Strategies for Overcoming CRM Adoption Challenges

If your CEO asks for deal updates in Slack, don’t expect reps to update Salesforce. You can throw all the tech, training, and sales ops resources you want at CRM adoption - but if leadership isn’t leading by example, none of it will stick. Here's the tl;dr: Reps don’t hate updating Salesforce because they’re lazy. They hate it because they know no one actually uses it. When leaders bypass the CRM - asking for updates in Slack, emails, or meetings - they send a clear message: “This system doesn’t matter. Your notes don’t matter. Just tell me directly.” And that’s how $100k+ Salesforce investments turn into glorified Rolodexes. So, how do you fix it? 1. Top-down adoption Start with the CEO. If they want deal updates, they need to ask for them in Salesforce. Chatter, Slack integrations, whatever it takes...but it has to flow through the system. 2. Make sales managers accountable Reps won’t change unless their managers enforce it. Run pipeline reviews directly from Salesforce dashboards. No exceptions. If it’s not in Salesforce, it doesn’t exist. 3. Quantify the pain Show reps how missing data costs them deals. Lost follow ups, misaligned hand offs, deals slipping through the cracks...all because the CRM isn’t up to date. 4. Reward the right behaviors Sales culture loves to celebrate closers. But what about the reps who close and keep a clean pipeline? Make data hygiene part of what gets recognized (and compensated). The reality is that CRM adoption isn’t a sales ops problem - it’s a leadership problem. If the top isn’t setting the example, the bottom won’t follow. And until that changes, you’ll keep throwing money at Salesforce while your reps keep their real pipeline in a Google Doc.

Your team should be selling. Instead, they’re drowning in admin work. Sales reps just want to sell. But when we sit down with them, it’s always the same story. They’re buried in 20 screens, clicking through fields that don’t help them close deals. And if it takes that much effort? They’ll stop using the CRM altogether. Not because they’re lazy. But because the system wasn’t built for them. Here’s what we see over and over—and how to fix it: 1) Too Much Manual Data Entry No rep wants to spend their time: • Logging calls • Typing out notes • Moving data between tools They’re here to sell—not push buttons. Fix it by automating everything you can. Use tools like Gong & QuickBooks to log calls automatically and sync invoices. The less manual data entry they do, the more time they have to close deals. 2) Clunky CRM Layouts If it takes 20 clicks to close a deal, they’re not going to use the system. Most CRM setups are bloated with fields that reps don’t care about. Half of them aren’t even for sales. The answer: fewer clicks, better layouts. • Two clicks, max • Only show fields relevant to their role 3) Tools Aren’t Integrated Reps live in: • Outreach • Gong • Slack If none of these tools talk to Salesforce, they’re forced to double their work. That kills adoption. Integrate the tools they already use. If it doesn’t make their job easier, it doesn’t belong in the stack. 4) The CRM Feels Like a Surveillance Tool Managers care about dials. Reps care about closing deals and hitting quota. If the CRM only tracks activity, it’s just another micromanagement tool. Fix it by making the CRM valuable for the rep. • AI-driven next steps • Deal insights • Sales shortcuts that actually help them win It has to feel like a competitive advantage—not a chore. 5) Training That Doesn’t Address Real Gaps Most training is based on gut feelings: “Reps need to know this.” But it doesn’t actually address the biggest problems. Fix it by making training metric-driven. If reps aren’t filling out critical fields, start there. Focus on what actually moves deals forward. Make the CRM work for reps, and they’ll actually use it. Make it a burden, and they’ll find ways around it. Enjoyed this post? Follow Jordan Nelson for more insights on making CRMs actually work for sales teams.

