Hana kitten. Why do employees hate CRM? / RegionSoft Developer Studio Blog

In comments on a recent article, ncix raised the issue of sabotage of CRM by employees and said that he would be happy to read about it. In the first minutes we were even taken aback - didn’t we write about this? They wrote, but somehow scraps and by the way. And the problem is really important. We have gathered our experience, analyzed and decided to cover the issue with the utmost honesty and not very long. Yes, employees sometimes hate CRM, sabotage implementation, ignore use - in general, arrange a mini-revolution. Which takes away business nerves, money and takes power. It is difficult to deal with this phenomenon, but it is possible. About some methods - under the cut. What else, your mother, CRM? Well, now it’s gone, the Kalabukhov house has disappeared!

What employees gossip about

It is worth passing the first rumor that a CRM system will be implemented soon, the company's employees are in a panic. And the more information is hidden, the higher the decision is made on both implementation and configuration, the more unpleasant emotions appear in the team. Well, it seems like this - they’ll put a program on the PC, which will be even more convenient than in Excel and old shared folders. Nevertheless, fear has big eyes, and this very fear takes on very bizarre, but logical forms. We carried out several thousand implementations of RegionSoft CRM and could not help but gain the most selective experience, including the reasons for the boycott. So…

What are workers afraid of?

More work is needed - it is necessary not only to spend time on training, but also to enter data, fill out a bunch of fields and forms, prepare reports, monitor the correct operation of the new system, do not forget to use it regularly.

Each step will be controlled - now the manager can use one button in the CRM-system to collect a report on all the manager’s actions, look at the logs, what time and what actions he performed, on which days he didn’t even start the program, etc.

“And if I do not cope with the training?”- Incidentally, a fairly common reason. Even among managers born in 1970-1990, there are many guys who are using the Internet and from a PC to “you,” simply because they did not have to interact with a computer at school and university, and at home it is used for social networks, YouTube and simple games. This is not so much the fault of a generation as the fault of a non-technical education. Sometimes it’s really difficult for employees to understand how the system is organized, to realize what a client is and what a server is, where the storage is located. For them, it's just a screen with a bunch of fields and buttons.

Other employees will see the work, they will hunt for each other's mistakes. CRM-system, designed to implement end-to-end automation in the company, its purpose is precisely the exchange of data between departments in order to make work more efficient and productive. Accordingly, part of the data will be available to groups of divisions, and this in theory can give rise to civil strife (the struggle between salespeople and marketers is especially active).

There will be staff reductions. This is a very common phobia, which has a basis in the form of precedents. Moreover, some vendors build their marketing precisely on this thesis. We will say one thing: it’s more expensive to cut trained employees, a competent leader will simply redistribute the time that has been freed up to other tasks and will allow both the company and people to earn more.

Psychological resistance to the new. This is a normal reaction of the human psyche: we tend to consider all changes, the nature and result of which we do not quite understand, as a potential threat. The team will certainly build the most bizarre hypotheses regarding their fate after implementation. Lack of information “from above” will only aggravate the situation.

All of these motives lead to the only right decision from the point of view of a frightened team - to sabotage. By the way, various motives can be transmitted from employee to employee with the speed of the influenza virus, everyone begins to believe in the arguments of a neighbor and convinces him of their own.

How do employees sabotage?

• Do not use a CRM system. Employees simply do not start the system over and over and ignore reports. As a rule, they motivate their behavior by the fact that the new system is inconvenient and work in it takes too much time.
  
• They don’t add part of the data to CRM - but continue to save the main part necessary for work, in their files or in the head. As a result, the CRM system completely loses its meaning, because it does not contain relevant and accurate data.
  
• Enter data with their notes and “encryption” . Thus, the system is filled with meaningless data and absolutely useless reporting.
  
• Actively protest against the use of CRM in a company or division . The protest is expressed in active communication with the leadership, the incitement of innovators and early followers among employees (who they are, we wrote here ).
  

The task of the leadership is to enlist the support of loyal employees and correctly, without hysteria, repression and cut bonuses, to resolve the situation. By the way, do not forget about the strongest front of the temporary enemy - the sales department.

Separate front - sales managers

As you can see, CRM systems have a whole division of opponents. Most of them, of course, are among sales managers. They cite as one report unknown to the world, according to which studies have shown that a salesperson spends 28-31% of working time on "empty administrative work" (what an accuracy!). At the same time, history is silent about what is included in this very administrative work. Of course, salespeople are cunning, although they really have a reason to be an opponent of CRM systems. Let's divide managers into groups and groups and determine their motives.

1. Sales managers in the office. This group of employees is afraid of control - since they are not familiar with the technical aspects of the CRM system, for them it represents the “eye of the sovereign”, that is, it is able to control everything from calls to visiting sites on the Internet.
   
2. Sales managers in the fields are outraged by the fact that they have to enter customer data in the small interfaces of mobile devices. They completely refuse to use the remote access or application, motivating the refusal by the loss of time and inconvenience.
   
3. "Sales stars" - leading experts, managers, etc. Their motives are the most serious for the company: ignoring CRM, they retain their customers. That is, they work in the company, make connections at the expense of the name and money of the company, but they store the client base in their phone - this is their serious asset, which they use, for example, to find work with competitors (if you notice, in some descriptions vacancies there is such a requirement - "accumulated customer base"). And in their situation, CRM really breaks off all the raspberries, as the client base is fixed in the database and is wholly owned by the company.
   

How to deal with this in the sales department?

