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and customer service teams on the same page.
...if your account managers are following your sales process? ![]() Dear Bob, As a national sales manager, I have a full-time job already. While recognizing that using a CRM is an evolving tool where users need to be given direction and and behaviors that I want must be monitored, I am just not finding the additional time in my day. I tend to only focus on how Dynamics is working just before each quarterly sales meeting. In that sales meeting, I bark out directives on how we are going to start using the tool more effectively. What should I be doing different? - Jon Dear Jon,
Your first step is to change your mindset about how you and your team use Dynamics CRM. It is not an add-on task for you or your team. Rather it is your primary sales process and management tool. Bob, We deployed Dynamics CRM about four years ago, and frankly I don’t think we have moved the needle in the last few years to get enough value out of the tool. What should we be doing different? - Jake Dear Jake,
Deploying and using CRM is a moving through a maturity process. The first step is understanding that you need a phased plan – a roadmap. Your plan must have measurable milestones. With everyone in the organization having the ability to visualize the key KPIs en route, and make adjustments in the roadmap as needed. What questions can you use to help determine if a client needs their CRM Refreshed?
A good starting point for a conversation is asking the CEO/Owner how well is their current CRM system telling them:
Dear Bob, We are an IT Services company. I have a client who uses Dynamics 365 CRM - but they're really frustrated with the tool. I would like to help them but the whole CRM business model is not a good fit for us. I also don’t want to lose my relationship with the client by just passing them off to anyone. However, I know that if I don’t take action soon the client will go out on their own looking for help, which might cut me out altogether. What options do I have? -- John Dear John,
A majority of CRM referrals that we get from our IT Managed Service partners are existing Dynamics 365 CRM users who are stuck and highly frustrated. They are not getting the results they expected, and your client’s problem can easily cause you grief. Most CRM systems fail because upper management, IT, marketing, sales, customer service, and others who use the software do not establish clear, well-defined, measurable goals. Consequently, it can be difficult or impossible to determine the effectiveness of a CRM system.
This happens because CRM is often thought of as a technology solution for a company's business; however, CRM is a really a business solution. Even if when your company deployed CRM you did not have defined measurable goals or had ill-defined goals, you can “mend" a failed Dynamics 365 CRM, in four simple steps. Dear Bob - My CEO is frustrated with the lack of progress the sales team appears to be making with the Dynamics CRM system we installed two years ago. How do I help her move the effort forward? I too must have an effective CRM with current customer and prospect data to meet my needs. -- A Concerned Marketer Dear Concerned Marketer -
I expect the frustration your CEO is experiencing with not achieving the expected value out of the Dynamics 365 CRM is around all ROI. The evidence I usually see includes: missed or no alignment between sales and marketing, an ineffective sales pipeline, data silos dependent on Excel files for marketing-sales-service, no one-view of the customer engagement, just to name a few. You, with our help, can resolve this frustration for your CEO with a four-step exercise I have developed. Dear Bob, We have been using a CRM for almost five years and I am still seeing sales users avoid it as much as possible. What can I do to help them recognize the value to them and for our growth? -- Amy, frustrated marketer Dear Amy,
I am sure you have heard the saying – You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink. Your efforts need to be focused on the “What’s in it for them” approach. Package your training and communications on what the benefits are and productivity savings they get out of using Dynamics 365 CRM. Today's CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is better than yesterday's because: (a) CRM systems such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM can now deliver greater productivity returns and (b) vendors' software usability is much improved. These advancements (and others) mean less time and lower costs to implement a CRM system. And the more people in a given company who use a CRM system translates to more benefits and a higher ROI on a CRM investment. Research notes that for every dollar a company invests in a CRM system, it earns $5.60.
But not everyone who has a CRM system is experiencing the expected return and, thus, some are even Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM haters. It may depend on how you choose and implement your CRM system. To help you get the most from your CRM, here are some common mistakes and ways to avoid them. I am often asked by managers how to improve the user acceptance of their Dynamics 365 CRM system. In the eyes of the questioner, the answer lies in how to encourage, or even make, users use the platform more, in order for the organization to achieve their established expected benefits of investing in Microsoft CRM. That’s the wrong focus. The issue is not how do we get the user to use CRM, but rather, is the Dynamics CRM itself designed to be useful to the user so that they want to use it. Although the difference is subtle it should not be overlooked.
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