Failure of a CRM system to deliver a significant return on investment often relates to the lack of user adoption. There are several reasons user adoption can be a hurdle. These include: difficulty in learning the chosen CRM software, repetitive data entry, and mundane and confusing steps needed when completing CRM specific forms.
When Jim Jones at XYZ Sales Inc. fills in customer information, he will want to type in only relevant details of his customer. Jim’s time is much better suited to interacting with the customer and making a sale that meets his customer’s needs.
If his time is instead spent on filling out forms using clumsy software that is hard to use, the odds are that Jim will simply avoid this altogether. Or Jim may have good data on his customer but will have lost the sale to faster competitors. There is of course a trade-off to good data and closing sales.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM provides many features that help with ‘user adoption’ issues common to CRM systems. A critical feature it provides is a familiar software system to interact with CRM.
Microsoft’s CRM solution provides the familiarity of Microsoft Outlook e-mail. As many business professionals use Microsoft Outlook on a daily basis, there is no need to leave Outlook to do CRM. One can do CRM from within Microsoft Outlook.
Another feature Dynamics CRM enhances is the ability to eliminate repetitive data entry. Dynamics CRM can be customized to only display those areas of the screen that are relevant and critical to your business.
One can have both ‘required’ and ‘recommended’ data fields. Ensuring that critical information is keyed-in and that users know what information is relevant and recommended. This of course can be customized by business professionals very easily by using the ‘customization’ area of Dynamics CRM.
Automation of repetitive tasks is also a feature of Dynamics CRM. For example, a common scenario in a CRM system is to pass along information to others within another group or department. Jim Jones may receive a lead as typed-in by a customer representative in XYZ Sales Inc’s marketing group.
In Dynamics CRM, such a lead can be automatically assigned to Jim’s team or to Jim himself (for example, if Jim should receive all leads in his geographic region). This is done quite easily and routinely by using workflow. Workflows can be created by business professionals using CRM. No programmer is required for this.
Workflows can automate many repetitive tasks such as automatically sending a ‘sales call’ e-mail to potential customers before a scheduled sales call is made. Of course, this scheduled call was automatically setup in the sales professional’s Activity Calendar, when the lead was first typed-in by the customer representative.
The use of Dynamics CRM via the Microsoft Outlook, the customization of CRM screens, and the use of workflow can enhance user adoption. This can ensure that your business professionals take advantage of CRM, improving sales, support, and marketing return on investment.
If you would like a specific price quote on Dynamics CRM and customization services, please visit our website: http://crm.ArneyConsulting.com
Cheers to your CRM efforts,
Shawn Arney
Arney Consulting Inc.
Microsoft Certified Gold Partner
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