Obviously, the fight against the third group will be bloody. If the employee is not too loyal and has waste routes, most likely you will lose him. However, there are several ways to negotiate with a "star":

• offer increased bonuses for the implementation of the plan, change KPI - the employee will understand that you are proposing to share income with him and will be ready to increase this income, agree to work in CRM; money for salespeople is a powerful motive;
  
• offer to conduct private clients (such a function is, for example, in our RegionSoft CRM). He will receive a pool of clients that will not be available to other managers, but at the same time they will be stored in the company's database and will be visible to the management. As a rule, working in a company is much more profitable than for yourself, and many sales people understand this.
  

The first two groups are much easier. It is enough to hold a few explanatory meetings:

• explain the main thing that a CRM system for a linear salesman is an assistant. That it allows you to systematize and organize your own work, plan your working hours, do not forget about important agreements and be punctual. That the correct use of the CRM-system leads to an increase in work efficiency, therefore, to a greater number of transactions and an increase in salary;
  
• show the principles of the CRM-system and demonstrate that it is not able to monitor keyboard input and visited sites (although such concern for employees is already an occasion to review processes and analyze workload, but beyond the scope of CRM);
  
• Explain that only basic data can be entered into the mobile application, and all other information should be added at the office; however, the situation when a manager "in the fields" desperately needs a full-featured CRM is quite rare;
  
• demonstrate how much faster the seller communicates with the client thanks to CRM - any employee will appreciate the lean attitude towards his time;
  
• Assure (and fulfill!) that the implementation of CRM will not entail a reduction in staff. Reducing the number of employees due to automation is a huge management mistake. A competent leader will always find how to occupy a free labor resource and how to get additional revenue from this.
  

What should not be done in any case:

• Motivate with money directly for using CRM (like having 100 clients - get a bonus); motivation must occur indirectly and be consistent with business goals;
  
• gamify the use of a CRM system - any gamification will make you a hostage: employees will get used to gaming bonuses and will work exclusively for them, and not for business goals;
  
• blackmail and threaten with a CRM system (“if you don’t enter data, you’ll fire”);
  
• allow not to use the CRM-system, that is, to follow the boycott of employees. CRM-system is the same tool as IP-telephony or PC, you do not need to create excitement around it. We set it - we work, simply because it is faster and more convenient.
  

Protest, don't protest ... CRM boycott checklist

We have analyzed the causes and forms of protest, we have examined in detail the policy regarding the protest group itself. The point is small - to collect all the methods in one list so that you can discuss the most successful solutions. Let's point by point.

• Make CRM interactive. Let managers track their performance in the system and keep all their work plans in it. Since the CRM system sends out notifications and helps you see your tasks within the collective, the employee will quickly get used to the convenience. You can implement other mechanisms: for example, in our RegionSoft CRM, each employee can see the progress bar of their KPIs and thus pull the tail in time and not allow the nose to get stuck.
  
• Let the CRM system be a way of interaction within the company. It is often said that a CRM system is a repository, a database. In fact, this concept is outdated (although technically it is), now the emphasis is on communications between employees and employees with customers.
  
• Form internal experts who will help employees within the company. To ask a question to a colleague is always easier (and cheaper) than a vendor’s employee. Free up time for early followers to learn - in the near future it will pay off in full. Record video lessons, mini-instructions, print out the documentation for the CRM system (if the vendor is not ready to provide it, you made a mistake with the vendor).
  
• Talk to employees about their problems and present the CRM system as a way to solve them. For example, ask employees what problems they see in working with data, communications, and planning. After you get all the information from them, imagine CRM as a way to solve these problems.
  
• Carefully choose a CRM system . In general, this should be the first point - if CRM does not fit your business or is not able to automate business processes, it will cause maximum dissatisfaction. Check that the system has basic things: planning, telephony, contacts, convenient creation of entities from any section, etc.
  
• Implement a CRM system taking into account the requirements of employees, report each stage by newsletter or in person, let me ask and be open. About why this is important and how to collect requirements, we wrote in a separate article .
  
• Minimize the number of required fields in the interface, focus on the quality of the data. If the vendor provides many required fields, reconfigure the interface and leave the truly critical fields mandatory.
  
• Do serious training, do not turn it into profanity. During vendor training do not hesitate to ask to disconnect phones, provoke questions, check the acquired material. Try to keep in mind that the pace of training and the abilities of each employee are different.
  
• Show the success of CRM. If you were able to complete a successful newsletter, promotion, you closed several important and long transactions, report it at the general meeting, emphasize the role of CRM in the process.
  
• Do an experiment. If things are really bad, ask one employee to use CRM for a month and not use another. Track compliance with the experimental conditions and summarize.
  
• Make sure that in your chosen CRM there is a mechanism of private clients and each manager can maintain his own pool of contacts (not only salespeople, but also logisticians, marketers, and support).
  
• Do not allow some units to dominate others over their interests. For example, if marketers ask for eye color and a favorite sport that salespeople need to scout, and your company sells metal or software, stop these things from happening. The information must be accurate, adequate and consistent with the goals of the employees.
  
• Do not punish the ruble - so you only escalate the hatred of the system. Show that with CRM, employees can earn more with a clear plan and well-thought-out KPIs (where applicable!).
  

According to Sirius Decision research, 25% of databases in the B2B sector contain critical errors, and each such contact costs the company $ 100. There is one more bad news: the customer base belongs to the company, but if the sales person or manager really wants to take it away, nothing will stop him, one way or another he will find a way. But the CRM system clearly disciplines, increases productivity, reduces dissatisfaction with customer service and works for you. Be patient, adapt employees according to your strategy and don't be afraid to waste time. From hate to love, one step.

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