Rolling Out a New CRM? Here’s How to Ensure Your Team Actually Uses It

Marketing technology should make your team’s life easier, not harder. Implementing a new CRM can feel like an uphill battle and can be met with skepticism, frustration, or outright refusal to adopt it. Sound familiar?

The truth is, even the best software will fail if your team doesn’t embrace it. Here’s some ways we recommend to drive engagement with your new CRM.

1. Show Them the Pain (and the Possibilities)

People don’t on the whole don't like change, but they definitely resist change that doesn’t seem necessary. If your team doesn’t see the problem, they won’t see the point in adopting a new tool.

🔹 How to Fix This: If they don't already know, then highlight the inefficiencies of your current system. Show real data on wasted time, redundant processes, or errors caused by outdated tools. Then, paint a picture of what’s possible with the new solution.

2. Involve Your Team Early in the Process

Nothing triggers pushback faster than a top-down decision with no input. If your team feels blindsided, they’ll be less likely to adopt the tool enthusiastically.

🔹 How to Fix This: Get your team involved before making the switch. Ask for feedback on their biggest pain points and what they need in a new system. If they feel heard, they’ll be more open to the change.  You can do this at scale by running a quick, anonymous survey (using Google Forms or Typeform) asking what’s frustrating about the current tools and what features they’d love to have. This is also a great way to identify your 'Champions'. These are people who are understand the challenges, are enthusiastic for change and tech savvy.

3. Engaging 'Tech Champions' to Lead the Charge

Your team is more likely to trust their peers over leadership when it comes to new tools. Having internal advocates can speed up adoption and reduce resistance. 

4. Make Training Engaging

No one wants to sit through a two-hour webinar filled with jargon. Run interactive short training sessions and use a framework like 'Tell, Show, Do, Check'. Makes sure the team is fully set up with access to the tool before you start and they're aware they need to take part. This can save tedious time wasting at the start of a session.  

5. Drive Platform Adoption and Make Ongoing Training Easy

Once the training is complete, what next? It's really only the start because most people only learn once they are in the platform. They start to understand the optimisation which can be made and will come up with new use cases daily. 

🔹 How to Fix This: Work with a partner who uses a Digital Adoption Platform like Supered or Arrows to ensure your onboarding and ongoing training is seamless. These tools are relativelynew to the market and are having a huge impact on adoption rates, especially for HubSpot customers. Why? Because all the guidance, training, videos and everything else you need is directly in the platform interface and means the same questions can be answered when your staff encounter them. 

6. Get Leadership to Reinforce the Change

If leadership doesn’t back the new system, your team won’t prioritise it either. It's obvious but the leadership team needs to lead from the front and present a unified front. 

🔹 How to Fix This: Have your CEO, VP, or department head publicly endorse the tool and explain why it’s a critical business decision.

Final Thoughts: Your Tech Stack Is Only as Good as Your Team’s Buy-In

The best marketing tools won’t work unless your team actually wants to use them. By focusing on communication, involvement, and small wins, you can turn resistance into enthusiasm—and build a tech stack that actually improves efficiency, instead of adding complexity.

💡 Need expert guidance on driving CRM Adoption? Let’s chat—book a free consultation here