Five actionable steps to improving your CRM rollout

You’ve migrated your customer data, tested your systems, and now you’re ready for a CRM rollout. This is an important event because it will play a big role in determining the level of ROI you achieve on from the project.

Needless to say, you want your CRM rollout to be seamless and uneventful. Here we outline the steps you need to take to ensure this is the case.

1. Schedule rollout with system administrators

Just like with every stage of your CRM implementation process, make sure your rollout is planned and scheduled beforehand. Have a meeting with system administrators to discuss when and how users will complete training.

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Select an exact day to bring users online and allow them to start using the system. Also develop procedures to follow when auditing the system’s performance post-launch.

2. Align training with go-live

74% of CRM users say their system improved their access to customer data. You can get benefits like this from your system, but only if your staff are trained well at the point of rollout.

Try your best to minimize the time between training and launch, so it's still fresh in users’ minds. Some users need to be trained in advance to test the system, but you should also set up a dedicated training session right before the CRM rollout.

Make everyone who can help users train on the system is available during the launch. This includes your project team, executive sponsor, and IT personnel. The more questions they can answer for users during the launch, the smoother the rollout will be overall.

3. Remind users to complete training goals

Most CRM systems, make it easy for administrators to see when users log into the system and what training they’ve completed. Keep track of their system usage and progress. This will help you make sure they’re using the system as planned. You can also send reminder emails out to any staff who are behind on training.

4. Audit data input

Now that the CRM rollout is underway, it’s time to put your audit procedures into action. Monitor your data sources and integrations as people start using the system’s features. Generate and review reports to look for functionality problems to fix.

Once you're through with your CRM audit procedures, develop a plan for long-term monitoring of system health.  

5. Action these points beyond day one

The average ROI for a CRM system is $5.60 for every dollar spent. Successful implementation and usage is a long term investment. So go the extra mile by holding follow-up meetings and training sessions to encourage proper system use.

Holding regular follow up meetings during the first few weeks makes it easy to clear up any potential questions users may have as they learn the system.