How To Improve CRM Adoption Rates

Recent years have seen a rapid increase in the use of customer relationship management (CRM) software, especially among small business owners and entrepreneurs.

Now, we’re living in the age of business software. Most companies are currently using a CRM or an ERP system to manage various business processes and tasks.

However, the adoption rates of CRMs are still abysmal. It’s estimated that 63% of all CRM initiatives fail, with small business twice as likely to drop the software after a period of initial struggle. This means that there is a strong correlation between the use of CRMs and successful companies.

Further, it points out that most business owners and entrepreneurs are still ill equipped to deal with CRMs and other types of business software. To help everyone improve their use of CRMs, we’ve created this handy guide that will cover the most common objections as well as solutions that businesses can implement to successfully adopt CRMs.

Why are CRM adoption rates low?

Considering the statistics outlined in the introduction, you’re probably wondering what is causing such low adoption rates. It’s universally agreed that CRMs improve businesses, make their processes more efficient and help build client relationships.

How is it possible that so many companies fail to adopt a CRM?

There are many factors that play into it and cause low adoption rates. A business may not be ready to transition to a new system, the specific CRM solution may be a poor fit for the company or business executives may want to preserve the status quo and avoid all potential risks.

Now, we will explain how all of these factors impact the CRM adoption rates as well as provide you with solutions that can help you overcome these objections and successfully implement a CRM solution within your company.

Lack of well-defined requirements

Another common pitfall that small business owners and entrepreneurs get trapped in is a lack of well-defined requirements.

Simply put, most people start using a CRM without a well-designed approach that clearly lays out the company’s objectives and expectations. Additionally, they do not set out specific requirements that their preferred CRM should possess.

To avoid this issue, we recommend that you clearly defined your requirements and the essential features that your CRM must have. This will help you avoid the second mistake that often prevents companies from adopting CRM systems.

Poor CRM selection

It’s no secret that most business owners have little knowledge of the CRM market and that they generally opt for the most popular solutions. In fact, four CRM platforms (Salesforce, Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP) dominate the market and take up an incredible 75% of the CRM market.

Many companies do virtually no research before selecting a CRM and simply go for the market leaders, assuming they are a safe choice. However, CMRs like Salesforce are built to cover as many business niches as possible.

This means that they require heavy customization and adaptation if your business deviates from the norm. In turn, this means that it’s harder to implement their solution, because it requires more work to be made suitable for your specific company.

In addition to that, you often need to add almost all customer data to the CRM to truly test its suitability. By the time you realize the CRM might not be filling all your needs, your free trial will likely have expired. This means you may have been forced to buy the full version and stick with it in hopes it will get better.

Unfortunately, it rarely does. If a CRM proves to be a less than optimal solution, there is often no easy fix. You just need to cut your losses and find a better platform that is more suited to the specifics of your business organization.

Failure to make a user-centric experience

The overwhelming majority of CRMs are designed for sales managers and leaders. This is not accidental – managers and leader are key decision makers when it comes to CRM purchases.

In an attempt to increase sales, CRMs focus on the feature that are most relevant to decision makers, i.e. reporting, pipeline visibility, and forecasting. While this is often done efficiently, it can sometimes compromise the user friendliness of the platform.

This means that they can be too rigid and not intuitive for sales representatives and marketers. If you want to create a user-centric experience, you will need to select the best CRM for your specific company.

In other words, you’ll need to research and test a number of CRMs to find the most suitable solution for you. If you don’t choose a user-friendly system, you may suffer from poor CRM adoption rates.

Failure to involve your staff

Managers and executives are used to working independently and making decisions for the benefit of their team. It’s not uncommon for them to completely disregard their staff when making a decision on purchasing a CRM.

However, this only creates problems and increases the likelihood of CRM rejection. Employees can feel compelled and forced to use a system not native to their work, creating a negative attitude towards the platform. Over time, this negative approach only becomes more prominent and ends with the CRM system never being implemented properly.

To avoid such issues, you need to involve your staff in the process as soon as possible. Gather their feedback on CRMs and adjust your purchase accordingly.

Your team will spend the majority of their work hours with the CRM – you need to do everything you can to involve them in the decision. They need to adopt the system to work properly and the best way to do that is to involve them in the purchase.

Lack of forward thinking

Arguably the hardest obstacle to overcome when looking into implementing CRMs is the lack of forward thinking from all team members, especially the decision makers.

Initial hurdles and setup can be a daunting experience and an overwhelming number of businesses simply decide to give up and revert to the tried and tested methods.

While understandable, this is a pitfall you need to overcome on your own. Focus on your long-term goals and identify the weak points that a CRM could help solve for your business. Further, consider the opportunities you are missing by not utilizing your leads and prospects in the optimal way.

When you think it through, it will become fairly obvious that a CRM can greatly improve your company and its workflow. The problems that you’re experiencing at the start may be difficult, but when you set up the system, it’s surprisingly easy to maintain it.

Final words

As we explained in this article, CRM adoption rates are notoriously low. To avoid becoming a part of this dreadful statistics, we advise you to inform yourself and assess your options before making a purchase.

If you need help selecting the best CRM system for your business, contact Simply CRM. Their experts can evaluate your business and guide you through the process of buying and setting up a CRM.

In case you’d like to try things out on your own, you can even book a free trial and test their system to check whether it’s suitable for your company.