Tomorrow I'm tackling a pretty big challenge. I'm starting a #SalesHub training for a team that barely uses the tool and thinks HubSpot is a waste of their time. 😬 As I prepare for this uphill battle, I'm reminded that successful HubSpot #CRM adoption isn't just about the technology - it's about the team and their processes. 🤔 My background in anthropology has taught me that to truly transform this team's relationship with HubSpot, I need to take a human-centric approach. Here are the takeaways: ➡️ Understanding the Sales Team and Ecosystem Before diving into features and functionalities, I plan to spend time observing the team's daily routines and communication patterns. This cultural mapping will be crucial for seamless integration of HubSpot into their existing processes. I'll be looking for: ✔️ Unofficial leaders and influencers ✔️ Preferred communication channels ✔️ Current tools and workflows ✔️ Pain points and frustrations By identifying these key elements, I can tailor my training approach to resonate with the team's unique culture. ➡️ Aligning HubSpot with Existing Processes My goal is to position HubSpot as a helpful assistant rather than an overbearing boss. I'll work with the team to: ✔️ Customize HubSpot's pipeline to match their current sales stages ✔️ Adapt HubSpot's language to fit their team's lingo ✔️ Demonstrate how HubSpot can enhance, not disrupt, their existing routines This alignment will help the team see HubSpot as a natural evolution of their process, not a drastic change. ➡️ Leveraging "Tribal Learning" and Addressing Resistance Points Instead of relying solely on traditional top-down training, I'll tap into the power of peer-to-peer knowledge transfer. My plan includes: ✔️ Setting up a buddy system for mentoring ✔️ Emphasize automation features that reduce manual work ✔️ Organizing "Huddles" for sharing the team's tips and success stories ✔️ Creating role-specific micro-learning modules This approach will make the learning process more engaging and relatable for the team. ➡️ Measuring Success Beyond Numbers and Fostering Continuous Improvement While tracking adoption metrics in a dashboard is important, I won't forget the qualitative side. I'll collect user testimonials and success stories to: ✔️ Motivate continued adoption ✔️ Uncover unexpected benefits of the platform ✔️ Demonstrate real-world impact on daily work ✔️ To ensure long-term success, I'll establish ongoing support structures including monthly check-ins, recorded resources and a helpline These narratives can be powerful motivators for the team to embrace HubSpot, maintain enthusiasm and keep the team engaged long after the initial training. By taking this human-centric, approach, I'm confident I can transform this team's perception of HubSpot from a "waste of time" to an indispensable tool that drives sales success. 👉 Have you faced CRM training challenges? Let me know in the comments! #HubSpotAdoption #SalesEfficiency #CRMStrategy #...

Law firm thinking about buying your first CRM? Pause before you start shopping. Most firms make the mistake of treating tech as a standalone fix. A new platform. A new promise. And then...a new headache. If you're serious about building a CRM that actually supports your firm, here's what the process really looks like... 1. Start with alignment. Get buy-in from leadership and the people who will use it every day. A CRM without an internal champion...collects LOTS of dust on the shelf.     2. Map your needs, not just your wants. What are you trying to solve? Intake issue? Follow-ups? Reporting? Something else? If you can't answer that, you're not ready to buy.     3. Get feedback early, and often. From marketing. From intake. From your attorneys. From the people who will live in this thing. One missed stakeholder can cause months of friction.     4. Test, pilot, pressure-test. Don't buy off a sales demo. Build a proof of concept (if possible). Break it. Try again. If it can't adapt to your workflow...it doesn't always mean the tool isn't a fit.     5. Understand integrations. Your CRM needs to play nicely with your phone system, forms, case management software, call tracking, and other marketing platforms. Be careful not to create silos.     6. Document the process. Who's owning what? Who's managing adoption? What happens post-launch? The tech is only as strong as the plan around it.     7. Plan for implementation and stabilization. Buying the tool is step one. Training, migrations, troubleshooting, refinement...that's where most firms drop the ball. Tech isn't going to save you. But the right system, built on a clear process, backed by your people? That transforms businesses. 👩🏼💻

Many companies rush into CRM deployments without proper preparation, leading to poor adoption and wasted resources. Here's the proven 5-step process that ensures a smooth transition: 1. Host a Workshop with Sales and Marketing: - Gather key stakeholders - Define clear objectives - Identify pain points - Align on expectations 2. Map Sales' Actual Workflows: - Document current processes - Identify inefficiencies - Understand daily routines - Note manual workarounds 3. Decide Must-Have vs. Optional Data Fields: - Focus on essential information - Eliminate unnecessary fields - Prioritize data quality - Consider reporting needs 4. Validate with the Team Before Building: - Share proposed structure - Collect feedback - Make necessary adjustments - Get buy-in from users 5. Implement Iteratively: - Start with core features - Train in small groups - Gather user feedback - Add complexity gradually Key Questions to Ask: - Has the team validated the structure? - Have you involved all stakeholders? - Are your data fields truly necessary? - Does the workflow match reality? - Is your rollout plan manageable? Remember: Success isn't measured by how quickly you implement the CRM. It's measured by how effectively your team adopts and uses it. The most successful implementations are those where teams feel ownership of the process from day one.

