We’ve all been there; you find a tool that you know will make a tremendous difference for you and your team. You’re excited to organize your content and start responding to RFPs more efficiently…but now you’ve got to get everyone on board.
There are lots of reasons it can be difficult to implement a new tool:
- Executives aren’t sure if there’s room in the budget or there are competing requests with similar asks.
- Your team is overloaded with work and doesn’t have the bandwidth to learn how to use a new tool. Plus, they worry this will add more work rather than make their lives easier.
- You second guess yourself because, well, how the heck are you going to move all of your data from one platform to another seamlessly, without the risk of losing precious material?
Building your case for a new response management tool and, ultimately, getting your team to adopt it can be tough to navigate. But the results are undeniable once you’re working more efficiently and winning more business.
Here are nine steps to follow to ensure that your team will embrace your new response management tool.
To Do Before You Purchase:
Compare All of Your Options…Thoroughly There can be an overwhelming selection of tools to choose from with varying features, priorities in functionality, user interfaces, and pricing. Sometimes you might feel like Cinderella trying on a million shoes before you find the perfect one that fits!
Start by creating a list of the problems that your new solution absolutely must solve and compare every solution to that list. It’s a quick way to weed out tools without getting sidetracked by flashy features that you might not need.
Additionally, be on the lookout for the quality of the training and support that the different vendors provide. Thorough onboarding, robust training, and consistent support will make your life easier at every step of the way when adopting a new tool.
Get Senior Leadership Buy-In Eliciting support from your leadership is a must, but it is also arguably the hardest step to overcome. Convincing your boss that your team really needs a new tool when they’ve got competing priorities and limited budget can be a tough task. So, build your case, and do your best to think of any possible questions or objections your executive might have. Also, don’t be afraid to lean on your contact at the partner company – they know how to sell their solution better than anyone!
To Do After You’ve Purchased, and During Onboarding:
Get Training for Yourself Now that you’ve taken the plunge and selected a tool, it’s time to become an expert. Lean on your Customer Success Manager and other resources to help you learn basics and more advanced functionalities. Have a clear understanding of how this product will change how your team currently functions. Be prepared with questions that are specific to your business to help you implement the product in a way that works for your team.
Get Your Team Excited Share demos and literature about the product, so they can get a glimpse of it in action and develop a baseline understanding of how it will work. Most importantly, show your team how it will help them save time and do their jobs more efficiently.
Get Your Team Trained Where appropriate, assign roles to your team and ensure they have specialized training in certain areas based on their role. Your admin, for example, will be using different features than an SME. Allowing your team to focus on the part of the software that is most important for them will allow for easier adoption and stop them from being overwhelmed.
Dive In, Full Speed Ahead The key to successful adoption of a new product is to dive into it completely until it feels like second nature. Make sure your team isn’t reverting to old ways, but instead, they are consistently using the tool as intended.
Collect Feedback from Your Team After the tool has been implemented and is used consistently for a while, make sure to collect feedback from your team on the pros and cons thus far. Also, look for feedback from other stakeholders to give you an idea of the larger impact your new process is having on other departments and facets of the company. Collecting this information will help you be proactive about any gaps in adoption.
Audit Your Process This is the last real step, but an important one since it validates that your decision to move to a new tool was totally worth it and is working well for your team. If you’re seeing improved results, don’t be shy about sharing the good news with your executives! Improved efficiency equates to helping your company’s bottom line (who knows, maybe that equates to a bonus 😉).
To Do After You’ve Onboarded and Implemented:
Celebrate Your Success! You’ve earned it! Go ahead and pat yourself on the back and commend your team for undertaking this journey with you. Your process has improved and you’re seeing results!
Want to talk through potential options for a collaborative Response Management Platform? Chat with a teammate at RocketDocs to learn why we are industry leaders and how we can help you and your team succeed.
