Overcoming resistance to change

Change requires effort and energy to overcome inertia.

The reluctance to adopt new ideas or to change processes and procedures. Not everyone will be on board right away if you know the underlying reasons for the resistance, you can address whatever that’s holding those individuals back.

In any group of people, generally, 80% will resist change. This 80% finds excuses to remain in the familiar patterns. To Institute a change in your company culture, you need to anticipate this resistance and address concerns that may be standing in the way.

Preparing for ‘not invented here’ resistance

One main reason people don’t like to adopt new ways is because they feel as though they’re being forced to act in ways they did come up with or hadn’t considered under own.

It’s commonly known as not invented here resistance.

Generally speaking, the more powerful a person’s ego the more likely that person is to resist change if he didn’t come up with the idea and doesn’t see a clear benefit to make the change.

Make the benefit of change clear to everyone in your organization.

Start by showing how what’s currently in place falls short of what the company needs. Then sell your vision of how the changes provide the benefit that Matters to each person. That benefit maybe doing their jobs better, making their lives easier, saving time, helping them innovate, earning money, or a combination of these.

Confronting the ghosts of failed initiatives

Many organizations have launched initiatives that haven’t turned out as planned.

For example, someone in the company may have come up with the brilliant idea to switch a new accounting system that’s worse than what everyone in the organization was accustomed to using.

Now, everyone is dealing with the fallout of that person bad decision and is more reluctant to try something new.

Over 60% of CRM implementations were perceived as failures by the company employees.

That number climbs to over 80% when any sales or marketing automation is involved.

In our modern era, it should be simple and works.

when dealing with employees who’ve been burned by field initiatives, be prepared.

Develop an integrated approach to CRM and clearly explain the benefits everyone will gain from it. Be honest about the learning curve and the fact that transitioning to a new system is never easy and always carries some risk.

People are often willing to invest in a new initiative if you give them a reason to believe that they’ll realize significant benefits later and you acknowledged the difficulties in making the change.

Overcoming the fear of accountability

CRM is about accountability, both individually and collectively.

Everyone throughout your organization is responsible for ensuring customer satisfaction in contributing to the health of your business. This level of accountability can be very scary, especially to people in the company who are unaccustomed to being held accountable.

Sometimes negativity surfaces in the form of unsupported questions and comments such as : ‘why don’t they trust us?’ and ‘I don’t want someone looking over my shoulder.’.

The organization leadership team must communicate how crucial the company needs to succeed and its employee to reap the benefits of that success. For a

CRM to be effective everyone needs to embrace it.  Everyone plays a role in running the company efficiently increasing income and raising the level of customer satisfaction. Any negative attitudes towards CRM need to be addressed and corrected.

Identifying formal and informal leaders

Every group has formal and informal leaders.

Formal leaders have a title, with informal are those who are the most influential among their peers. Both are important when getting buy-in for your new CRM plans but pay special attention to the informal leaders. Their influence will carry over into many aspects of your business.

Identifying the formal leaders is easy. These are people with titles such as c-level Executives department heads and managers.

Informal leaders are more difficult to spot, management usually knows who they are. Ask the managers of each department to point them out.

Take extra time to meet with informal leaders and address their concerns. Make sure you incorporate their ideas and feedback into your requirements list and make sure they understand your big vision.

Listen carefully with an open mind.

Selling the CRM usage to every level of your company

User adoption is crucial for CRM success!

When you’re ready to get your team onboard, treat user adoption like you would selling something from your company. The key leaders and influencers, formal and informal, have to buy into your vision.

In selling your CRM program internally, develop your pitch as you would sell to a lead. As with most sales, focus on the benefits and how your meeting the requirements you learned about while doing your functional analysis.

The objectives and benefits you choose to hang light differ based on the rule of the person you’re pitching to so be prepared to adjust your presentation to make it more convincing to the people you’re addressing in your own team.