How homebuilders can use CRMs to celebrate, recognize and motivate salespeople

Does your sales team think a customer relationship management (CRM) system is unnecessary? Are they worried management will use it micromanage their job performance? If you’re a homebuilder and find that your salespeople are unenthusiastic about the software, they could abandon it. Or worse, manipulate data.

A CRM adoption strategy can help homebuilders overcome these obstacles and create buy-in. Flip the focus, so leaders use the CRM system to celebrate, recognize and motivate team members.

• Celebrate. Change how you view and communicate dashboards. Instead of highlighting negative data, such as neglected activities or conversion rates, focus on areas that are on track.
• Recognize. Reward employees for consistent CRM use or for creating CRM best practices. You could recognize sales representatives that have clean pipelines, if that’s an important practice or metric for your team. Or use the CRM system to recognize team members when they make a sale.
• Motivate. Use CRM data to evaluate requests from the field, such as pricing changes or marketing initiatives. Demonstrate how CRM data can support requests and help get them pushed through.

Make it a daily practice

It’s critical that salespeople use the CRM daily. So, celebrate, recognize and motivate them every day, not only at quarterly sales meetings. Once they let go of emails and Excel reports, they’ll see how a CRM system offers more productive and effective ways to work.

Using a CRM system isn’t busywork. It’s a vital tool to help your team achieve their personal sales targets and companywide goals. Encourage CRM adoption by encouraging your people.

Wipfli can help with the transition, too. We have specialists in CRM system implementation, integration and training, as well as talent and change management. Together, we can create a plan to boost CRM adoption and sales. Learn more about our services for homebuilders, including CRM solutions.