10 steps to CRM success

Get buy-in from the company

Start by establishing a core group of individuals dedicated to driving the project to completion. The team should include a senior project leader and project managers to oversee all the functional divisions of your organisation – such as marketing, sales, customer service and technical departments. They must quantify exactly what you want to achieve from the project, which processes will require re-engineering and identify the appropriate courses of action in order to make it all happen. The team should also help select the right CRM system for your needs.

Examine your current processes

Analyse your existing business processes to find out how they affect both your organisation and your customers. By evaluating your processes now, you can identify what works and what doesn’t and prepare to implement a new CRM system that employs the most effective strategies for achieving success. If you just try to impose a CRM package on poor processes, then the project is doomed to fail.

Understand the core components of CRM

CRM can help to increase productivity across your marketing, sales and support functions.

• Marketing automation can help you develop, target and implement campaigns, analyse the results and use the information to target future campaigns more effectively.
• Sales force automation can improve lead distribution and tracking and help sales people focus on their best prospects. It can also provide remote sales staff with instant access to corporate information.
• Customer service and support can benefit from having instant access to customers’ history, with a record of every interaction, whether by phone, email or face-to-face. They can deliver better service because they have information to hand. They can also view and measure response times to support calls and take remedial action if problems occur.

Starting the selection

Look for a CRM system that integrates your back office accounting software and other business systems, so that customer information can be updated in real time, while being shared and employed across the entire organisation.

Be sure that whatever solution you choose, it is robust and versatile enough to be accessed from any location, whether from headquarters or from remote locations and mobile workers.

The ideal CRM system will also integrate your multiple business channels and provide your users with seamless remote access to up-to-date customer information. Think about the interaction methods your customers are using – and are likely to use in the future – to communicate with your organisation. A good CRM system will allow you to retrieve real-time information at any time and from anywhere. Choose one that will fit the functional needs of your system users.

Interview resellers before having a software demo

Familiarise yourself with the CRM solutions on the market so you can be confident about shortlisting the best options for your company.

Software is generally sold through resellers who can provide valuable advice and consultancy and will carry out the implementation, as well any customisation needed. By interviewing as many software resellers as possible you can avoid sitting through lengthy, irrelevant demonstrations. Pick the best three systems and ask each reseller to provide the following information:

• Estimated licence cost for your implementation
• Estimated build-out costs to adapt the system to your requirements
• Timeframe for implementation
• Annual support and maintenance costs
• Training methods and costs
• A plan for integrating your back-office systems as required

Ensure the software is easy to use

If your system is hard to use, staff will find excuses not to do so and the benefits will immediately be diluted or even eliminated. So make sure your system is easy to use.

• Try the system yourself and get users to try it as well
• Can the interface be modified to more closely match the needs of your organisation?
• How easy is it to navigate between modules of the software?
• What software documentation and training will be provided? Staff will need to change the way they work, so training is essential

Evaluate the technical support

You will need to rely on the software vendor’s technical support team; here are some questions to ask regarding their support team:

• How quickly do they take calls from customers?
• What are their hours of operation?
• What options are available for after-hours queries?
• What charges or service plans are involved?

Also enquire about their customer service department. Check they have the resources to deal with product questions, customer feedback, order tracking and software registration. If possible, talk to existing customers to get their feedback.

Get flexible reporting

One of the key goals of any CRM system should be to provide clear, up-to-date management reports. Look for one which has the capability to produce the reports you need. Find out if customised reports can be created with a minimum of time and effort. See if the system will allow you to manipulate the data how you choose. If there is something extra you need, can the system be customised easily to meet your requirements? For instance, can you create and modify fields, screens, tables, views, scripts and security settings on the fly? Or do you have to call in the reseller to make any changes?

Can the system grow with you?

A good software company invests heavily in engineering and develops new features and enhancements regularly. The opportunity to move to a similar but more powerful system can give your company flexibility as it grows.

Check that the system can cope if your company grows and needs to support more users. Some systems are designed only for small companies. Similarly, if your company operates abroad, or may do in the future, check the system will support multiple languages and currencies.

Does it fit your budget?

If your first choice costs more than you can afford, reprioritise your list of requirements and compare them with the features of applications that do fall within your budget range. Then determine which features or modules are essential for the success of the project and cut out the ‘nice-to-have’ features.

You will need to justify the investment, so once you have decided which system you want it may be helpful to create a document or presentation to explain your choice. This document will detail the features of the system, the direct financial benefits of these features and the long-term advantage to the company.

It should also outline the total cost for initial implementation, training and maintenance.