Not always. If your staff resists using CRM, no one benefits – including top management. CRM requires accurate data, entered in a timely manner, for you to gain the real-time performance reports you intended the software to generate for you. And if employees don’t enter the right data at the right time, even the most powerful CRM solution will be a waste of money.

How do you ensure high user adoption to protect and maximize your CRM investment? What can you do to motivate employees to WANT to use the system? Here are nine ideas.

1. Begin with the end-users’ needs in mind. Ensure CRM actually reduces
   sales rep workload and does not become more burdensome
2. Configure CRM with “help-me-sell” tools that equip reps to close
   deals sooner, at higher margin.
3. Tie employee compensation to CRM adoption.
4. Invest in user training.
5. Make CRM easily accessible off-site via multiple types of mobile
   devices.
6. Communicate about the CRM deployment in terms of how it benefits
   each user group.
7. Lead by example, demonstrating your
   commitment to use the system.
8. Select CRM software that’s easy-to-use.

The Bottom Line
High user adoption is absolutely essential for your company to experience the full value of CRM and achieve the highest possible return on investment. Apply these nine strategies, and you’ll make it happen with your next CRM deployment.

For more information on CRM solutions tailored specifically to your company and industry, contact ERT Group at 954-825-0888.

Enterprise Resources Technology Group, Inc. (ERT Group) is a technology consulting firm that empowers companies to grow and succeed with business solutions that streamline processes, improve productivity, and squeeze more profit from operations. ERT Group is a Florida Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and a 2010 President’s Club member for Microsoft Dynamics – offering Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Dynamics ERP.

8 Ways to Incentivize Employees to Use CRM is a post from: CRM Software Blog

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This is an important question because your customer relationship management (CRM) system may quickly generate reports full of interesting data, but if it does not serve as actionable intelligence, you won’t have the information you need to drive sound business decisions that grow sales and profit.

How do you decide what metrics are worth tracking and should be configured in your CRM system?

The first step is to determine the WHY behind each metric you choose to track. In other words: Why is this data important? What will it tell us? How will we use it to inform decisions?

Take, for example, the following sales metrics and how they might be useful to companies that use outside sales representatives.

Number of sales calls made

How much effort are reps putting in? Which reps are putting forth the most effort? Also, this can serve as a starting point to help forecast sales, based on historical conversion ratios to number of calls made.

Number of new prospects and ratio to sales calls made

Of the sales calls made, how effective are sales reps in converting them into bona fide prospects? A low ratio of “new prospects to calls made” may signify that your company is going after the wrong prospects or that reps need better training in prospecting.

Number of new open proposals/ price quotes

Of the new prospects that have given your company permission-to-market to them, what percentage has requested proposals or price quotes? If the number of submitted proposals is low this month, what’s causing the drop? How will this impact revenue 30, 60, 90 days or more down the road? What adjustments do you need to make now to counteract a potential loss in revenue?

Projected revenue and profit value of open proposals/ quotes

You may have a high volume of proposals in the queue this month, but are they for large and/or profitable orders? What is the trend? What’s driving the trend?

Proposal conversion ratio

What ratio of proposals actually converts into new business? If it’s a downward trend, why? What are the reasons customers are requesting proposals from your company but not giving you the order? Is there an issue with the presentation part of the sales process? Are you priced too high? Or, are you priced too low, diminishing the perceived value and quality of your product or service?

Time-to-close

How long is our sales cycle – from new prospect to new account? How is this trending? What adjustments could you make to shorten the cycle? Which stages in the sales process could you improve to speed time to close – to book more revenue, at a quicker turn?

The Bottom Line

When it comes to determining what metrics to track, one size does NOT fit all. Every business is different. However, the underlying principle at work here is this: Whatever metrics you track, define upfront how you will use that information to guide sound business decisions. For more information or professional guidance on configuring your CRM to capture and track the sales, marketing and customer service data most useful to your business, contact ERT Group at 954-825-0888.

Enterprise Resources Technology Group, Inc. (ERT Group) is a technology consulting firm that empowers companies to grow and succeed with business solutions that streamline processes, improve productivity, and squeeze more profit from operations. ERT Group is a Florida Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and a 2010 President’s Club member for Microsoft Dynamics – offering Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Dynamics ERP.

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The business case drives the project plan – functionality requirements, software selection, and so forth – setting the direction for the entire deployment. It’s also a crucial for garnering the executive support you need for your initiative to succeed.

What should you include when developing a business case for CRM?

The Vision

Why do you need a new CRM system?

