I was contacted by a company that has experienced "The CRM Dilemma" through what is now two full CRM implementations. After reading my research, this particular executive now understands why his sales force has been giving nothing more than "Lip service" to CRM, for several years. Each time the company has met with the sales force to determine the reasons behind their lack of CRM usage, sales reps have provided a long list of excuses.
Each time, changes and upgrades were made to accomodate the concerns expressed by the sales force. Extra training was provided, mobile devices for real-time CRM were purchased, system speed was upgraded, and additional data integration was done. The sales reps had all agreed that with these upgrades, CRM would be a "Great Tool" for them.
After the second launch, of the second CRM system was completed, executives anticipated finally having a 360 degree, collaborative view of their customer relationships. Unfortunately, despite all efforts and expenditures, CRM usage by sales reps, remained the same as
before - Zero.
After reading my research, this executive had several sales reps in the company read it and provide their opinions on it. Because the sales reps felt validated in their fear of activity controls, their response was to state that "The CRM Dilemma is bang on!"
Because the original intent of CRM at this company was not to control the activities of sales reps, my research has provided an avenue to finally get some value out of the system. I will be working with this company to determine the truth behind their CRM failures, and institue PACT for them. This company has decided there is enough value in CRM without using it for activity controls, that they are willing to make the additional investment to try to finally obtain some value from their CRM system.
Showing posts with label Activity tracking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Activity tracking. Show all posts
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Lies, Damned Lies, and CRM Reports
SalesForce.com has just released a report by CSO Insights, on how to benchmark your sales force. This report is called the "Sales Performance Optimization Report."
A year ago, I would have read this report much differently. Through the lens of "The CRM Dilemma", it was like listening to Michael Scott from "The Office" speak his words of wisdom. I had tears rolling down my cheeks I was laughing so hard. The assumption is now that CRM is fast, mobile, and user friendly, sales reps will tell you every activity they are doing. This activity data can be used to evaluate their performance through the wonderful charts, graphs, and reports available in today's CRM. This is known as "Magical Thinking."
Does anyone really think that sales people will faithfully provide their activity data, so their performance can be optimized?
Talk about "Carrying the stick you will be beaten with!"
CSO Insights put a lot of work into this report. Like all CRM sales documents, they use the word "Can", like it is actually the word "Will."
Sales data from your ERP system is usually pretty reliable, so go ahead and make charts, graphs, and analytical reports to your heart's content. Why did we ever get the impression that sales reps would provide all this data that can be used against them? I am amazed now that I used to think they would, and I was a sales rep.
A year ago, I would have read this report much differently. Through the lens of "The CRM Dilemma", it was like listening to Michael Scott from "The Office" speak his words of wisdom. I had tears rolling down my cheeks I was laughing so hard. The assumption is now that CRM is fast, mobile, and user friendly, sales reps will tell you every activity they are doing. This activity data can be used to evaluate their performance through the wonderful charts, graphs, and reports available in today's CRM. This is known as "Magical Thinking."
Does anyone really think that sales people will faithfully provide their activity data, so their performance can be optimized?
Talk about "Carrying the stick you will be beaten with!"
CSO Insights put a lot of work into this report. Like all CRM sales documents, they use the word "Can", like it is actually the word "Will."
Sales data from your ERP system is usually pretty reliable, so go ahead and make charts, graphs, and analytical reports to your heart's content. Why did we ever get the impression that sales reps would provide all this data that can be used against them? I am amazed now that I used to think they would, and I was a sales rep.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Testing my PACT Solution
Unemployed no longer! I am in the process of joining a business consulting firm, and I am very excited about the possibilities. I received a call today from a company that is considering implementing CRM. They would like me to work with them to determine the viability of implementing a CRM solution for their company. This will be interesting for three reasons:
- They don't yet know that I have authored "The CRM Dilemma"
- Because I do not rely 100% of my income on CRM consulting, I can share my research with them, without concern about losing my livelihood if they choose not to implement CRM.
- If they choose to go ahead and implement my PACT solution, it will be the perfect opportunity to test "True" user adoption when activity controls are removed from the equation.
I know that not everyone agrees with my conclusions on "The CRM Dilemma." Testing my hypothesis will give me the opportunity to build a case study on PACT versus CRM. The framework in the CRM application chosen (Assuming they go ahead) will be the same, but how the application is used will be entirely different from traditional CRM with activity controls.
