The biggest challenge faced by many CRM resellers is the negative reputation that often comes with the software. Gartner estimated that more than 50 per cent of all CRM implementations were deemed failures in 2006. Sales directors are often flooded with sales calls from CRM vendors and resellers alike trying to entice them to purchase their product. Many of whom have had their fingers burnt in the past and are not convinced a CRM solution will benefit their sales team.

Matthew Crook advises resellers on three ways that they can change this attitude and differentiate themselves from competitors in the fast growing CRM market place.
CRM psychology

It's part of our human nature that we only do tasks that will positively benefit us, and this is where CRM software suffers. Why should sales people use CRM if they can't see anything in it for them? Most have continued to hit their sales targets without using CRM so they don't see any reason why they should start using it now.

These are questions that many CRM resellers are asked every day and struggle to answer. Resellers can tackle this by helping sales people understand that even though sharing valuable information with their colleagues may not immediately benefit them it will be extremely useful in the long term. Communicating details about prospects and current customers to their colleagues will not only result in higher profit margins and increased revenue for the company but more importantly, larger bonuses for the whole sales team.

Back to basics

It is easy to forget that the R in CRM stands for relationship. CRM is intended to reduce time and effort for the end-user, helping them visualise who they are selling to and build relationships with the right contacts. However, despite the fact that users build up and store a huge amount of data about customers on their CRM system, they still find it difficult to understand the relationships. Furthermore, CRM is often used by back office staff, but the people who should be using it, and often don't, are sales people who manage the customer relationships.

Resellers who supply their customers with a solution that requires salespeople to complete endless forms are not offering them anything different than other suppliers, making them question how valuable the software is for their business. Resellers should offer solutions with graphical tools that help salespeople visualise complex customer relationships, enabling them to easily see and understand who the decision makers are within a company and who reports to whom.

More than box shifting
Some resellers are guilty of implementing CRM packages without fully understanding what the end-user wants to achieve from using it. CEOs rely on CRM software to obtain an accurate forecast and overview of the business. However, only a third of all firms that implement CRM systems have end-user adoption rates of over 90 per cent (source: www.destinationcrm.com), and for any business an overview which is only 90 per cent accurate is unacceptable.

To overcome this, resellers need to sympathise with the challenges faced by sales directors and their team by offering a complete CRM solution that can be tailored to their specific needs. This must include consultancy, staff training, software implementation and a continuous after sales service, to ensure a high user adoption rate for the company.

Matthew joined SalesCentric in July 2006 as CEO and manages business strategy, finance and administration of the business.He is responsible for building the company’s alliance with Microsoft and its key resellers. In addition, Matthew directs product strategy and development and provides leadership to each line of the business. Company: SalesCentric