• What’s wrong with your existing CRM processes that you’d like to see improved?
• Are you looking to automate manual processes or eliminate redundant tasks – to reduce personnel expense, improve efficiencies, and lower risk of costly shipping errors?
• Are you looking for more detailed real-time customer intelligence to make sales and marketing campaigns more efficient and effective?

Consider both the cost of doing nothing and the bottom line benefits of solving these issues.

The Value

What value do you expect this CRM deployment to create for your company? Think in terms of metrics or key performance indicators (KPI) to define success and measure progress, such as:

• Increased revenue
• Project payback
• Market share gains
• Profits generated from net new sales
• Productivity, efficiency gains
• Lower customer acquisition costs
• Higher customer retention, improved profit per customer
• Lower customer service costs
• Improved sales conversion ratios
• Shorter sales cycles

The Requirements

What functionality do you need in your CRM system to fulfill the overall vision and drive your key performance indicators? Obtain input from stakeholders who will be impacted by CRM, including those in sales, marketing, customer service, IT, accounting and the C-suite. If one of your target metrics is “productivity gains,” for example, work with sales personnel to identify areas where CRM can eliminate redundant tasks, reduce busy work and give them more time for selling.

Without a clear business case, you could purchase the most powerful software on the market, fully loaded with “bells and whistles,” but see very little results to justify the money – a nightmare scenario for most IT directors and executives tasked with making large-scale technology purchases. To mitigate this risk, contact the technology advisors at ERT Group at 954-825-0888 before making your next CRM investment.

Defining the Case for CRM Before Making the Investment is a post from: CRM Software Blog

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What should you do? Most employees in this scenario would be apprehensive about pushing back on the deadline, fearing the response: “If you can’t do it, we’ll find someone who can.”

Resist this temptation to remain silent. With a reasoned approach, you can actually increase your value in the eyes of management by pointing out the dangers of rushed deadlines (without increasing resources) and offering possible solutions that would put your deployment on course to success.

Counting the Cost of Unrealistic Deadlines

As you express concern over timelines to management, underscore these risks to the company’s bottom line, should the project be tied to unrealistic time pressures:

• The project team is overworked, leading to exhaustion, low morale, subpar quality work, and high employee turnover. In this scenario, the project is set up for costly delays (sick days, training new staff, quality issues, etc.) with very little chance of getting back on track.
• There’s the irresistible temptation to cut corners. This often means skimping on quality assurance (including testing and de-bugging before “go live”) and training programs to meet deadline. The impact: The system is plagued by chronic software glitches that shut down the system and disrupt sales operations, causing order processing errors or lost orders altogether – creating angry customers. There’s not only the cost of fixing the glitch itself but also trying to convince customers to come back.

Offering Solutions

Once you’ve explained the risks and costs, focus on solutions. The following are four tips:

1. Test the deadlines. Are they feasible? If not, show the timeline dependencies and isolate the precise reasons why a deadline is not doable.

2. Consider the triple constraints: scope, time, and cost. To hit the proposed deadline, what adjustments must occur in either scope or cost or both?

3. Be conservative. Have you built in a buffer to accommodate unforeseen problems?

4. Present the most viable options. Negotiate for more resources or revise the time table altogether.

The Bottom Line

The push for quick turnaround on CRM deployments is understandable – the faster you deploy, the sooner your company generates results (and return on investment). However, if you’re not careful, rushing a project could lead to catastrophic results that sink the deployment altogether. Address this issue with a reasoned approach, and you’ll increase the likelihood that the project will receive the resources (of time, personnel and money) it needs to succeed.

Byline: Enterprise Resources Technology Group, Inc. (ERT Group) is a technology consulting firm that empowers companies to grow and succeed with business solutions that streamline processes, improve productivity, and squeeze more profit from operations. ERT Group is a Florida Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and a 2010 President’s Club member for Microsoft Dynamics – offering Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Dynamics ERP.  Contact ERT Group at 954-825-0888

How to Keep Unrealistic Deadlines from Sinking Your CRM Deployment is a post from: CRM Software Blog

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Therefore, if your business is a professional services firm, your customer relationship management (CRM) system should be configured to address these 3 unique challenges that come with selling intangible “products.”

Managing longer sales cycles

When you’re selling knowledge, your primary objective is to position your firm as a trusted expert. However, this process of building trust with prospects to the point that they are willing to spend significant amounts of money for your firm’s expertise takes time – sometimes as long as 6, 12, 18 months or even longer.

Does your CRM provide you with an efficient mechanism to touch base with prospects on a regular basis, perhaps with a monthly e-newsletter, useful articles, special offers on your services, and so forth – without “spamming” or turning off recipients?

