A consistent sales process is the hallmark of successful sales teams.
Data from our research report, Best Practices of High-Performing Sales Teams, shows that 95% of sales teams that meet or exceed revenue goals follow their sales process all or most of the time—but only 69% of underperforming teams do.
Sales teams that don’t follow their sales process consistently have difficulty meeting sales goals, and lack of adherence is a problem at many organizations.
Your CRM may be the answer. Successful sales teams integrate their sales process into their CRM, and CRM integration drives sales process adherence. Each reinforces the other.
- 62% of successful teams integrate the sales process into their CRM; only 40% of underperforming teams do.
- 89% of teams that have integrated their sales process into their CRM follow their sales process all or most of the time.
See why sticking with a sales process correlates with success, and discover how CRM integration can improve sales process adherence, customer retention, and sales productivity.
Overcome Sales Professionals’ Resistance to CRM Software
The first step is making sure your CRM is fully adopted. But implementing any new software platform in your company is a major ordeal. It has to be integrated into your existing systems, and you need to transfer your data. Then you need to train sales professionals, sales managers, sales ops, and sales leadership how to use it.
Even if it’s a simple, straightforward program, it will probably take at least a little getting used to. And sales professionals are notoriously reluctant to adopt CRM tools.
Your team’s current method of handling customers may be inefficient, but at least it’s familiar. Even if new software will greatly improve their workflow, sellers don’t rush to come on board.
One of the most common reasons cited by organizations for the failure of their CRM systems is a lack of adoption by the sales team. A CSO Insights study of over 1,000 companies showed that less than 40% of the companies achieved CRM adoption rates over 90%.
Typically, sales professionals find the data entry cumbersome or consider it a waste of their selling time, and they don’t see how the system benefits them personally.
How do you fend off these feelings of opposition and get sales professionals to use a CRM platform such as Salesforce or HubSpot?
Common CRM Implementation Challenges
The main reason many sales professionals are dissatisfied with their CRM is because there was a problem with the way it was implemented. Here are some common mistakes companies make when implementing CRM software solutions.
CRM Isn’t Compatible with Your Sales Process
Often, companies implement their CRM software in a way that simply isn’t compatible with their current sales methodologies. This makes it difficult, if not impossible, for sales professionals to use it effectively. It’s geared toward management use cases and reporting instead of the day-to-day needs of sales professionals.
CRM Isn’t Easy to Use
The decision to streamline your company, get organized, and improve productivity is generally made all at once. You implement all sorts of new performance management tools, new processes, new policies, and then—as the crowning touch—you unveil your new CRM.
It’s just too much to process all at once. There’s all of this new stuff to get used to, and each thing requires learning a whole new set of parameters. Following all of those new steps is simply too much to remember.
CRM Isn’t Introduced Well
CRM generally seems geared toward management, not sales professionals. So when you roll it out, that’s how you present it to the company: as a management tool. Sales professionals learn that leadership will have an easy time of things, keeping the customers happy. Costs will be cut, profits will increase.
Meanwhile, the sales professionals are stuck doing what amounts to data entry. No one takes the time to impress upon the sales professionals how this new software platform will benefit them as well.
CRM Isn’t Implemented Properly
The sad truth is most companies that implement CRM are doing it badly—at least at first. And if you’re implementing CRM poorly, there’s a good chance no one will like or want to use it. When you invested in the new platform, they assured you it was an incredible tool that could help you in myriad ways. That may very well be true, but a tool is only as good as the way you use it.
Integrate Your CRM and Your Sales Process
The good news is that there is a way to implement your CRM platform that benefits both sales professionals and management equally. Integrating the steps of your sales process into your CRM will make your sales professionals’ work easier and help sales leadership see exactly how deals are progressing on an individual and team level.
To make a CRM-sales process integration work, you need clearly defined objectives. If all you have is a vague sense of, “We’ll use this to get organized and keep in better touch with our customers,” then you’re setting yourself up for failure.
You should map out:
- Exactly what benefits you want to get out of the integration
- How you plan on achieving these benefits
- How and when you plan on communicating the benefits to your team
You need to communicate these objectives with your sales team from the beginning, before the integration has been implemented.
Helping your sales team understand the benefits of CRM-sales process integration—from an actual sales perspective rather than just a managerial one—will make them more open to the idea of using it.
Put it in context: CRM allows them to access a wealth of information about their customers and potential customers at the touch of a button. A consistent sales process allows them to follow repeatable steps that lead to predictable outcomes—and a better close rate. Integrating the two aligns your workflow with sales goals and is a convenient way to reinforce the process.
But communication works both ways. Make sure your sales professionals are able to give their input to the CRM software as you’re implementing it. This will greatly increase your chances of adoption because they’re going to feel that they have “skin in the game.”
Keep it simple, though. You don’t want to overwhelm your team by turning simple tasks into complex procedures. And don’t try to load too many changes on them at once.
Sales Training Reinforces Sales Process Adherence
Finally, you need to make sure everyone—sales professionals and managers alike—is properly trained on both your sales process and on how to use the CRM software effectively.
Proper implementation and proper sales training are essential. If everyone understands how best to use CRM to their advantage, and follows a clearly defined sales process, you’ll be able to drive sales process adherence, streamline reporting, build better relationships with customers, and see consistent growth.
Remember, successful sales teams integrate their sales process into their CRM, and CRM integration drives adherence. Those are things your sales professionals can’t help but embrace.
Learn how a straightforward sales process from The Brooks Group can help drive sales performance.
