Top CRM adoption challenges and how to avoid them

We’ve often written about how beneficial it is for moving companies to rely on CRM systems. Through them, they can look to increase their marketing reach, and provide better service to customers. But all those benefits come once you successfully adopt a CRM system. And, as it turns out, many people are unaware of CRM adoption challenges and how to avoid them. So, for this article, we will focus on these challenges and hopefully give you an idea of how to avoid them altogether.

CRM adoption challenges explained

Most of the CRM adoption challenges come from a poor understanding of the implementation process. A surprising number of business owners think that they’ll adopt a CRM system and that everyone involved will magically come on board. CRM adoption takes a fair bit of preparation and monitoring to go smoothly. Remember, while CRM can be used as customer service software for movers, it entails much more. Both when it comes to functionality and the necessary preparation. The sooner you come to terms with this, the more of the following challenges you will be able to avoid.

Poor CRM implementation

The first of the CRM adoption challenges we will mention is arguably one of the most common. Namely, what a lot of business owners do is get a CRM system and not worry much about implementation. They get what seems to be the most cost-effective and delegate the implementation to their customer management team.

As you can imagine, this can lead to a world of trouble. Without knowing the needs of your employees, you may get a sub-par CRM system. And even if you do manage to get a decent one, your employees will have a horrid time trying to set it up.

How to avoid it?

Do your research, and hire CRM experts to help you. Keep in mind that a CRM system is an investment. And whether or not it will pay off depends on how well you research it. An experienced team of CRM experts will ensure that your employees understand the CRM functionalities and how to effectively use them.

Having different departments adopt change

While you and your customer management team may understand CRM adoption challenges and how to avoid them, this doesn’t have to hold for the rest of your company. As we’ve often mentioned, a CRM system encompasses your entire company. Therefore, everyone that relies on it should understand how to use it and why they are using it. Know that some of your employees will compare excel spreadsheets vs CRM software. Especially those who are not tech-savvy and don’t like learning new software. 

How to avoid it?

Before you start implementing the CRM system, ensure everyone in your company is on board. Explain the system’s benefits and how it will make their everyday job easier. And also explain that you understand if some of your employees might be reluctant to learn new software. For some people, learning new software can be pretty challenging. Especially if they’ve spent years using an older piece. Nevertheless, you should provide incentives for fast learners and encourage employees to teach each other. The sooner everyone comes to terms with the fact that they need to adopt a CRM system, the sooner you’ll be able to fully use it.

Improper integration with prior data

If you’ve run your company for any decent amount of time, you likely already have customer data. On the one hand, you shouldn’t forgo it as it can be pretty helpful. Your customer data will tell you how to orient your business and focus your marketing. But, on the other hand, it can be not easy to integrate primary data with modern systems. If you think it will be a simple copy/paste job that your customer management team will tackle in a day or two you are in for a rude awakening.

How to avoid it?

Here you need to understand the input process for your CRM system. You need to know what type of data you will use and how it will enter the system. Ideally, you will plan the integration process before using the CRM. By doing so, you can use your primary data as a learning tool for your employees.

Having faulty safety

CRM data is quite valuable. Understand that every moving company would like to know what kind of customers you work with, how you talk to them, and what marketing approach brings them to you. Knowing this, a company can skip months of trial and error regarding marketing. And can even look to steal some of your customers. This is why MoversTech always advises that you prioritize data safety. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done. Due to incompetence, lack of understanding, or sheer laziness, safety issues can occur. And you really ought to avoid them instead of having to deal with them.

How to avoid it?

Again, research and preparation are essential. You need to understand what data safety entails. And you need to follow advice from safety experts. You also need to educate your employees on the proper use of CRM data. And have them understand what can happen if they don’t.

Start with the adoption process

By now you should have a reasonably good idea of CRM adoption challenges and how to avoid them. While it may seem exciting to start planning your CRM email marketing for moving company, we would advise that you first tackle the adoption process. The better you implement the CRM system within your company, the easier it will be to use it down the line. So, do yourself a favor and invest time and energy into proper implementation.