When conducted appropriately, each “touch” can demonstrate your expertise and help nudge prospects further along the trust continuum till they’re ready to request a quote and eventually buy your services.

Equipping every employee for sales

If you’re like most professional services firms, you may have a dedicated business development director or marketing manager, but everyone must be involved, at least in some capacity, in the firm’s sales – especially in the midst of a challenging economy. It’s “all hands on deck.” Each accountant, for example, in addition to focusing on billable hours should also be continually on the lookout for new business – whether from client referrals, attending networking events, or following up on incoming leads.

Does your CRM offer an easy-to-use interface for busy, non-sales employees to efficiently enter prospect data and organize that information into the right categories for appropriate out-going marketing communications?

If the system is too cumbersome and time-consuming to use, your non-sales people, especially, will be reluctant to use it, which may lead to potentially lucrative accounts falling through the cracks.

Protecting client knowledge

Your most valuable asset is your firm’s deep understanding of a client’s business. This knowledge and relationship with the client can help erect a barrier that keeps competitive firms from luring the account away from you.

Does your CRM capture and track the right information about your clients? When an account executive, project manager or lead advisor leaves your firm, does your CRM system contain the client data you need to quickly get the replacement employee up to speed – without disruption for the client?

Configure your CRM solution to prevent the loss of an employee from becoming a loss of valuable client knowledge.

CRM SOLUTION FOR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES FIRMS

When it comes to CRM for professional services, a one-size-fits-all solution won’t work well. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 offers functionality tailored specifically to the unique sales challenges of professional services businesses. To explore whether Dynamics CRM is a good fit for your firm, contact ERT Group at 954-825-0888.

Enterprise Resources Technology Group, Inc. (ERT Group) is a technology consulting firm that empowers companies to grow and succeed with business solutions that streamline processes, improve productivity, and squeeze more profit from operations. ERT Group is a Florida Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and a 2010 President’s Club member for Microsoft Dynamics – offering Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Dynamics ERP.

3 Unique Sales Challenges of Professional Services Firms – and How Your CRM Should Solve Them is a post from: CRM Software Blog

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However, when you respond quickly, with the right message and attitude, you’ll most likely snuff out the “fire” and sometimes even make your company look like a hero.

Social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, have given customers a greater voice to express dissatisfaction with brands to an audience who value their opinion – their friends and followers. It used to be that an unhappy customer would tell a handful of close friends about an unpleasant experience with a company and the news would stop there. Now, just one status update or tweet can reach thousands of people with a single click and then be shared or re-tweeted from there. With social media, bad news travels very far and fast.

While traditional customer relationship management (CRM) does a great job with equipping your service staff with the information they need to effectively resolve in-coming calls, what about the complaints being expressed outside the company’s walls, online? How do you stay on top of and respond to those complaints when they’re not addressed directly to your company?

Social Networking Accelerator for CRM

This is a key reason why Microsoft developed the Social Networking Accelerator as an add-on module for Microsoft Dynamics CRM – to enable users to more efficiently track online conversations about their brand from multiple social media platforms, all from within a single application, Dynamics CRM.

Consider the possibilities for faster, better customer service when you seamlessly integrate social media with Dynamics CRM.

• Instead of getting blind-sided by bad news spreading quickly, configure your CRM to serve as an early warning system for product or service issues by monitoring social networks for complaints and issues relating to your brand
• Monitor chronic complainers to identify top potential service issues
• Instantly create a case within Microsoft Dynamics CRM from online conversations so you can then effectively address the case offline through an established problem resolution process
• Address new issues by posting a response online quickly and automatically tracking responses within Dynamics CRM
• Identify the most talked-about issues about your products or services and leverage that feedback for future improvements

The Need for Speed

When it comes to online conversations or complaints about your brand, the speed of your response is paramount. By combining social media tracking capabilities with CRM, you’re equipping customer service staff with the information they need – within a single application – to accelerate response times and WOW customers.

To explore the possibilities that come with integrating social media with your CRM, contact ERT Group at 954-825-0888.

Enterprise Resources Technology Group, Inc. (ERT Group) is a technology consulting firm that empowers companies to grow and succeed with business solutions that streamline processes, improve productivity, and squeeze more profit from operations. ERT Group is a Florida Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and a 2010 President’s Club member for Microsoft Dynamics – offering Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Dynamics ERP.

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What if you could gain a precise, real-time, 360-degree view of your customers – from both a marketing perspective and from the vantage point of their financial transactions with your company? How valuable would that information become to equip your staff to resolve customer issues at reduced call times, uncover new cross-sell opportunities, and keep customers coming back?

Your company can realize these benefits (and more) by seamlessly integrating customer relationship management (CRM) software with a robust enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution.