Since understanding the customer is what most customers are really looking for, I have little doubt that my client will explore the opportunities in my PACT solution. As always, I will continue to honestly update this blog with my progress. If they choose to not implement CRM, or use another more "Compliant" CRM consultant, I will post that as well. I am not determined to be "Right" about "The CRM Dilemma," in fact, I wish I was wrong. But I think history has shown us that sales reps will work very hard to defeat CRM. If we can create a successful solution that will be used and accepted, simply by removing that which causes the greatest fear, why not give it a try?
If my PACT solution can provide the planning and communication tools that sales reps are looking for, not dreading, this company will have far greater quality information than can be found in most CRM applications today.
Wish me luck! Thank you for your continued interest in this blog. As always, I welcome your comments and emails.
Best Regards
Arne Huse
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
The mystery of MY "CRM Dilemma"
Brad Wilson, the General Manager of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, was interviewed for the CRM Buyer Magazine.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/exclusives/60933.html
In this article, he said two very interesting things on the subject of user adoption.
"CRM went through a period where there were a lot of inflated expectations that were not met," Brad Wilson, general manager of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, told CRM Buyer. "The biggest problem for a lot of people was that the technology wasn't well suited for the people who were using it."
"User adoption has been the biggest problem in CRM for the last 10 years," Wilson concluded.
What I find very interesting about these comments, is it seems like he is saying that technology has been responsible for poor user adoption.
Having been using CRM in various forms as a sales rep for many years, I don't think the user experience has changed that much but for a few notable exceptions:
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/exclusives/60933.html
In this article, he said two very interesting things on the subject of user adoption.
"CRM went through a period where there were a lot of inflated expectations that were not met," Brad Wilson, general manager of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, told CRM Buyer. "The biggest problem for a lot of people was that the technology wasn't well suited for the people who were using it."
"User adoption has been the biggest problem in CRM for the last 10 years," Wilson concluded.
What I find very interesting about these comments, is it seems like he is saying that technology has been responsible for poor user adoption.
Having been using CRM in various forms as a sales rep for many years, I don't think the user experience has changed that much but for a few notable exceptions:
- CRM is generally faster in opening, navigation, and saving information
- Better Outlook integration with CRM
- Better field customizations
But all this needs to be kept in perspective. Back in the the early 90's, I was using Maximizer on my 486 laptop. It was slow and crashed sometimes, but it did integrate with Outlook. I think I had five custom fields at the time. But I have to say I LOVED Maximizer because it was brilliant for managing my customer contacts. This was back when it just took longer to do things with a computer. I was willing to wait and put up with crashes because it was such a great tool.
But when my boss asked me to print out my activities, I would say it took too long and the system was too slow. I continued to love and use Maximizer and he never did get thos reports.
Then I upgraded to ACT and I loved it even more because I could go mobile on my Palm Pilot with all my customer information. It was faster, crashed less often than Max, and integrated with Outlook even better.
But when my boss asked me to set it up, so my system would email my activities to him...Well, let's just say that never happened. I think I must have had good excuses and I was the top salesman. Besides, I was the only rep using such a system.
While I was a sales rep, I was also leading the Canadian implementation of MS CRM for our company. I started using MS CRM in my territory so I could demonstrate the value of using CRM to my fellow reps.
The original 1.2 version of MS CRM was a lot slower than my ACT was. Outlook Client was a nightmare to say the very least. I had Ten Digits on my Blackberry which worked well and offered real time access, so I used that quite a bit.
Remember, I was a sales rep that was leading the CRM initiative. I am seeing much of what I did back then, through the lens of "The CRM Dilemma." I found more and more that I wasn't using CRM as much as I had used ACT to manage my customers. I had created tick-boxes and drop-downs in CRM that I didn't like using as a sales rep. I told myself it was because the system was slow and not as intuitive as ACT. When I looked back at the notes and activities I recorded in CRM, I realized I had turned into a sales rep that was reluctant to use CRM. But it really was slower than the MS CRM of today and the Outlook integration really sucked as well. In hindsight, I believe I had fallen into the trap of "The CRM Dilemma." By the time we upgraded to 3.0, I was leading the North American implementation full time so I didn't get to test my theory.