Let's stop treating bad adoption as a product problem 🤦♂️ It's a problem with DEMONSTRATING VALUE. And it might be silently killing your growth. Your product team is building amazing features. But they can't force users to embrace them. Adoption is the ultimate cross-functional challenge. When marketing positions the product one way... When sales sets different expectations... When customer success struggles to demonstrate value... When product builds features without clear use cases... Users fall through the cracks, and adoption suffers. Here are eight things that CAN really move the needle on adoption: 🟢 **Demonstrating value early and clearly.** I've seen adoption rates vary from 40% to 85% based on how quickly users experience their "aha moment." Don't bury your value proposition under complex features or lengthy setup processes. 🟢 **Not overwhelming users on day one.** Start smaller, introduce core features first, and you'll be setting the stage for broader adoption opportunities in the future. Each new feature should solve a clear problem for the user. 🟢 **Moving from feature-focused to outcome-focused demos.** One company spent months trying to improve adoption by showcasing every feature. The most important lever was shifting to demonstrations that showed outcomes that users actually cared about. 🟢 **Educating beyond the initial onboarding.** Users need to know about new features, learn best practices, and feel connected to a bigger community. They also need to grok why it's worth investing time in the product so they can defend the business value to leadership. 🟢 **Nailing contextual guidance.** Seeing value in the right context is critical for a user staying engaged. Don't make users hunt for help or figure things out on their own—bring information to them when and where they need it. 🟢 **Integrations, integrations, integrations.** The more your product is embedded in a customer's workflow and systems of record, the more likely they'll adopt it fully. There are three aspects to this: connected data, streamlined workflows, and expanded use cases. 🟢 **Broadening the use cases for your product.** The more problems you solve for your customer, the more champions you'll have. Expanding horizontally within an organization builds resilience against churn. 🟢 **Measuring the right adoption indicators.** Do you know what features are predictive of long-term success? Focus on tracking meaningful engagement, not vanity metrics. The companies that win don't silo adoption responsibility—they make it everyone's mission. #productadoption #customersuccess #productmanagement #saas

𝑵𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒍 > 𝑹𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 As CSMs, we often focus on rational value—proving ROI, showcasing features, and providing data-driven insights yet we struggle with driving adoption and consumption. The problem is — 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒔. Let's consider this simple thought experiment: if you're on a subway and overhear two strangers raving about a restaurant, you might trust their excitement more than Yelp reviews when choosing where to eat that evening ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 𝐖𝐡𝐲? Because humans are wired to trust people over statistics. Natural tendencies often win over rational reasoning. So how does this apply to Customer Success? 💡 𝐀𝐝𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐄𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐁𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐋𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 Instead of waiting for customers to “realize” value through metrics, create experiences that feel natural. Gamify engagement, make onboarding frictionless, and reinforce micro-wins to trigger a sense of progress and success. 💡 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐏𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 Humans trust humans (especially their co-workers or industry peers). Instead of just mechanically relying only on documentation or training videos, create internal customer communities, user groups, or champion-led showcases where customers or prospective users learn from peers. 💡 𝐃𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐅𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 Start by understanding how customers have adopted similar products—what worked, what didn’t. Use those insights to shape your approach, aligning adoption strategies with familiar workflows, communication styles, and past successes. Give them pre-built templates, code, workflows, accelerators that come close to what they want to achieve or looks familiar (uses/shows products or processes or terminology they use in their work). When adoption feels intuitive, it happens faster. 💡 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐔𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐟 Showcase customer success stories in a way that sparks FOMO. “𝘛𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘟 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘠 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴” is more compelling than listing product features and benefits. The best adoption strategies don’t just make rational sense—they feel instinctively right. CSMs who align with natural human behavior, accelerate adoption without waiting for customers to “get it.” Don't get me wrong- the value & RoI, the "numbers" are also important but in a different context and stage (eg: a Renewal or Expansion conversation). How are you designing for natural adoption in your CS motion? Please share below 👇

