CRM adoption
Involve Your Team and Keep Them on Their Toes
A CRM your brokers don't use is money wasted. The brokers are the ones talking to sellers and buyers every day, so they need to be involved in the strategy, design and daily operation of the system. Here's how to involve your team from day one, and keep them engaged long after launch.
Quick answer
To get business brokers to use a CRM, involve them from the start. Ask brokers what slows them down before choosing a system, build the pipeline stages, fields and templates around how they actually work, train together and appoint champions, and make the CRM the single place where client information lives. Then keep the team on its toes with simple routines: tasks generated by workflows, pipeline meetings run from the CRM, shared reports, recognition for wins and regular feedback. A CRM designed around sales brokers, and easy to use, is one they'll take ownership of.
Every brokerage owner who has bought a CRM knows this story. The system is chosen, the contract is signed, the data is imported, and the launch email goes out. Three months later, half the brokers are still keeping their buyers in a spreadsheet, and the CRM is a very expensive address book.
The software usually isn't the problem. The problem is that the brokers were never part of the decision. They were handed a system and told to use it.
A CRM your brokers don't use isn't a cost saving. It's a waste of money.
Vertica CRM was built to avoid exactly that. Most of a brokerage's contact with clients runs through its brokers, so the brokers need to be closely involved in the system's strategy, design and daily operation. That's why we designed Vertica CRM around sales brokers, and made it easy and fun to use, so your team takes ownership of the client information they manage.
Why your brokers must be involved
Your brokers make the calls, take the meetings and answer the buyer inquiries. Almost every piece of information worth having in a CRM starts with them. If they don't enter it, nobody will.
That's why adoption is the number one challenge in most CRM projects. In a survey of 650 people involved in CRM projects by Forrester and CustomerThink, 44% cited difficulties achieving user adoption as a top challenge, and 45% cited cultural resistance to new ways of working.
Involvement pays off beyond the CRM, too. Gallup's research on employee engagement, which now covers more than 183,000 business units, found that top-quartile business units achieved 23% higher profit than bottom-quartile units. Teams that feel ownership of their work and their tools simply perform better.
Involve your brokers at every stage
1. Strategy: ask before you choose
Before you look at a single demo, ask your brokers two questions: What slows you down? What do you wish you could find in seconds? Their answers will tell you more about the CRM you need than any feature list. They also send a message: this system is being chosen to help you, not to watch you.
Invite one or two brokers to sit in on demos. If the brokers who'll use the system every day help choose it, they'll want it to succeed.
2. Design: build it around how they work
Your brokers have a process that works, even if it lives in their heads. Build the CRM around it: the pipeline stages they recognize, the fields they actually need, the email templates they already send. Vertica CRM's stages, fields, templates and workflows can all be configured to fit your firm, so brokers see their own process on screen, not someone else's. (Why this matters: your company culture.)
Keep it simple at first. A CRM with 15 required fields on every contact will be resented. Start with what brokers need, and add more as the team asks for it.
3. Launch: train together and appoint champions
Train as a team, using your own listings and buyers rather than sample data. Then appoint one or two champions: brokers who like the system and are willing to help colleagues. A quick answer from a colleague down the hall is worth more than any manual.
4. Daily use: make the CRM the single source of truth
Agree on one simple rule: if it's not in the CRM, it didn't happen. Buyer registrations, NDAs, releases of confidential information, calls and meetings all go in the system. When credit for a buyer, a commission split or a seller's history is decided by what's in the CRM, brokers have every reason to keep it up to date.
5. Improve: act on their feedback
Ask your team regularly what's working and what isn't, and act on what you hear. When brokers see their suggestions turn into changes, they stop seeing the CRM as management's tool and start seeing it as theirs. We work the same way with our clients: we welcome out-of-the-box ideas and use them to improve the platform. (More in challenging the status quo.)
