When we started out at MSPCFO we bought licenses for a well-established CRM which will remain nameless (hint: it rhymes with Trails Horse). If any of you know the product, it is awesome in terms of what it can do. There are many success stories about how people have use it to grow their business. There are also stories of about how much people hate it. The question became: How do we become a success story and not a hater?
Going for the Quick Win
To their credit, Trails Horse has a high degree of self-awareness. They know how easy it is to fail so they set up success sessions. One thing they said in these sessions has stayed with me over the years. To be successful with a large product, you need to find the quick wins for your users. Find small ways that people will realize value from it day one. Don’t say that it is not doing what it should do because you are not getting 100% of its functionality. Say that it is working because the 5% you are using is more than you had before.
People will get there. They will start to expand within the product. They will find new things for it to do once they trust they system. You just have to get them started.
See Value Right Out of the Gate
That is how we try to do things with MSP Software. We have over 50 reports. We have user logs so I know our that even our “power users” don’t use everything. That does not mean they don’t get value. We asked a handful of clients about the value from the product and some said they get an ROI of 15X or higher. We don’t expect all clients to get this the first day, but they should be able to see value right out of the gate.
For new clients, we talk about finding un-invoiced revenue. We talk about the most underperforming clients. We talk about the clients who are the highest flight risk. We also talk about cleaning up the data PSA. We highlight issues they can get into day one.
We also use this philosophy with our consumption of products. If we are spending the money, I want value quickly. Any value. After that, I will grow my use of the product or we will realize it is not worth it for us.
(In case you are wondering about the title, it is the old saying that if you want to eat an elephant, you can do it, but only if you eat it one bite at a time.)