You can’t just dump MEDDICC into the CRM and say "We do MEDDICC" And yet… that’s what most companies do. Quick training Add CRM fields Expect magic Then they wonder why the data’s wrong, and nobody’s updating the CRM. Let’s take Metrics for example, here is what good looks like: 1. Define the metrics that matter for your customers 2. Train reps how to uncover them through specific questions 3. Map those metrics to real-world outcomes for your buyer 4. Add layers to your sales process where you prove them 5. Create a business case template that can be shared 6. Teach people how to pressure-test it with an executive sponsor Now do that level of depth across every letter of MEDDICC. If your team doesn’t know how, when, and where to do these things... If they don’t have the questions, tools, training, and process... If this hasn't cascaded to the GTM operating system... Then you’re not doing MEDDICC. You’re doing check the box exercises Yelling “update the CRM!” into the void won’t change a thing. You want adoption? You want real pipeline clarity? You want higher win rates? Then give your team what they actually need: ✅ Clear definitions ✅ Specific training ✅ Process embedded in the workflow ✅ All the proper templates and just in time training ✅ Full leadership buy-in and reinforcement Because without all the pieces, behavior won’t change. And without behavior change, you’re just adding fields. My friends over at MEDDICC are the best in the business at these things If I can help, let me know :)

Buying technology is easy. Getting people to use it? That’s the hard part. Too often, companies invest in new software expecting it to transform operations overnight—only to hit major roadblocks with operational alignment and adoption. The system gets underutilized, workarounds emerge, and the promised efficiencies never materialize. Sound familiar? Here’s why technology adoption stalls: ❌ Poor process alignment – If tech doesn’t fit how people actually work, they won’t use it. ❌ Lack of user buy-in – People resist change when they don’t see the value. ❌ Insufficient training – A one-time demo isn’t enough. Users need hands-on learning and job aids aligned to their day-to-day activities. ❌ No accountability – Without clear expectations and leadership support, adoption suffers. A successful implementation isn’t just about turning the system on—it’s about making sure people actually use it. That’s why a change management strategy is essential to drive adoption and long-term success. When we help clients select and implement new vendor management systems, we focus on more than just system setup—we develop a change strategy to drive adoption. This includes: ✅ Setting clear adoption goals and success metrics to measure impact and progress. ✅ Engaging users early to gather requirements and build buy-in from the start. ✅ Optimizing workflows to ensure processes align with and fully leverage the technology. ✅ Designing tailored training, support, and feedback mechanisms to reinforce adoption. ✅ Ensuring leadership actively supports and champions the change to drive accountability. Technology alone doesn’t drive change—people do. Investing in adoption strategy is just as important as investing in the software itself. What’s been your biggest challenge with technology adoption? Drop a comment below! ⬇️

Hey GPT, I am struggling with Customer Adoption This is what I asked the new B2B Brain GPT this morning. This is what I got back. Not bad. Imagine this in 4 weeks of tweaking. 3 months. 1 year. To effectively address customer adoption challenges, we can utilize the Customer Adoption Framework, which focuses on four key stages: Onboarding, Engagement, Buy & Try, and Repeat & Reward. Here's how you can approach each stage to enhance customer adoption: Onboarding (Registration) Simplified Registration: Streamline the sign-up process with features like auto-enrollment, Single Sign-On (SSO), or one-click activation. Leverage Sales Teams: Encourage sales representatives to guide customers through the registration process, possibly offering incentives for successful sign-ups. Internal Marketing: Promote the registration process using targeted email campaigns and prominent website banners to raise awareness. Engagement (Usage) Guided Training: Develop onboarding videos and interactive walkthroughs to familiarize customers with your platform's features. AI-Driven Personalization: Use AI to provide personalized recommendations and dynamic content based on customer behavior. Enhanced Navigation: Improve site search and navigation to facilitate easy product discovery, using optimized taxonomy and attribution strategies. Buy & Try (First Purchase) First-Purchase Incentives: Offer discounts, bundled deals, or exclusive offers to encourage first-time purchases. Sales Outreach: Have sales teams engage with potential buyers through personalized emails or video messages. Seamless Checkout: Ensure a smooth and intuitive checkout process to reduce friction and increase conversion rates. Repeat & Reward (Repeat Purchase) Loyalty Programs: Implement rewards or credit systems for repeat buyers to incentivize continued business. Automated Follow-Ups: Use automated email campaigns to follow up with customers post-purchase, highlighting related products or replenishment reminders. Perfect Order Execution: Focus on accuracy and efficiency in order fulfillment to build trust and encourage repeat orders. Key Adoption Metrics: Track metrics such as the number of registrations, active sessions, first orders, repeat orders, and revenue impact to measure success and identify areas for improvement. Common Challenges: Overcome barriers such as lack of platform awareness, trust issues, difficult UX, and reluctance to change by addressing these areas with targeted strategies and clear communication.