The challenge, however, has traditionally been the high cost of integration due to the extensive amount of customization often required to get the systems to work together properly.

That’s why Microsoft designed its new CRM-to-ERP “connector” – to offer companies the benefits of CRM-to-ERP integration at significantly lower cost. The connector’s out-of-the-box interoperability with Microsoft’s technologies eliminates the headaches (and expense) involved with having to trouble-shoot “connectivity” issues that often occur with custom integrations.

The connector seamlessly integrates (with minimal set-up time) Microsoft Dynamics CRM with either one of these Microsoft Dynamics ERP solutions – Dynamics AX (Axapta), Dynamics GP (Great Plains) and Dynamics NAV (Navision). (See “New Microsoft Dynamics ERP Resources Save Customers Time and Money.”)

The combined solution allows for smooth data-flow between CRM and ERP, automatically synchronizing and updating data in both applications, at all times, providing organization-wide insight across both systems via a single, easy-to-use interface. Available to Microsoft customers as an enhancement plan benefit, the connector is compatible with either the on-premises or online Dynamics CRM.

Stay Tuned for Connector Updates

For the latest information on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM-to-ERP connector, follow Microsoft team’s blog at Connector: Integrating Dynamics ERP with Dynamics CRM, which answers several questions you might have, including:

• What data is mapped in Connector out-of-the-box?
• Can the Connector integrate email addresses from Microsoft Dynamics CRM to the Internet addresses in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010? 
• What versions of Dynamics does Connector support?

To explore how integrating CRM and ERP could add value to your company, consult the ERT Group at 954-825-0888.

Byline: Enterprise Resources Technology Group, Inc. (ERT Group) is a technology consulting firm that empowers companies to grow and succeed with business solutions that streamline processes, improve productivity, and squeeze more profit from operations. ERT Group is a Florida Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and a 2010 President’s Club member for Microsoft Dynamics – offering Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Dynamics ERP.

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 Make sure your CRM software generates these 3 benefits for your company. 

 1. Accelerated sales growth 

 Your CRM solution should be intuitive and easy-to-use so your sales reps can spend more time on selling and making money for your company. 

 Features to look for: 

• In-depth, comprehensive lead and customer data aggregated from sales, marketing, customer service, finance and other departments across your organization. This empowers your reps to more effectively pinpoint new business and cross-selling opportunities.
• Robust mobile access so reps can get the information they need, when they need it, to close sales and service customers out in the field.
• Lead tracking capabilities that equip sales and marketing departments to quickly identify high-quality leads and route them to the most appropriate resource.
• Efficient, single-entry processes to reduce administrative work for reps and increase time for selling.  

2. Intelligent marketing that drives sales Your CRM solution should eliminate time-consuming inefficiencies and bottlenecks to executing successful marketing initiatives and capture useful data that equips management to track campaign effectiveness and make intelligent marketing investment decisions.

 Features to look for:

• Real-time collaboration tools that foster teamwork between sales and marketing personnel – to create campaigns that meet the objectives of both departments and the company as a whole.
• Pre-built, effective marketing campaign templates that expedite campaign development
• Flexible workflows and guided dialogues to simplify lead qualification, budget approval, and lead follow-up processes.
• Real-time dashboards and useful pre-built reports to track campaign performance and guide decisions to improve effectiveness and generate greater return on investment (ROI).

3. Reduced escalations  Your CRM solution should equip your customer service staff to respond quickly and appropriately to customer issues and requests – and build greater customer loyalty that translates into future, often more profitable, sales.

 Features to look for:

• Intuitive, easy-to-use case management capabilities that streamline case creation, tracking, and resolution processes – to help reduce number of escalations and cost per incident 
• Comprehensive customer history to give customer service reps the information they need to more effectively resolve cases
• Web-based self-service capabilities that empower customers to find answers, create their own cases, and schedule service appointments online, at their convenience, 24 hours a day, seven days a week  

Does your CRM produce these benefits? Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 generates these business benefits and more. To learn more about its capabilities and explore whether Dynamics CRM is a good fit for your business, contact ERT Group at 954-825-0888.

Enterprise Resources Technology Group, Inc. (ERT Group) is a technology consulting firm that empowers companies to grow and succeed with business solutions that streamline processes, improve productivity, and squeeze more profit from operations. ERT Group is a Florida Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and a 2010 President’s Club member for Microsoft Dynamics – offering Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Dynamics ERP

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An IT executive’s dream? Absolutely. But these scenarios are becoming a reality with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and its powerful and flexible xRM Applications Framework.

