There are six key determinants to effectively implement and use a sales tool in your organization. The main objective of a sales team is to facilitate work activities and improve overall performance. A sales tool can help you as a sales manager achieve these objectives. Read it here!

1. Summary: International Journal of Customer
Relationship Marketing and Management
Scientific proof on key success
determinants of sales tools and
CRM implementation.

2. Effective Implementation of Sales
Based CRM Systems and Tools
Stages of a CRM implementation process
Determinants of system success
Determinants of organizational success
Determinants of sales team success
Assessing the impact of CRM on the sales force
KPI’s for managerial decision making
Scientific proof on key success determinants
of sales tools and CRM implementation.*
* International Journal of Customer Relationship Marketing
and Management, Vol 1/1 (2010))
A
D
B
E
C
F

3. Stages of a CRM
implementation process
* International Journal of Customer Relationship Marketing
and Management, Vol 1/1 (2010))
A Stage 1
Organizational CRM
system adoption
• Selection of CRM system.
• Internal communication.
• Reactions of sales team.
• Decision of sales team on
adoption.
• Fully integration in the
sales team’s daily work
flow.
• First daily usage.
Stage 3
CRM frequency of usage
Stage 2
CRM system acceptance
(adoption)
Stage 4
CRM infusion
Main objective sales team = facilitate own
work activities and improve performance.
SALESPERSONLEVEL
Organizations base their decision to
accept a CRM technology on different
factors than salespersons do
(Parthasarathy & Sohi, 1997)*

4. Determinants of
system success
* International Journal of Customer Relationship Marketing
and Management, Vol 1/1 (2010))
B
• System ease-of-use: sales people expect the
technology to be free of effort.
• System usefulness: sales people expect the
technology to increase his/her job performance.
“Sales executives should strive to assess
what benefits salespeople seek from a
CRM system and then try to match these
needs to the specific CRM features.”*
Sales executives aiming at increasing
the acceptance rate among members
of the sales force should work towards
making tasks easy and purchasing CRM
systems that are user-friendly
(Avlonitis, Panagopoulos (2010)*

5. Determinants of
organizational success
* International Journal of Customer Relationship Marketing
and Management, Vol 1/1 (2010))
C
• Set realistic, specific, relevant, and measurable
objectives for CRM usage.
• Actively seek for feedback from the sales force.
• Communicate the CRM objectives and benefits.
• Set goals and metrics to continuously evaluate
the project and its outcomes.
• Foster an entrepreneurial climate, customer
centricity and willingness to learn.
• Install a formalized training process and technical
support.
• Develop a change process to reduce resistance.
• Supervisors and managers play an important role
in leading by example.
“Integrate CRM usage in salespersons’
compensation, however watch out for
salespeople that might manipulate usage
in order to gain their bonus ”*
“The first step that managers
should take is to define specific
and measurable goals and a clearly
communicated purpose for CRM
implementation
(Honeycutt, Thelen, Thelen & Hodge, 2005)*

6. Determinants of sales
team success
* International Journal of Customer Relationship Marketing
and Management, Vol 1/1 (2010))
D
• Salesperson age, educational level and previous
IT knowledge impact willingness to adopt.
• Sales experience: less experienced salespeople
have a more positive attitude toward CRM
systems.
• Perceptions and attitudes toward the CRM
system might impact adoption (big brother/loss
of control).
• Demanded effort needs to be managed.
“One way to reduce this type of
reluctance is to provide salespersons with
technical support (24/7 online support)
and training classes.”*
“One shouldn’t overestimate the power
of information; more is not always better
when it comes to CRM implementation.
It’s always better to rely on a few
selected bytes of information rather than
to overwhelm the sales force with an
inordinate amount of data that they just
cannot handle”*

7. Assessing the impact of
CRM on the sales force
* International Journal of Customer Relationship Marketing
and Management, Vol 1/1 (2010))
E
Main gains come from:
• Increase in the ability to enhance communication
with customers.
• Increase in selling time.
• Faster access to relevant and timely information.
Two major categories to assess
effectiveness/efficiency gains from CRM
systems: “outcomes of sales performance
and outcomes of sales force skills,
knowledge and abilities… ”*
Companies implement CRM systems
with the aim to increase salesperson
performance, enhance customer
satisfaction and leverage customer
relationships.*

8. KPI’s for managerial
decision making
* International Journal of Customer Relationship Marketing
and Management, Vol 1/1 (2010))
F
Three steps:
• Outline the business objectives of a sales
management dashboard.
• Collect the raw data that will provide the input
for developing the relevant KPI’s.
• Extract and consolidate data from various
sources in a single database.
“During the final stage, executives
should decide on the KPI’s needed
for achieving the overall business
objective.”*
An important module of a
CRM system should be a ‘sales
management dashboard’ that
contains relevant KPI’s.*

9. Friedrich Pétré
friedrich@petreconsultants.com
02 503 10 81
www.petreconsultants.com
PetreConsultants houses a team of management consultants who
believe in pragmatism, niche methodologies and positive energy
Feel like exchanging some
thoughts on your organization?