Why CRM project still fails in 2024
- Trust issue. Manager cannot make sales rep feel supportive, safe, and willing to enter truthful information in the CRM. Or when target is unrealistic, sales rep may feel helpless, unsafe, and reluctant to enter data into CRM.
- Perception issue. Manager looks only at target numbers and tries too little to read sales activity reports in order to perceive stages of customers. Because of this, the manager cannot coach or guide the sales rep.
- Discipline issue. Manager does not understand the importance of following up tasks in CRM on regular basis. Therefore, sales rep has repeated excuses to not use the CRM.
Most CRM project fails are not caused by computer programming issues but caused by people issues, more specifically, people’s mentality issues.
When executives develop an organization, they involve in 3 areas: People, Process, and Technology.
CRM is Process and Technology. And the big part is still the People. To ensure that people will get along and become developed, the executives will need to use leadership: set vision, build trust, and have empathy – understanding and embracing human beings.
Vision will give direction for the people to work hard and have faith with. Trust will encourage people to open up the mind and come out from own comfort zone. Empathy will help executives learn about the people and get them move along with the vision.
CRM as Growth Enabler
When people learn CRM, they can learn best in a safe environment that they can try new things, make mistakes, and make personal growth. In this learning, when leader stops expecting revenue as a result from people for the moment and aim for personal growth instead, people immediately change perspective on what high performance looks like.
When people start to adopt CRM, manager needs to tell them that data in CRM just reflects stages of the customers. Lost deals and missing targets – setbacks are as part of the process. When your sales rep invests effort, practice, and learning to get better each day, they may also suffer from setbacks, the manager should remind them that this is part of the process. This is what personal growth feels like. Let them know that it is ok.
When sales reps really underperform and need guidance, the manager needs to use data in CRM to dig into understanding why they are underperforming. The manager needs to show compassion and be willing to climb down into the hole to see why they gets stuck. Sales reps need manager’s help and they need to trust their leader before they can open up. Upon understanding the Why, the manager can then define actions in Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) and continue to use data in CRM to monitor and guide people to do better and to grow. This is a correct way for using PIP – not the wrong way that uses PIP to cause fear and burnout without knowing the Why.