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 xRM Applications Framework moves beyond traditional CRM (built primarily for sales, service and marketing departments) in that it can be used by any team/department, manage any relationship (including product, process and other data), and automate any business process. The “x,” in mathematical terms, is a variable that literally means “anything.” So, xRM is “anything relationship management,” whether that’s supplier management, reseller management, fleet management or whatever “x” management that best suits your business.

The xRM Application Framework is the common foundation upon which both core CRM applications (designed by Microsoft) and “beyond” CRM applications (created by independent software vendors) are built. So, for example, if you’re an insurance agency, you can use Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 in a traditional sense, but could also benefit significantly with an extended CRM (or xRM) application that integrates seamlessly with your other systems to manage policies, underwriting processes and approvals

The xRM Applications Framework enables a company to use its existing Microsoft Dynamics CRM to build custom applications within minutes or days, instead of weeks or months. This shortens the time it takes for you to reap the value of your system and lowers overall deployment cost.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 provides out-of-the-box user interfaces via Internet Explorer, Microsoft Outlook and Mobile Express interface. Each of these experiences can be customized using the built-in form editors and other customization techniques, helping increase employee adoption of the new system and reduce training costs.

The xRM Framework is designed for flexibility, enabling you to support in-house the bulk of application scenarios, with point-and-click customizations for simple applications that include data and meta data services, user experience services, access and security services, and analytical services. In other words, this platform empowers your staff to build applications without having to use code or be expert programmers to make basic changes.

The xRM multi-tenant platform enables organizations to securely deliver line of business (LOB) capabilities to multiple business units around the world, with full support for multiple languages and currencies, allowing your system to grow as your business grows.

To learn more about tailoring Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 to fit your business, contact ERT Group at 954-825-0888.

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Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Customer Service module includes a robust set of features geared towards customer service and support. With only a minimal level of effort, this module can easily be configured to address the needs of your organization:s internal IT team. MS Dynamics CRM’s easy personalization even allows for the use of your own terminology for trouble tickets, cases, incidents, or what ever you may call requests for IT assistance.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Customer Service features for an Internal IT Help Desk.

• Consistent classification, escalation, routing, and follow through on incidents. IT Staff can quickly assign, manage and resolve incidents with automated routing, queuing, and service request escalation. Additional features include related case management, communications tracking and auto-response email.
• Analysis and Intelligence on Help Desk data allows for a better understanding of your IT investments.
• Valuable reports that help identify common support issues, evaluate employee needs, track processes and measure service performance.
• Build a shared Knowledge Base for Support Intelligence. Service and support personnel can resolve issues accurately and efficiently using a searchable, shared set of articles. Resolve common support issues quickly using a searchable knowledge base containing relevant articles. Built in review process helps ensure published information is complete and correct.
• Queuing: Send support requests to a waiting area or queue – for easy access by individuals and teams allowing them to accept responsibility for the resolution of the request.

Microsoft Dynamics eService Accelerator, a free enhancement for Dynamics CRM, extends the Customer Service modules functionality by providing a web based support portal allowing users to interact with the IT Support team in real time.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM eService Accelerator features for an Internal IT Help Desk.

• Help Desk User Creation: The eService Portal allows a new employee or external resource to create themselves as a user with in the Dynamics CRM Service module and as a Help Desk Portal self-service customer.
• Customer Support Request Management: The Help Desk Portal allows a registered user to view, create, edit, and close service cases that may have been previously created via an email, phone, or Instant Messenger request.
• Online Service Scheduling: Using the Help Desk Portal, an employee requesting support can search for convenient times and then book service appointments with the IT support staff as defined by the organization.
• Self Help: Search  the Microsoft Dynamics CRM knowledge base (KB) using keywords. Once the appropriate KB article has been located, the employee can then email that article to themselves or others. This allows for simple configuration and “How To” articles to be published for employee use.

Using Dynamics CRM as your help desk solution can easily save your organization a significant amount of money when compared to the cost of products such as Front Range Heat, Numura Foot Prints, Magic Software’s, and even Spiceworks free product. This is due to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Customer Service modules inherent functionality, and the available personalization and extensibility that you have already invested in. So, if you are looking for a robust, yet simplistic Help Desk application to handle knowledge base management, support ticket management, service scheduling, support contract management, and more- search no further, but look at your current Dynamics CRM server.

Contact ERT Group for assistance in determining if a technology solution can serve your organization’s business needs and take advantage of our CRM promotions.

ERT Group is a Florida Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and a 2010 President’s Club member for Microsoft Dynamics – offering Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Dynamics ERP.

Article written by Henry E McCallum Jr | Senior Functional Consutant – ERT Group

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