"Too often technology attracts an unbalanced part of our attention."...
"We saw CRM like the ERP system. It was essentially just a case of Going Live effectively, and it would work"...
The CIO selected the best CRM system, but still if your sales people do not use it systematically, it will not generate value.
Nowhere is software adoption more difficult than CRM with salespeople. Wrongly perceived as picking up the best software technology, CRM projects involve embedding structured sales processes and managing cultural changes through training on how sales and marketing can be driven by measurable performance indicators far more powerful than just "quota achievement".
If your "stick" is to have a management tool, provide sales forecast, get a discount authorized faster, only through the CRM system, then—no surprises—the system is not going to get used by the field. If you can show how CRM will drive better leads, higher conversion rate and shorter selling cycles, then your salespeople bonus appetite will drive its adoption. Little attention is given to map your customers buying process and embed sales, marketing and service processes within the organization culture genes. Lots of attention is given to the fields that you expect sales people to (wrongly) fill in for you.
Salespeople fail to adopt CRM because they perceive it as a time consuming data filling technology for management to watch them over their shoulder... Chances are strongly against you seeing a return on your CRM investment if the different benefits each user expects to get - management, field sales an dealers - are not contemplated.That is related to business expertise - certainly not IT technology.
When we start looking at CRM as a business owned project, made of people with dramatic different needs, sales (re)engineering processes requirements and IT — the user adoption issue becomes a lot less difficult. And yes, even sales people will use CRM if they get out of it what they really need - usually quite different things from what you need...
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