In Maximizer and ACT, I used to record only what was important to me and my customers. I required no "Low Card" reporting from myself. I would never be held accountable for my entries so I had no fear of what I put into my system. As soon as someone asked me for the information, I had a list of excuses why I could not provide the information on my activities.
While the user interface has improved in most CRM applications, how "Fast and easy" does it have to be before sales reps will use it to record their activities? If my theory on "The CRM Dilemma" is wrong, sales reps will be willing to use the newer, faster, more intuitive CRM applications on the market today. I believe adoption of CRM by sales reps will continue to be dismal, unless the issue of activity controls is addressed. I have a theory that even if CRM was a "magical application" that merely required a rep to "Think" what he or she wanted to put into CRM, it still wouldn't have the adoption it deserves.
Sorry, but your CRM implementation is DOOMED!
"It is a rare dog that will carry the stick with which it is to be beaten." - Douglas Hartle
I was offered a very lucrative position as an independent CRM Consultant. I was told that my skills in dealing with the business side of CRM, are very valuable and sought after. I would work on behalf of CRM partners and manage the CRM implementation, as I had in my last corporate position.
BUT, there was a catch to this position. If the client asked for activity controls to be a part of CRM, I would have to keep my mouth shut about "The CRM Dilemma." I could "Suggest" they may want to reconsider activity controls, but I couldn't screw up the deal by telling them "Your CRM implementation is going to fail if you go ahead with activity controls."
But this would be the truth! Unless you are in a regulated industry, (Finance, law, medicine) where licenses are taken away for not recording customer interactions, CRM will fail if sales reps aren't using it. And sales reps will not use CRM if they are required to record their activities.
Since I am unemployed, I considered taking the position and relying on my persuasive nature to convince clients not to use activity controls. But I had to turn the position down, because everyone that is implementing CRM, wants activity controls. Activity controls are a natural extension of the capabilities of CRM. Why would you not want or expect sales reps to enter their activities into CRM? Until I discovered "The CRM Dilemma," I felt exactly the same way, and I am a sales rep!
Unfortunately, "The CRM Dilemma" is very real, yet unspoken, in all CRM implementations. CRM will fail if activity controls are part of the implementation. I hate this reality. It screwed up my career after I had discovered an area that I loved and was very successful at. I single handedly convinced my previous employer to implement CRM across North America. They spent a vast sum of money, the infrastructure is in place, the pilot markets are psyched, then I went and told them it wasn't going to work. Thanks allot Arne!!
So I remain unemployed and continue to crusade to finally bring success, to what we can actually achieve, not what we want to achieve.
I was offered a very lucrative position as an independent CRM Consultant. I was told that my skills in dealing with the business side of CRM, are very valuable and sought after. I would work on behalf of CRM partners and manage the CRM implementation, as I had in my last corporate position.
BUT, there was a catch to this position. If the client asked for activity controls to be a part of CRM, I would have to keep my mouth shut about "The CRM Dilemma." I could "Suggest" they may want to reconsider activity controls, but I couldn't screw up the deal by telling them "Your CRM implementation is going to fail if you go ahead with activity controls."
But this would be the truth! Unless you are in a regulated industry, (Finance, law, medicine) where licenses are taken away for not recording customer interactions, CRM will fail if sales reps aren't using it. And sales reps will not use CRM if they are required to record their activities.
Since I am unemployed, I considered taking the position and relying on my persuasive nature to convince clients not to use activity controls. But I had to turn the position down, because everyone that is implementing CRM, wants activity controls. Activity controls are a natural extension of the capabilities of CRM. Why would you not want or expect sales reps to enter their activities into CRM? Until I discovered "The CRM Dilemma," I felt exactly the same way, and I am a sales rep!
Unfortunately, "The CRM Dilemma" is very real, yet unspoken, in all CRM implementations. CRM will fail if activity controls are part of the implementation. I hate this reality. It screwed up my career after I had discovered an area that I loved and was very successful at. I single handedly convinced my previous employer to implement CRM across North America. They spent a vast sum of money, the infrastructure is in place, the pilot markets are psyched, then I went and told them it wasn't going to work. Thanks allot Arne!!
So I remain unemployed and continue to crusade to finally bring success, to what we can actually achieve, not what we want to achieve.
