Involving CRM Users from the Outset
In order to get acceptance of a new CRM initiative, employee involvement and support is required. This comes about by enlisting the help of everyone affected by the initiative from the very beginning. Employees need to understand how the CRM initiative will affect their jobs before they will buy into the program. Creating a project team with members from sales, customer service, marketing, finance and production, for instance, will tremendously aid in the selection, training, use and acceptance of the CRM system. The team can contact CRM application providers and collect information regarding capabilities and costs, and they can also collect baseline customer service, sales, complaint and other meaningful performance information. The team should also be heavily involved in evaluating and selecting the applications, and them implementing and integrating the applications in each department. As the implementation, or “burn-in” continues, closely monitoring system performance will keep users convinced of the value of the initiative, and keep everyone committed to its success.