To improve CRM adoption and contact data sharing, regular reporting is a must. These reports will provide the key information and value that CRM users expect and also drive their interest and buy-in.

For many professional services firms, finding ways to demonstrate CRM value and encourage adoption is a constant struggle. System usage is rarely mandated, which means the Marketing department is put in the difficult position of trying to convince individual professionals that there really is value in entering information into the CRM system themselves or getting their assistants or the Marketing/Business Development staff to help with the input.

Too often this means that the Marketing and CRM teams are constantly reactionary, trying to chase down information that ideally should have been entered proactively. At the same time, and paradoxically, the professionals who balk at inputting or sharing their data are frequently the ones who request analytics or dashboards from the CRM to help with their business development.

If this all sounds familiar, here are some key reports that you can – and should – develop and circulate regularly to encourage information sharing and provide value to your users, which can encourage greater adoption and sharing in the future.

Contacts, Companies & Relationships Reports

Key Relationships: Professionals frequently think they are the only ones who know a particular person, making them protective of their relationships and/or hesitant to share them in the CRM system. But, in reality, when their relationships are shared, they are often shocked to see how many others in the firm know the same people. Additionally, when they are trying to develop business with a prospect, seeing a who- knows-who report that highlights a key connection in the firm is invaluable and can inspire greater collaboration and the sharing of additional contact and relationship information.

1. Newly Added Companies: Regularly reviewing which company records have been recently added to the CRM system can be another useful tool for business development and also ensures that new clients are making it into the system.
2. Newly Added Contacts: Similar to new companies, newly added contacts should also be reviewed to ensure that you’re capturing the influencers and decision-makers at key companies.
3. Company Changes: Circulating reports of changes to company records is another way to provide your users with value by letting them know that a company has moved, been acquired or gone out of business.
4. Alumni Changes: Even if you don’t have a formal alumni program, it is always a good idea to keep track of your former employees for business development purposes. If a former associate is now general counsel at a company your firm has targeted as a key prospect, you probably already have a leg up on the competition – as long as this information makes it into the right hands.
5. New Clients/New Matters: We see more progressive firms embracing transparency because it encourages collaboration and can help the bottom line. In firms where cross-selling has become a priority, circulating a new client report is an easy way to encourage cross-practice collaboration.

In our next post, “12 Reports to Boost CRM Adoption and ROI-Part 2,” we will discuss Activities, Metrics, Emails, and Subscriptions and Sign-ups reporting.