- To focus sales reps on planning their activities
- Providing sales reps with all the information they require before a sales call
- To enable sales reps to easily communicate "High Card" activities and information, after the sales call, that is attached to the Customer Record.
- To encourage sales reps to record customer feedback by including them in access to cumulative feedback reports.
- To provide a "Safe" process for sales reps, so they feel free to use the tools provided, without the need to defeat CRM due to fear of activity controls
Friday, February 29, 2008
24) 100% CRM Compliance
I discovered a web site www.cohon.com where Charles Cohon claims to have 100% compliance in CRM usage by his sales reps. He says he accomplished this through a number of methods including all CRM input being done over the telephone, which is transcript by someone and entered into CRM. He also said he promised his reps, that NOTHING they enter, would ever be used against them.
I find this an interesting story as it really goes to what I have been saying about The CRM Dilemma. If Mr. Cohon has indeed achieved 100% compliance, I think it is much more about the promise of impunity, than the methodology. What I am advocating is to remove "Low Card" activities, which is what he must have done as well. There is little sense in gathering data you never intend to use. If you ask a rep to record how many calls they are making, why bother if you can never tell that person they aren't making enough calls?
The promise without action is useless to overcome "The CRM Dilemma," as I discovered in my own CRM implementation. I was employed by a company that did not in any way have a culture of accountability. The implementation of CRM was in no way designed to bring more accountability to our sales force. And yet, the moment sales reps saw "Activity type" drop downs and various "Tick boxes," they surmised (With good reason) that higher accountability was on the way with CRM.
Fortunately for them, they were very quickly able to abandon CRM and go on with their own private systems once again.
I can only assume that Mr. Cohon has a very small sales force with no other managers to louse up his promise of impunity. This is not the case at most companies and all it takes is one manager holding performance data, (that a sales rep has provided) up to the face of that sales rep. The news spreads like wildfire and the gaming would begin in earnest. Of course "The CRM Dilemma" rarely lets it get this far because there is no "Trust before distrust" when it comes to activity controls.
I find this an interesting story as it really goes to what I have been saying about The CRM Dilemma. If Mr. Cohon has indeed achieved 100% compliance, I think it is much more about the promise of impunity, than the methodology. What I am advocating is to remove "Low Card" activities, which is what he must have done as well. There is little sense in gathering data you never intend to use. If you ask a rep to record how many calls they are making, why bother if you can never tell that person they aren't making enough calls?
The promise without action is useless to overcome "The CRM Dilemma," as I discovered in my own CRM implementation. I was employed by a company that did not in any way have a culture of accountability. The implementation of CRM was in no way designed to bring more accountability to our sales force. And yet, the moment sales reps saw "Activity type" drop downs and various "Tick boxes," they surmised (With good reason) that higher accountability was on the way with CRM.
Fortunately for them, they were very quickly able to abandon CRM and go on with their own private systems once again.
I can only assume that Mr. Cohon has a very small sales force with no other managers to louse up his promise of impunity. This is not the case at most companies and all it takes is one manager holding performance data, (that a sales rep has provided) up to the face of that sales rep. The news spreads like wildfire and the gaming would begin in earnest. Of course "The CRM Dilemma" rarely lets it get this far because there is no "Trust before distrust" when it comes to activity controls.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
23) The user view versus the company view
I came across a very interesting website for a GPS tracking system for vehicles called GPSMate.
This company has two products for sale. The first product is for individuals, the second is for companies. I am going to paste the details of each and then discuss the specific language used to target each audience. Both products are designed for the reporting of driving activities. I will change the font on the points for discussion to Bold Red.
What is GpsGate.com BuddyTracker?
GpsGate.com BuddyTracker is an online service for GPS tracking and position sharing. GpsGate.com offers buddy tracking and vehicle tracking services and many integrations to third party applications.
BuddyTracker
With GpsGate.com BuddyTracker you can follow people and objects that have a GPS with an Internet connection. You can also share your own position by connecting your GPS to GpsGate.com.
Note: You are always in control as you decide if you want to be seen, and who you are visible to!
Product number 2 for companies
GpsGate.com VehicleTracker
GpsGate VehicleTracker is a web based vehicle tracking application. It is available both as a hosted solution at GpsGate.com and as a server product. If you are looking for your own vehicle tracker installation have a look at our GpsGate Server here.
