How to solve "I'm not using our CRM because..."

Excuse one (of many) - your data

Poor data is always the best excuse for not using a CRM. It's usually the data that gives client facing staff the easiest excuse for not using the database. So try this…

Archive unwanted records. Every. Single. Month. Be ruthless, you can always get a record back if anyone notices.

Set yourself up some rules to remove the junk. Everyone will thank you and after the first huge pile of effort, it'll be plain sailing. Then run those rules each month.

Tip: Find contacts to keep and delete the rest. Don’t try finding contacts to delete - you’ll spend all day doing it and only find 500 contacts. The first time you run the search, you’ll either choke or have a cold sweat suddenly hit you.

Try this: keep contacts you added in the last x months / known by 2+ staff / have BD logged to them in last x months / have marketing interactions (booked onto events + clicked in mailshots). That sort of thing. Good hunting.

I have a feeling there is something in the GDPR about getting rid of data you don’t keep. There you go, another box ticked.

Excuse two (of many) - I can't use it

Remove the “I can’t use it because I don't know how to” excuses with regular (and short) training.

CRM databases are generally not easy to use tools.

My daughter has just done her Maths GCSEs, so I thought I'd do my own equation for you….100s of buttons + 100s of fields + 10s of features = far too hard and unused, squared

You'll see I’m no Maths genius. Someone is bound to say I should have had brackets and the plus signs should have been multipliers...But you get the idea.

Many years ago, a new CRM database supplier told me that they’d expected us to sit everyone down for a hour or so of training to go through each feature with all of them. I had another instance of new joiners receiving their onboarding training, never to get training again. Both is these have no chance of success.

I’ve had best results by offering weekly 15 minute webinar refreshers / getting started demos where the lawyers turn up as and when it suits their calendars.

Ask yourself what are you trying to achieve?

The best result is not to ask client facing staff to use a database at all.

If your database has 100 buttons, 5% of your firm will be able to use it.

If your database has 5 buttons, 95% of your firm will be able to use it.

If your database has zero buttons, 100% of your firm will be able to use it.

CRM isn't about boosting usage of a database and logging stuff. If it doesn't have any buttons at all and spoon-feeds inbox alerts, everyone will be able to utilise it.

Do you want Cross-selling? Referrer management? Collaboration?

Or do you aim for people logging stuff in a database.

The answers are different today than they were 10, 20, or 30 years ago. Just check what your objectives are.

Have fun with your CRM journey, I'm here if you need your headache solved.