Who does what: an involvement plan
| Who | Their role | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Owner or managing broker | Sets the goals and the rules, such as who owns a buyer and what must be recorded, and uses the CRM in every pipeline meeting | Brokers follow what leadership actually does, not what it says |
| Brokers | Share what slows them down, help design stages and templates, and keep their contacts and deals current | They hold most of the client information and talk to clients every day |
| Champions | Help colleagues, answer quick questions and collect feedback | Peer help is faster and more trusted than a manual |
| Assistants and admin staff | Handle data entry, buyer registrations and document releases in the system | They keep records complete so brokers can focus on deals |
| Vertica CRM team | Configures the system around your methodology, imports your data and trains your users | Your team gets a CRM that fits, without becoming CRM administrators |
Keep your team on its toes
Launch is the beginning, not the end. The firms that get the most from their CRM build it into their weekly routine, so using it becomes habit rather than homework.
- Tasks every morning. Workflows create each broker's next steps automatically as deals move through each stage, so every day starts with a clear to-do list.
- Run meetings from the CRM. Review the pipeline on screen in your weekly meeting. When the meeting runs on CRM data, brokers make sure their deals are up to date before they walk in.
- Share the numbers. Reports on activity, listings signed and deals closed show everyone where they stand, and a little friendly competition never hurt a sales team.
- Celebrate the wins. Recognize signed engagements and closings publicly. It reminds the team that the work they record leads somewhere.
- Keep data clean. A few minutes a week updating records keeps the system reliable. A CRM brokers trust is a CRM brokers use.
- Listen and adjust. Keep asking what would make the system more useful, and keep improving it.
Make it easy, and even fun, to use
No routine will save a CRM that's painful to use. Brokers are salespeople, not data-entry clerks, and every extra click is a reason to go back to the spreadsheet.
That's why Vertica CRM was designed around sales brokers. Everything about a buyer, seller or listing is on one screen. Information is entered once and shared with the whole team. Automation handles the follow-up reminders, and email marketing and drip campaigns keep buyers and sellers in touch without anyone having to remember. When the system saves brokers time on day one, they don't need to be told to use it. (More on how a CRM saves time and money: Vertica CRM makes you and your brokers more money.)
What's changed since 2016
The idea behind this article is the same as it was when we first wrote it: involve your brokers, and they'll own the system. What's changed is how much of the work we now do for you:
- A dedicated onboarding team. Every Vertica CRM client gets a project manager, an onboarding specialist and a training coordinator, who learn how your brokerage works, configure the CRM around it and train every user. (How onboarding works.)
- Less typing for brokers. With a contact-specific inbox, emails to and from each contact appear on their record, and lead parsing turns marketplace inquiries into contact records automatically.
- AI that removes the chores. The AI CIM generator drafts a confidential information memorandum in minutes from the data already in the CRM, work that would normally take 10 hours or more.
- Extra hands inside your CRM. Vertica People provides administrative staff, lead generation and sales development reps who work inside your CRM, keeping records current so your brokers can focus on clients.
See a CRM your brokers will actually use
Bring a broker or two to the demo. Contact us for a short demonstration, and we'll show your team how Vertica CRM can work the way they do.
Schedule a Demo Questions? Call our office at +1 212 381 4994.Frequently asked questions
How do you get business brokers to use a CRM?
Involve them from the start. Ask brokers what slows them down before choosing a system, configure the pipeline stages, fields and templates around how they work, train as a team with real listings, appoint champions, make the CRM the single source of truth and use it in every pipeline meeting.
Why do brokers resist using a CRM?
Usually because they weren't involved in choosing or designing it, the system doesn't match how they work, it takes too many clicks, or they worry it will expose their buyers. Involving brokers early, keeping the system simple and setting clear rules about ownership and credit address each of these concerns.
What is a CRM champion?
A CRM champion is a team member who likes the system and helps colleagues use it, answering quick questions, sharing tips and collecting feedback. Champions make adoption faster because help from a peer is quicker and more trusted than a manual.
How do you keep a sales team engaged with a CRM after launch?
Build it into the weekly routine: let workflows create daily tasks, run pipeline meetings from the CRM, share activity and results reports, celebrate wins, keep data clean and keep acting on the team's feedback.
Does employee involvement really affect results?
Yes. Gallup's research on employee engagement, covering more than 183,000 business units, found that top-quartile business units achieved 23% higher profit than bottom-quartile units.
Who should be involved in a brokerage CRM rollout?
The owner or managing broker sets goals and rules, brokers help design the system and keep their records current, champions support colleagues, assistants handle data entry and document releases, and the CRM vendor's onboarding team configures the system, imports data and trains users.