So, you've chosen the HubSpot CRM for your business. It makes a lot of sense, right? The software can be found at the top of most "Best CRM Providers" lists and is hailed as an innovative, end-to-end solution. If you're keen to usher an inbound marketing strategy into your business, you can rest assured that HubSpot and all it's comprehensive knowledge resources will help to get you there.
But why is your sales team a little reluctant to jump on board?
The truth is that resistance to new tech isn't only reserved for HubSpot; many barriers could be slowing adoption, especially if you've unsuccessfully introduced other software in the past.
Before you committed to making the investment, you looked into all the benefits of using the HubSpot CRM for your business and are keen to start seeing results. Great! So are we––particularly if you've chosen us as your onboarding partners. Training your sales team to use all the necessary features in your new CRM effectively will set the foundation for achieving the goals you've laid out. But this is often the first hurdle for most businesses.
By identifying the most common problems in the training process, opportunities can then be explored to fix them and ensure HubSpot works like the gamechanger it is meant to be for you.
Problem #1: There's no go-to guy (or gal)
"Because I said so," doesn't often work with children, and it certainly won't work with your sales team. Bringing new software into the company, providing a login and some basic guidelines then telling your team they must use it won't get any buy-in. It's important for someone to take ownership of the implementation and to also act as a motivator and a model team member.
Usually, this person will be a technically adept individual on the sales team who is prepared to become somewhat of an on-site guru when it comes to HubSpot. They will receive comprehensive training so that they can take the lead in training and supporting other team members as they get to grips with the new software. This person will also have a good understanding of your company's sales process and strategy so that they can actively demonstrate how the use of the software aligns with the sales team's goals and makes their sales activities more streamlined and efficient.
Problem #2: Why fix it if it isn't broken?
Salespeople often have their own processes and methods of getting things done. Years of being out on the road and building relationships with clients makes them somewhat autonomous. Adding new software into the mix can be perceived as cumbersome and unnecessary.
It's essential to help them understand the value that HubSpot will bring to their process, how it will save them time and enable them to leverage the data they have access to. Show them that a CRM isn't a threat to their schedule or independence, but rather a way of optimising what they do by building transparency into the relationship between themselves and the marketing department. This will enable greater alignment between the efforts both teams make to grow the business. The ultimate benefit is, of course, faster conversions and more sales.
Problem #3: There's no continuous engagement strategy
HubSpot shouldn't be treated like that "New year, new me" exercise bike that ends up as a clothes hanger in the corner of your room. Once you've integrated the system into your business processes, you have to continue motivating your salespeople to use it. This is achieved through regular review of the software's results and highlighting the positive impact that adoption and consistent application are making.
Acknowledge the team members that are actively embracing the software, logging all the required information and utilising the CRM tools you've assigned to them. You can do this by giving shout outs in team meetings or offering rewards such as gift cards and prizes.
To further boost engagement, your company's leaders should also emphasise that the HubSpot CRM will become the go-to resource for assessing whether sales team members are achieving the benchmarked goals and inching closer towards promotion and progress within the company. The reporting tools in the system, as well as the sales analytics, will provide instrumental data by which performance can be measured.
Problem #4: The company's systems and processes aren't fully aligning with the software
HubSpot will naturally impact your organisation's processes. It will drive your strategies in an inbound direction and require that you customise and configure other systems to communicate with the software so that data can be accurately gathered.
It may be that you have to let go of legacy tools that don't integrate or simply double up on some of the features that HubSpot offers––minus the efficiency. This may be met with resistance since some team members may not be very keen to jump across to a new platform. It's essential to include them in the discussions when optimising HubSpot for your business and explaining why some of the old CRM features will have to go in favour of what's more functional and useful in HubSpot. The move to the new CRM will mean retiring of some older processes and sequences. It's vital to offer support and practical training to help users become accustomed to the new software.
Problem #5: Lack of digital literacy
Believe it or not, there are plenty of businesses, particularly the more traditional ones, that haven't fully embraced digital technology into their processes, let alone CRMs––and that's nothing to be judgemental about. According to McKinsey, only 16% of executives say their company's digital efforts are succeeding.
While digital transformation is a must in 2021 and beyond, there are, understandably, many employees who don't feel entirely confident when it comes to incorporating software into their daily activities. It's important to objectively assess your team's capabilities so that your training efforts can also be directed at boosting the skillset that will give them confidence in the digital landscape––particularly if your company has recently made a significant shift from location-based selling to remote selling. When you understand what's holding back individual team members from embracing new technology, it may not be that they don't see the value in process optimisation but that they simply aren't prepared for the modernisation aspect of the transformation. Be supportive by offering all the right training, assistance and educational opportunities.
Fazit
To make more inbound sales and generate higher profits, you need a powerful sales process that is backed by the best-in-class CRM tools. As each sector grows increasingly more competitive, your sales team stands to gain a lot by having access to essential customer data, up-to-date reporting and automation tools that make nurturing leads more manageable and targeted. HubSpot is designed as a user-friendly solution that ticks all of these boxes, but it's certainly essential to ensure that your training process is thorough, consistent, and focussed on the long term goals you hope to achieve by implementing this software.
