Rolling out a new sales tool is easy. Getting people to actually use it is the hard part. The integration and regular use of new tech into a sales team’s operations, commonly known as adoption, is a massive challenge that still has some sales leaders scratching their heads. Even though sales tools are supposed to make life easier, the learning curve and disruption of the status quo means adoption can turn into a never-ending uphill battle.
“Approximately 70% of CRM projects fail to meet their objectives.”
The root cause is rarely the technology itself—it’s adoption. Adoption issues frequently result in CRM licenses going unused despite massive investment, turning what should be a growth engine into a “digital paperweight”. Below, we’ll capture some insider tips on adoption, why it fails, and what makes it succeed.
Start with the Problem, Not the Solution
Adoption rises when the tool solves obvious, everyday pain points.
Common pains that create pull include:
Reps spending too much time on admin
Managers lacking visibility into pipeline quality
Finance and RevOps struggling to reconcile data and forecast reliably
Your new solution should offer aid to all parties involved (managers, reps, RevOps, etc.), not just C-suite executives. This also makes the outcomes clearer. Reps will gladly adopt a tool if they clearly see how it will:
Save time
Close more deals
Boost revenue and commission
Before hammering home the importance of deal visibility and pipeline health, try putting the benefits in terms that resonate with users.
Case Study: Avison Young’s Finance Team and HubSpot CRM
Avison Young’s story is a great reminder that adoption accelerates when the problem is felt by users.
Avison Young, a global real estate company, had four separate CRM instances among different departments. User adoption was a struggling 23% among 1,600 brokers.
Because the existing CRM was challenging to use, the team resorted to spreadsheets for forecasting. For the finance team, this was a nightmare:
“We had to pull reports from every system and then integrate them… It was a significant amount of work and went against everything our culture stands for.”
So they consolidated sales, marketing, operations, service, and content on the HubSpot CRM Platform. The outcome?
CRM adoption jumped from 23% to 90% in four months
95% of North American revenue and 65% of global revenue tracked in HubSpot
Forecasting moved out of spreadsheets: “We run our forecasts right out of HubSpot and never touch Excel.”
Tools get adopted fastest when they’re tied directly to outcomes people already care about. For Avison Young’s finance team, this was time saved and forecast reliability.
Get Leadership Buy-In
Selling is a team sport. Players are more likely to follow through if they can see the coach practice what they preach. In other words, sales managers and directors should lead by example and use the tool they are promoting.
This can look like:
Leaders inspecting deals in the tool
Pipeline reviews happening inside the system
Coaching referencing product features
Former VP and Head of WW Small, Medium and Corporate Segments at Microsoft, Bobby Morisson, famously applied this approach to critical success—surging annual revenue from $15B to $25B by ushering in initiatives to teach leadership to use tools along with sales reps.
Training & Enablement is an Ongoing Battle
Training is mission-critical for any successful CRM implementation, but most organizations miss the mark by treating it like a generic, one-and-done event. If you want real results, training must be:
Role-based (reps vs managers vs RevOps)
Practical and short (micro-workflows, not feature tours)
Reinforced over time
Tied to real deals, not sandbox demos
An article by MNP Digital recommends ongoing training beyond the initial launch at a monthly cadence. For example, your timeline could look like:
Meeting daily for five 30-minute sessions of initial onboarding
Meeting monthly for “refresher sessions” over the next six months
Providing ongoing support and user help documentation as needed
This spaced repetition keeps the tool top-of-mind and builds skills over time without being too overbearing.
Wrapping Up the Adoption Dilemma
It’s clear that successful adoption has more to do with how you frame your fancy, new tech rather than the merits of the tool itself. However, playing your cards right can turn adoption from a relentless struggle to a collaborative effort towards better sales. If you feel like you’re constantly headbutting the adoption gap, try putting yourself in the shoes of your users and apply a few of the strategies shared here. And for more cutting-edge insights on adoption, feel free to give us a shout at CapOptix.com.
https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/AI-sales/sales-team-training-maximizing-intelligence-tool-adoption
https://mnpdigital.ca/insights/three-simple-tips-to-make-your-crm-project-a-success/