Our first effort with video sharing was a great success for this weeks’ CRM User’s Group! All users with webcam capabilities were able to share and participate in a lively discussion that started out with Dashboards that give Users the most “bang for the buck” and ending with how to best manage CRM Champions in a multi-office environment.

Best “Bang for the Buck” Dashboards

Should include Shortcuts; do not recommend New Company / New Contact shortcuts because Users could circumvent best practice of checking for records first before creating new ones
Could include Recently Viewed widgets and Reports widgets; the idea is that Doer/Sellers and BD people are always looking at the same or similar records/reports, so by adding these widgets, you are saving them time and/or clicks
Could include Activity widgets; these will help Doer/Sellers, BD people and their managers stay on track and view their activity progress over
Could include Sales vs. Goal widgets (both Actual and Forecasted); these will assist leadership in assessing where the firm is financially both short and long-term
Typically include Pipelines, Hit Rates and Opportunity Financial Analysis widgets; these are great for all levels of Users, from Leadership to Doer/Sellers to BD and Marketing

Internal Communications Regarding Your CRM

Create a newsletter that is distributed company-wide celebrating CRM-specific success stories and ROI; reserve your User tips/tricks and CRM updates newsletter for your User groups only.
If your CRM provider has a site that posts status updates, encourage your Users to subscribe. You may also want to send a mass email including any status updates recently posted (to keep those that have not subscribed up to date).
If there is a major CRM issue that has caused water cooler chatter, consider sending out a mass company-wide email to assure all employees that you are aware of the issue and that you are working towards a resolution.
Avoid double entry between your CRM and your secondary email platforms using Zapier (third party application that allows end users to integrate web applications without having to know how to write code)

CRM Champions for Multi-Office Firms

Firms with multiple offices should have a CRM “go to person” or Office Admin in every office
CRM Champions should be trained in the basics of your CRM platform, responsible for one-on-one training and follow-up of questions in their local office and should be provided with training manuals that can referenced and distributed.
If Champions are inundated with too many CRM questions which prohibits them from completing their other office duties, you could institute a CRM “flag,” letting Users know when they are available to take questions.
CRM Champions should meet with each other on a regular basis (monthly or quarterly) to address larger CRM issues that they encounter within their respective offices. Any new changes that arise from these meetings should be sent out via user group emails (communicated through a CRM Administrator)
Ideally, the CRM Administrator would report directly to an officer or executive member of the team and would have input on the CRM Champion’s annual reviews. A CRM Administrator can provide quantifiable KPIs on the Champion’s performance.

Click here, to register for our upcoming user group call and gain camaraderie around using CRM systems.

CRM Users Group Recap - October

By: Amy Villasana-Moore, CPSM - Project Manager

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