The word “Change Management” is definitely a necessary requirement for the growth of all organizations, but with a terrible name. To most employees, the very word “change” itself is burdened with hidden meanings- personal physiological interpretations and renditions that can be negative and can create innumerable roadblocks to the successful adoption of even the best small business CRM software for your company.
Do you consider that this word “change” is not that important?
Well, your employees who hear the word “Change” may think of the following:
Nevertheless, certain perceptions and attitude about this word “Change” can be easily counteracted with a perceived and thoughtful approach.
Here are a few pieces of advice for helping you to find your best CRM for small business software adoption go more smoothly:
Perception #1: Your employees do not see the benefits
Most employees see “Change” as “more work”. Therefore, while adopting a new small business CRM software for your organization demonstrate the benefits (the actual advantages, not corporate-speak) of the application, so that they do not see it as an unnecessary solution and a waste of their valuable time.
Here are a few more suggestions to counteract:
-Be ready to name complete benefits (along with drawbacks, if any)
-Have a clear vision of your business goals, and articulate it throughout the process
-Once and if there will be more work- say so to your employees
-Acknowledge that changes are difficult and provide adjustment period to your employees
-Do not obfuscate or lie- if there are risks involved, articulate it
Perception #2: Your employees feel that they were excluded from the decision
Change is always a disruptive process, even when you are adopting an easy to use CRM like ConvergeHub. There will always be a set of employees in any organization who will be more affected by the change as the impact radius of your change in the business process can be even greater than you expected. Therefore, never let your employees feel irrelevant, and remember that even the slightest of change in your business strategy or the new way that you want to run your organization can affect a wider group.
Here are a few more suggestions to counteract:
-Share your decision making and vision for growth early in the process with all employees who will be affected
-Provide reasonable time for adjustment
-Include all stakeholders in Sales, Marketing, Support, Accounts teams, who will be affected right from the beginning
Perception #3:Change will be stressful
Like most of us, even your employees are led by habits. Therefore, we have seen employees abhor change as it interrupts habits and causes stress. Change takes people out of their previous comfort zones. If you can still remember your first day of high school, you will definitely understand why the uncharted and the unknown bring ‘un-comfortableness’ to many.
Here are a few more suggestions to counteract:
-Allow time to your employees to adapt to the change
-Never dictate
-Do not spring surprises for your employees during a change
-Deploy baby-steps while implementation of your Salesforce Alternative CRM. Let your employees get a foot wet rather than casting them off into the deep
-Never criticize the old way; it can reflect insult to many
-Work with ALL the stakeholders, not just the employees affected by your new easy to use CRM
Perception #4: Your employees feel out of control
Your employees fear that they will not have any say and so they will be unhappy and out of control.
Here are a few more suggestions to counteract:
Crowdsource decisions, and leave room for changes. It is rare that all important decisions in your organization like changing over to a Salesforce Alternative CRM software, for saving time, vital resources, and money will be blessed by the users of the new software, but then again there is a way to make everyone in your company feel included.
Although there are certain aspects of any new CRM implementation project that are set by management buy-in or technical requirements, all your other employees who will use the new Salesforce Alternative CRM software can have their say in other relevant details.
Therefore, whenever it is possible, let your employees choose from several equally acceptable options (i.e., Blue, Yellow, or Green? Include A, B, or C). That way there will be inclusion of ideas without chaos.
Perception #5: Status quo is better than innovative ideas
“My current comfortable method is being discarded- is the way I have always done my job worthless?” Well, this can make people feel outdated and insecure. In a way, in any business or organization progress and advancements can make your employees feel alienated.
Here are a few more suggestions to counteract:
-Create a culture in your office of embracing the new modern processes and making periodic updates
-Create an ambiance of rewarding those employees who are enthusiastic adopters of things new
-At times just saying “I know this might apparently be difficult at first”- goes a long way
Perception #6: Change will create the appearance of stupidity
There are many employees those who even think that they may look dumb since they are unable to comprehend that they will be able to learn new processes, systems, and ways of doing things.
Here are a few more suggestions to counteract:
-Provide adequate trainingfor the new CRM system
-Provide the training documentation in different formats to address all learning styles
-Encourage the stakeholders to suggest improvements in the training
Perception #7: Management may not know what they are talking about
Your employees do not consider you or your leaders bringing the change in their existing workflow credible since they might not consider the person trusted.
Here are a few more suggestions to counteract:
-Be prepared to provide s logical rationale for the change in your existing CRM platform
-List all the decision makers and remove hierarchy
-Demonstrate the factors that led to the decision to look for Salesforce Alternative CRM
-Combat employee distrust of conventional “top-down” hierarchy models, be able to defend the decision you took based on competent analysis of your previous CRM system
Do you have any tips for handling Change Management solutions while you adopted Salesforce Alternative CRM for your business? Let us know in the comments section below!
Are you a business leader poised to take your company to the next level, and looking for a software platform that can help you do that?
If so, ConvergeHub is for you!
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