5 ways to successfully implement your Maximizer CRM
Did you know that some research reports that up to 70% of CRM projects fail? As a Maximizer CRM partner and market leader in customising the system to suit your business, we find this incredible.
The truth of the matter is that while many businesses focus on the database design, business analysis and technical aspects of implementing a CRM system, the real proof of success will always be user adoption.
Maximizer themselves share some great ideas to increase successful adoption in this blog and we thought we’d add to this with some pointers of our own:
1. Partner with your provider
As an experienced Maximizer partner, we have developed our own consultancy services to add value – and increase the chances of success – to your implementation. Our focus is on getting to know your business and shaping your CRM solution to work perfectly with your own processes. By taking this approach, the CRM system is more likely to resonate with your people, encouraging adoption. If the CRM genuinely makes their lives easier, they will use it. If it is seen as another layer of process or bureaucracy, you might have a battle on your hands.
2. The devil is in the design
As part of the early design stage, we consider how users will interact with the CRM, and can add extra fields for data entry as well as planning and agreeing exactly what content you will need for your user training materials. This is the difference that makes the difference between successful adoption and failure. Training is certainly the silver bullet when it comes to getting your people on side. Any change is naturally unsettling for people so we ensure we’ve addressed this from the outset.
3. Bring your leaders with you
When we analyse your business to ensure you get best value from your CRM, we don’t forget the key stakeholders. We actively involve key management staff and users by interviewing them to find out what’s important to them. We are able to inject a degree of unbiased expertise which can mitigate office politics and other such challenges to adoption. Because we align your implementation with your strategic goals, adoption rates are higher as everyone has a vested interest in success.
4. Collaboration is key
We take a consultative approach to all our CRM projects and we find this eases the pain of change considerably. People feel involved as opposed to ‘put upon’ and because we dedicate our experts to you for the duration of the implementation, there’s always someone on hand to solve any issues that may come to light. You are installing a CRM because you want your business to be more efficient and cohesive so it makes sense to endorse that approach within the project too.
5. Train, train and train some more
In our experience, you can never offer too much training. Different people will learn in different way and at different speeds to it’s important to reflect this in your plan. We think Maximizer is highly intuitive as a system but there’s definitely a benefit to providing training to ensure you can access its full potential.
As well as providing a range of Maximizer training courses aimed at different user levels we can also provide access to a suite of exceptional tutorial videos, free of charge.
By working with us to implement Maximizer, you can guarantee you won’t be one of those 70% of failed implementations. Your investment will pay off and you will throve as a business with a purpose-built CRM system that grows and supports your business and your people.
