Sales Culture and the Success of CRM
An organization’s sales culture is one of the most important components to consider when implementing a CRM focused on Sales Force Automation. Like any family, each business approaches problems, tasks and daily activities in their own unique way and with their own sentiment. It’s critical to identify the ways they conduct business and any barriers to the sales cycle, from both a process and culture standpoint, before you begin customizing a CRM system. Investing time upfront to identify these barriers will ensure the CRM is supportive rather than disruptive.
What exactly is organizational culture?
According to Google, organizational culture is a system of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs, which governs how people behave in organizations. These shared values have a strong influence on the people in the organization and dictate how they dress, act, and perform their jobs. Basically, it is the way in which business is conducted based on the norms within any organization.
CRM and Culture
A career in sales is not for the faint of heart. Successful reps can quickly sniff out processes that waste their time and keep them away from selling. When being asked to change their methods they will ask, “What’s In It For Me?” If a CRM system is not designed from the perspective of supporting sales people, it won’t be embraced. Out of the box CRM solutions rarely work because they aren’t able to support the unique culture of an organization or how its employees conduct business. The main purpose of a CRM system is to increase sales. So, don’t waste your time implementing an out of the box solution people won’t use.
To sufficiently understand a sales culture, the person designing and implementing a CRM must immerse themselves in a company and gather candid feedback from both management and end users. When end users are confident in management’s commitment to remove barriers in the sales cycle, they are more trusting and likely to adopt the new CRM.
CRM and Organizational Change
Once implemented, a CRM program can become a tool that sparks organizational change. By its nature, CRM brings to light business processes, increases efficiencies and exposes any stoppages. In this case, the CRM has been designed and implemented around the companies existing culture. However, as the CRM brings to light inefficiencies the culture will then begin to shift with the CRM to improve and grow the business. If leadership fails to recognize or support this shift, CRM user acceptance will plummet and employees will return to their old processes. Implementing a successful CRM is not an easy task. It is important to go into the project wide-eyed and willing to adapt with the new knowledge the system exposes. If executed correctly, a CRM will have a positive impact on any business that far outweighs the scope of the implementation project.
Questions? Contact Kiwi Group.