Change Management Drives CRM Success at beauty product wholesaler
Company Overview
Industry: Beauty Products Wholesaler
Location: Midwest, USA
Company Size: ~45 employees
Annual Revenue: $5M
Key Results
– Change Management made adoption smoother by addressing people first, not just the tool.
– Early engagement and tailored training increased buy-in.
– Continuous reinforcement was crucial—CRM adoption stuck because employees saw value quickly.
Change Management Strategy
To ensure successful adoption, the company implemented a structured Change Management approach based on the ADKAR model (Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement):
1. Awareness:
Leadership held town-hall style meetings explaining why the change was critical—linking CRM adoption to better customer service and reduced stress for staff.
2. Desire:
Involved field supervisors and admins early in product demos and vendor selection. Created excitement by showcasing “day in the life” scenarios with the new tool.
3. Knowledge:
Conducted tailored training sessions:
– Admins: data migration and workflow setup
– Field workers: using mobile app for job updates
– Sales team: lead tracking and reminders
4. Ability:
Set up CRM champions within teams. Provided on-call support for the first 8 weeks post-launch.
5. Reinforcement:
Celebrated small wins (e.g., first job closed via CRM). Shared monthly performance dashboards showing time saved and better follow-up rates.
Challenge
The company struggled with
– Disorganized customer records across spreadsheets, emails, and handwritten notes
– Missed follow-ups and service requests
– Inconsistent communication between office and field teams
– Poor customer retention due to lack of personalization
They decided to implement a cloud-based CRM system (Zoho CRM) to centralize customer interactions, automate reminders, and improve service delivery.
However, previous tech upgrades failed due to poor user adoption and lack of communication.
Implementation Highlights
– Tool: Zoho CRM with mobile app
– Timeline: 10 weeks
– Budget: $30,000 (software, integration, training)
– Stakeholders: All office and field staff, external consultant for CRM setup
– Data Migration: Customer records from spreadsheets and QuickBooks