The #1 Risk for CRM Projects

Depending on which "expert" you talk to (and the alignment of the planets, it seems), between 40% and 80% of all CRM projects fail within one year.

Why the broad range? Methods of calculation, in part. Some measure failure to achieve ROI, while others measure actual abandon rates - projects stopped before they went into production.

Despite the debate about the rate, all the experts agree on the primary reason a CRM project might fail: lack of user adoption.

User adoption is the Holy Grail for a CRM project. Even with today's broad range of product options (hosted vs. on premise, etc.), widespread adoption remains the single most deterministic factor of failure vs. success in CRM implementations.

First, I'd like to propose a clear definition of user adoption (feel free to comment). Then, I'd like to suggest some ideas for increasing user adoption throughout the life of a CRM implementation.

What is User Adoption?

The primary goal of the User Adoption effort is to allow staff at all levels to take ownership of the CRM solution. This effort requires ongoing care and feeding over the life of the project; it is not a phase, it is a dynamic that requires intention and attention. It begins deliberately, by defining user adoption audiences, then articulating the steps and efforts required for each audience to engage and take responsibility for the solution and it's success, followed by identifying risks to user adoption, then presenting the structure of a plan to be developed collaboratively to manage user adoption efforts throughout the project.

To put it more succinctly, I think User Adoption can be represented by an onion and a list.  The onion represents the layers of various audiences, in order of importance from center (most) to outer edge (least). The list is a series of actions that will engage each audience in sequence, throughout the life of the project, to keep them informed, engaged, and involved in decisionmaking as appropriate to their level of influence.

What Each Audience Wants

To address each audience effectively, it's important to know how each audience defines CRM success. In my mind, there are at least four types of stakeholders in any CRM project:

Managers beg us, "Help me SEE!" They need visibility into what is actually happening in their jurisdictions, whether it's a sales force or a customer help desk. They need to measure performance, predict trends, and manage their teams effectively. Often, they either lack or distrust the data currently available. When I talk to management about CRM, I talk about visibility and "knowing" what's going on.

End users beg us, "Help me SELL!" They need tools that don't burden them, but help them meet or exceed their boss's expectations. Sales people need more face time, not more screen time. When I talk to salespeople about CRM, I talk about easy of use and simplicity and how every feature is a benefit to them - how it helps them make more money. In a customer support or service environment, I talk about efficiencies and re-usable data and how they'll be able to do the same amount of work with less double data entry or fewer inefficient processes.

IT staff beg us, "I want a flexible BUSINESS APPLICATION PLATFORM!" Don't make me re-train my staff to support this new application. Make it easily extensible and show me how it fits into our current technology "stack", leveraging what we already have and giving us tools to respond more quickly to organizational needs and changes. Don't make it proprietary; set us up to help ourselves.

Your customers, the final stakeholder, often completely ignored during the implementation... beg us, "REMEMBER me!" Don't make me tell my story twice! Care about what I care about. Take responsibility for my issues, and get me real answers. And if I call back next week, please remember (regardless of who I talked to) what you told me before so I don't have to explain it again. Make it as easy and positive an experience as possible to do business with you - so I'll look forward to doing it again. I want to be your champion... please give me the excuse to do so.

Steps to User Adoption

Each step is performed in order, by audience, in sequence. In other words, I'll start Step 1 with Audience 1, then move Step 1 to Audience 2 while I'm moving to Step 2 with Audience 1, and so on...

(Please note that these steps assume that you already have an accurate analysis of problems and solutions - you're making the right promises, to the right people, and you're sure you can keep those promises.)

1. Communicate

a. What’s coming?

b. Why?

c. Feedback loop

d. How to…

2. Demonstrate the solution

a. Road show #1

b. Lunch & learns

3. Generate buzz

a. The Three “Big” Things (What will make users say “Wow!”?)

b. YouTube videos

4. Get user’s input (make them feel heard)

5. Triage and rework (prove they were heard)

6. Training

a. Computer Based Training Intro – Terms, concepts, and processes

b. Road show #2 

c. Formal in-person training (4 to 6 contact hours per user)

d. Informal follow up training (Power Users/ Process Sherpa's/walk-around support)

e. Focused training for specific/struggling users

7. Follow up

8. Competitions among users… who is using/learning the systems the best, reward programs

9. Adoption Consulting

Typical Risks/Challenges to User Adoption

• Apathy

• New/technical terminology

• Geography (distributed teams/offices)

• New/different processes

• New software (deer-in-the-headlights)

• Relational database vs. flat file database mindshifts

• Collaborative workspace vs. my-data-my-silo mindshifts

• Weaning users off spreadsheets and printouts

• Naysayers

• Lowest common denominator in skills (user capabilities)

Conclusion

You can build the coolest mousetrap in the world, but unless your cheese is appetizing and the mice get engaged... nobody will care.