Make your recruitment CRM a source of joy, not stress

A day in the life Does this sound about right? In your recruitment business, the 3 tools you use daily are: email, LinkedIn and your CRM. If you sent out a poll today to your colleagues and teams, the likely results would be that the usage of these tools and systems is more or less in the order listed. Then there are all the other services and platforms you need and rely upon, like the job board aggregators, individual websites, job boards, multiple reporting tools, and so on.But when was the last time you really looked at these tools to see if they’re still working for you, and assessed them objectively?What happens when your database is more of a help than a hindrance? When your CRM is hard to use, time-consuming, and everything is a manual process, your consultants become stressed-out administrators and data entry personnel, rather than the high-performing fee-earners that you need them to be. The risk to business continuity can’t be ignored either. If vital parts of your organisation’s data are not being captured, populated and managed, when you drill down, you’re taking hits to your bottom line. Safe to say, that won’t make anyone happy.And who wants to do the same thing 3 times over in 3 different systems? We can agree that the modern-day recruiter wants to do things once, and to do them well.It’s time to make life easier The problems around duplication of effort, incomplete data and lost opportunities will disappear quickly with a CRM that’s being used constantly and consistently. Your people may come and go, but your data is of high quality and you preserve your knowledge base.90% of recruitment agencies globally use Microsoft 365. It’s a tool that consultants are completely familiar with, and it’s a suite that probably makes up more than 60-70% of their day to day. It makes sense then to utilise a CRM that has a familiar look and feel, where the interface isn’t too far off what you already know.The best part is that your consultants aren’t slowed down. Instead, they’re boosted to do the job they’ve come to do - meet clients, make contacts and fill roles, rather than being chained to their desks by endless and repetitive admin.All we must fear, is fear itself But let’s call it – change is hard. It’s even harder when something has been part of your life for a very long time. Even if it isn’t working for you as it did in the early days, letting go of what you know is tough. This applies more than ever to our working lives, as well as our personal.We’ve discovered over the years that there are 2 considerable fear factors when deciding on a new and more efficient CRM system.

• The real trepidation around data migration. There’s an understandable worry around loss of data when switching, but this can be overcome with the support of a solid data migration plan and team.
• Concern around how quickly and easily the new solution will be adopted internally. Will your team embrace that new way of working? People like what they know, and don’t like to be in a position where they don’t know something – it’s human nature and we’ve all felt this way at some point or another.

Change can be a good thing Data migration will always be a concern for all businesses regardless of size, but it shouldn’t stop you from exploring your options and bringing a bit of happiness to your team.Try this for size: A fully integrated Dynamics 365 CRM and Microsoft 365 suite, that allows you to work within your comfort zone, where you can populate your database from Microsoft Outlook. Plus, a team of data migration experts on hand who will minimise the disruption to your business and protect your valuable information. No stress, no fuss, simply a better way of working.Sounds great, right? The Mercury xRM team want to help overcome any fears you might have about changing your CRM. Go ahead, ask us anything you want to know!After all, knowledge is power.Connect with Jak Allday, or book a demo with him - link below