4 ways BI can improve the adoption of your CRM

Imagine having the best CRM ever, one that allows you to accurately assess and predict your performances. This creates an almost perfect scenario, because unless it is founded on a plan for user adoption, this perfect CRM will never achieve the expected results. Above all technologies, lies people.

Even the best CRM requires a big quantity of accurate data for you to reap all of the benefits. A good part of this information must be entered by the CRM users. The omission of your sales team to systematically record opportunities in the CRM, will diminish the superpowers of your CRM.

This almost perfect scenario is a reality faced by 20% of companies for whom the adoption of the CRM within their team represents a major challenge. So how do you convince your employees to use your CRM at all times?

This article, which concludes our series on the biggest CRM obstacles that can be solved using business intelligence (BI) will present the 4 ways business intelligence can increase the adoption of your CRM within your company:

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1- Choose a dashboard that will make their lives easier

A good way of connecting your team to your CRM, is to choose dashboards that are efficient and simple to use. The more your dashboards are relevant and easy to use, the more likely your employees will use them to document their information into your CRM and use it consistently.

Achieving this goal:

With modern BI tools, you will be able to access a wide variety of charts and view the information according to your needs. By grouping and analyzing your results in various forms such as charts, graphs and simple histograms, your employees can access a complete overview of the company. Your team will see and understand the importance of entering information into the CRM.

You will have several very good business intelligence tools to choose from resulting in a wide range of customized dashboard options. Below is an example of what a Power BI application dashboard looks like and what we use at XRM Vision:

2- Connect yourself to external data sources

Efficient dashboards are a good way of providing your employees with an overview of the company, also inciting your employees to use your CRM. These dashboards, however, must allow your employees to accurately assess the performance of your company. Achieving this requires your CRM to have relevant data.

Achieving this goal:

A modern BI tool allows you to connect your CRM to several external data sources, such as Statistics Canada, HBR, or Euromonitor. You can import this information into a single system, your CRM. Your company can then better assess its performance by comparing it to that of your industry. Your employees then have real-time access to these results.

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3 – Encourage through gratification

If you feel like you're explaining to amnesiacs that they need to use the CRM, it's normal. Once the threat is dissipated, bad habits usually resume. That's why encouragement is more effective than demanding. By gratifying the use of the CRM, you amplify the positive impact of this behavior, which improves your chances of modifying it!

Here are a few ways to provide gratification to enhance the adoption of your CRM:

Display > Publicly showcase the names of employees who excel in using the CRM on a bulletin board of honor.

Rank > Create an interactive list within your CRM that ranks users from the most experienced to the least diligent.

Reward > Announce rewards for the top CRM users.

Make it a game > Gamification can encourage your employees by creating a playful competition.

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4 – Use data reporting as a basis for discussion between the employee and their superior

The sales pipeline is a very useful business intelligence tool to track the exact progress of opportunities. However, when it is newly implemented in the CRM, salespeople need to enter information about opportunities as quickly as possible. However, some salespeople who are accustomed to relying on their intuition may resist this new practice. How can you encourage them to use the CRM?

The key is to create a report that will serve as a basis for discussion between the employee and their superior. The salesperson can then effectively discuss their activities with their superior. Salespeople have an interest in keeping their work progress updated. The supervisor can better prioritize tasks for different salespeople and determine if there are any additional needs. This helps avoid a situation where the salesperson becomes overwhelmed.

The four tips we just discussed will help you rally your team around your CRM. Several other strategies and approaches can also improve user adoption. For greater effectiveness, these should be planned at every stage of a CRM implementation project. You will learn more in our upcoming series of articles dedicated to techniques for increasing employee acceptance of the CRM.

Resolve various CRM challenges with business intelligence...

Modern BI tools allow your employees to better see the value of contributing to the CRM. Many other CRM challenges can be solved through BI. As we have seen in previous articles, business intelligence can help optimize the customer experience, make data-driven decisions, and achieve a single version of the truth in your reports.

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