operation already in full combat condition with tuning and bells and whistles, accustom your employees to calendars and planners. These are excellent, convenient tools for planning and coordinating the work of the entire team, controlling the workload of employees and their discipline. If the event is in the scheduler, with almost 100% probability, the manager will not forget about the meeting, call, sending documents, or another event for the client. Such punctuality of employees will immediately give you +100 business reputation.
Start building your knowledge base. Most of the popular CRMs have something like knowledge base, notepad, collaborative workspace, etc. For example, in our these are structured folders with the ability to create knowledge base items in the built-in text editor. Employees can start filling the knowledge base with materials that already exist or assign responsibilities and write new instructions, regulations and rules. Firstly, it streamlines the work within the company, and secondly, new employees will be able to access this database and start learning from the first minutes of working in the company, without distracting experienced colleagues on every minor issue.
Communicate with clients through CRM: send and receive mail, make and record calls, etc. Mail and basic telephony in CRM systems are set up quickly (and in some, for example, in they also work perfectly in both directions - this is such inelegant sarcasm), so there should be no problems at the start.
Very simple points, there are quite a few of them - from the point of view of the interface, any person who owns a computer can handle them. But starting working with them from the first day gives a powerful effect:
- employees get acquainted with the new working environment in a comfortable mode and they will be less intimidated by complex things such as business processes or working with loaded reports;
- the habit of using CRM in work is formed;
- the routine in operational work is immediately significantly reduced;
- the mistakes made in these paragraphs are not at all critical for the system and are not capable of seriously breaking something, so employees can enter CRM confidently and without fear;
- employees-users have time to get used to the interface and features of working with this particular system.
These actions will “accustom” employees to the CRM system and further implementation as a whole will proceed more comfortably, and in some places even faster. Well, customers 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
Oddly enough, these are cool things to help automate the company. Ask employees to do a few things.
- Write down all the problems and questions that arise during the use of the CRM system. Even the most stupid, shameful, petty ones. Be warned that absolutely everything is important.
- Describe by points the main actions that are cyclically repeated in the work with an indication of all the employees involved (preparation of a commercial proposal, actions, analysis of work, preparation of reports, launch of billing, etc.).
- Write how you would really like to do the work and interact with the departments.
The first sheet will come in handy during the training and preparation of the knowledge base on the CRM system. But the rest will be needed to implement the coolest feature in CRM systems at the moment (not everyone has it, but we definitely have it in RegionSoft CRM) - to design and automate chains of work actions and business processes. This will make your company practically a money-making pipeline of great customer service that even self-isolation, covid and the great depression cannot stop, because the process will be able to indicate actions and discipline both the office team and the remote one.
Talk about CRM
If you are a leader, top manager, department head or early bird in a company where CRM is being implemented, take the implementation into your own hands. Let it not be some kind of business to install new software on old PCs, but an event that you are talking about. So, it is important and employees should pay special attention to it.
Several sets of internal interviews will facilitate acceptance by CRM employees. Do not be too lazy to meet with subordinates and colleagues and discuss everything that happens with the automation of the company.
- Hold a general meeting where you talk about the motivations for implementing CRM, goals, objectives and expectations. Explain what attracts you to the chosen solution and what you expect from a bunch of your employees and a CRM system.
- Write a letter to everyone or make a post on the corporate portal, in which, in a friendly, non-clerical tone, tell how the implementation will go, who will be affected, what will it give. This is not an unnecessary step, because some especially anxious employees will be able to refer to a letter or record several times and not bother others with fears.
- Gather 3-5 of the strongest employees ready for implementation, discuss their tasks to support the implementation of CRM, make them evangelists and ambassadors of the CRM system among employees. By the way, you can pay a premium for this.
- Gather 3-5 of the most wary, cowardly, aggressive employees and discuss their fears and questions, conduct an educational program.
- If there is an outright rebellion against the CRM system, find the instigator and discuss with him all the questions that confuse and frighten him. Try to make the enemy, if not an ally in the implementation, then at least just an expert old-timer.
If the CRM system is implemented from above, silently, without explanation and confidential discussion, it will be accepted much worse, because employees may see it as a tool for control, supervision and punishment. And this is not so. Moreover, communication with employees (future users of CRM) will make the implementation more accurate and suitable for your business.
This article, in comparison with the treatises on CRM that we are used to, seems simple and even quite obvious. It makes you want to ask: “What, it happens not like that?” Alas, it almost never happens. Everything that is stated here is the basis for a simple and high-quality implementation of CRM. The CRM system that will be used, not the one that is easier to hate. Pay attention to these moments - after all, nothing is more important than trifles. And, as you know, the further into the forest, the more firewood.
We have a promotion — you can buy RegionSoft CRM on very good terms:
- For those who buy immediately (100% prepayment) - a discount of 15% from the price of the standard price list is provided.
- For those who buy in installments - interest-free installments for 3 equal payments, 1 payment per month, subject to the total cost of licenses from 38 rubles.
- Subscription instead of purchase - get a 30% discount when paying for a subscription for 3 months. The minimum subscription cost is 3400 rubles per month (excluding discounts).
And we also work great remotely: we install, implement, train, support. Call or leave a request - the online demonstration is free, detailed and interesting.
Source: habr.com