With GpsGate.com VehicleTracker operators can follow their vehicles in real-time and display historical track information for selected vehicles. Track data can be exported in KML and CSV (Excel) formats for further processing.Access rights are defined for each operator for a set of vehicles and each operator has a personal account for security and flexibility reasons.You can also get read access to your database, the possibility to translate and re-brand your user interface as an option.
Fascinating language
I think this web site has done an excellent job of defining the view of CRM, from the perspective of the user and the company.
User Language: The term "Buddy" is a friendly term containing no element of threat. You can "Share your position" infers you have complete choice over this decision to again lower the threat level of this product. In case you don't quite believe this, there is a final, separate point, highlighted by an exclamation, that provides comfort in knowing that you can always turn the system off, and decide who sees where you are.
Company Language: We aren't tracking our "Buddies" (People) anymore, now we are tracking "Our vehicles".
For "Security and flexibility reasons", our company can deny access to the the system by operators of our vehicles. The "Comfort language" here, is that we can keep people from turning off the ability to track our vehicles, or see the information we are recording.
Now, I know that GPS transmitters are used in trucks all over the world and these systems offer huge benefits. If I was a driver, on a highway, with a load of plasma TVs, it would also be comforting to know that my company knew where I was. I am also sure that in today's tight labor market, companies spend little time harassing drivers over frequent bathroom breaks. In companies that have chosen to monitor human behavior with GPS tracking, I wonder if drivers have employed "Gaming" techniques, but I have no concept of what they might be.
Users want to be able to avoid tracking, and companies are seen as wanting to enforce tracking, because users want to be able to avoid tracking.
This company has two products for sale. The first product is for individuals, the second is for companies. I am going to paste the details of each and then discuss the specific language used to target each audience. Both products are designed for the reporting of driving activities. I will change the font on the points for discussion to Bold Red.
What is GpsGate.com BuddyTracker?
GpsGate.com BuddyTracker is an online service for GPS tracking and position sharing. GpsGate.com offers buddy tracking and vehicle tracking services and many integrations to third party applications.
BuddyTracker
With GpsGate.com BuddyTracker you can follow people and objects that have a GPS with an Internet connection. You can also share your own position by connecting your GPS to GpsGate.com.
Note: You are always in control as you decide if you want to be seen, and who you are visible to!
Product number 2 for companies
GpsGate.com VehicleTracker
GpsGate VehicleTracker is a web based vehicle tracking application. It is available both as a hosted solution at GpsGate.com and as a server product. If you are looking for your own vehicle tracker installation have a look at our GpsGate Server here.
With GpsGate.com VehicleTracker operators can follow their vehicles in real-time and display historical track information for selected vehicles. Track data can be exported in KML and CSV (Excel) formats for further processing.Access rights are defined for each operator for a set of vehicles and each operator has a personal account for security and flexibility reasons.You can also get read access to your database, the possibility to translate and re-brand your user interface as an option.
Fascinating language
I think this web site has done an excellent job of defining the view of CRM, from the perspective of the user and the company.
User Language: The term "Buddy" is a friendly term containing no element of threat. You can "Share your position" infers you have complete choice over this decision to again lower the threat level of this product. In case you don't quite believe this, there is a final, separate point, highlighted by an exclamation, that provides comfort in knowing that you can always turn the system off, and decide who sees where you are.
Company Language: We aren't tracking our "Buddies" (People) anymore, now we are tracking "Our vehicles".
For "Security and flexibility reasons", our company can deny access to the the system by operators of our vehicles. The "Comfort language" here, is that we can keep people from turning off the ability to track our vehicles, or see the information we are recording.
Now, I know that GPS transmitters are used in trucks all over the world and these systems offer huge benefits. If I was a driver, on a highway, with a load of plasma TVs, it would also be comforting to know that my company knew where I was. I am also sure that in today's tight labor market, companies spend little time harassing drivers over frequent bathroom breaks. In companies that have chosen to monitor human behavior with GPS tracking, I wonder if drivers have employed "Gaming" techniques, but I have no concept of what they might be.
Users want to be able to avoid tracking, and companies are seen as wanting to enforce tracking, because users want to be able to avoid tracking.
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