CRM Resolution.. or Revolution

Why do so many of our New Year’s resolutions fail? Realistically it’s not all our fault. We had the best of intentions. We really did. We just tried to do too much. We resolved to break all of our bad habits all at once. It’s crazy if you think about it. We spent a whole year eating, drinking, relaxing and now the new year seems like an ideal time to turn things around — including things like your CRM. 

The problem is that it often takes as long – or longer – to let go of a bad habit than to acquire one. It can take between 21 and 66 days to adopt a bad habit. So just giving it up on January 1 is pretty unlikely. Plus, it’s a lot harder to give up a bad habit because it takes more work and is usually a lot less fun than acquiring it was.

Bad CRM Habits are Hard to Break

Bad CRM habits are just as hard to break. Actually, they are sometimes harder to break because it’s not just your own behavior you have to change. It’s the whole firm that has to change – and you know how we lawyers love change.

Additionally, the things that need to be changed are often challenging. Firm management may need to be convinced to budget money to hire staff or upgrade systems. Attorneys and assistants may need to be persuaded to give up some of their free time (as if they actually have any) to sit through additional training. You may even need to convince everyone in the firm that it makes sense to move forward with a firm wide rollout with all of the time, money and other resources that entails. 

Geez, it was bad enough trying to get yourself off the couch to go the gym. How in the world are you going to be able to get everyone in your law firm to play together nicely in the CRM sandbox? What you need is a revolution, not a resolution…