CRM Software

CRM software, like a car, is one of the biggest, most complex and vital purchases one can make. And it has to work right, getting one to where they are going quickly and economically, with minimal maintenance for it to deliver ROI.

Todd Richman, general manager of Acumen Solutions’ Boston, Mass. office uses the car buying analogy to open on his advice on acquiring CRM solutions.

“It was a lovely, Saturday afternoon spent at the car dealership, a dreaded but necessary pilgrimage that has to be made every several years. Needing to upgrade to something a little larger since my family needs more space, my attitude is that more is always better, right? It’s the American dream. So the car salesman took me in and out of cars, trucks, minivans, and SUVs for most of the afternoon. The salesperson talked and talked. I saw more features with added costs than I could possibly digest. In fact, after returning home to tell my wife of all the findings, I could barely recall some of the differentiators in the automobiles other than the basic body types and price tags. I rambled off a smattering of bells and whistles but it only confused her and myself more.

“More isn’t always better, is it?” she asked, throwing me a wink.

“The more I thought about it the more sense it made. The car I was trading in had defrosting side view mirrors.  Living in New England for several years, not once did I turn those on – the plastic mirrors never froze. Neat gizmo but never used. And I love my sunroof because when it’s not cloudy, cold, raining, snowing, or I’m stuck sitting in Boston tunnel traffic, I love to open that puppy up and get some fresh air. Quickly calculating in my head, that’s 20 percent of the time the sunroof was potentially open. But whatever, it was bought and paid for.”

“So that got me thinking about my day job, why do so many CRM implementations take a wrong turn--over the last decade, leading analysts such as Gartner, Forrester (News - Alert) and AMR Research (before its acquisition by Gartner) have all pegged CRM failure rates ranging anywhere from 30 percent-50 percent--that could so easily be avoided?

“Here are a few recommendations to follow to keep yours on track”

1.         KISS

Keep It Simple, Silly. Stick to the basics. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Practice what you preach.

“I’ve heard those lines over and over again and as trite as they sound they couldn’t be truer,” says Richman. 

The evaluation process for CRM has become very cookie cutter. Most vendors in this space virtually have all the same functionality. And if they do not today, they probably will tomorrow after the next release of their software. Now some of those features may work a little bit differently which will appeal to different businesses in different industries, but they get the job done. There’s something for everyone. 

“But most vendors have an ace up their sleeves,” says Richman. “They wait for the perfect time during a demonstration to flip it, Voilà! Out it comes and then the vendor waits for that gates-of-heaven-opening, “Wow.” The room is silent. Everyone is staring and saying to themselves, ‘Well isn’t that neat, we’ve got to have that, what a gizmo! But that’s precisely what it is, just a gizmo.”

Lost in the intense, information filled vendor evaluation process are the basics – the needs of your business. And hopefully before you start on this venture someone spent the time to define (fingers crossed) and document (toes crossed) your business requirements. Here are some questions to ask the person in the mirror:

*          What is senior management looking for? Will they use the system or only leverage for reports and dashboards?

*          What do occasional users like managers or assistants need to use the system for?

*          What do your everyday users need to be able to do to better improve their productivity and the ability to find and close new business or to service your customers?

*          What do your customers need to be happy, to recommend your product or services to others, or to buy more themselves?

*          In summary, what are you trying to accomplish and how will you measure it?

“Those are the basics; don’t lose sight of the fact that purchasing a CRM system is supposed to solve certain problems, be it improving efficiencies, increasing revenue, reducing operating costs, or improving customer satisfaction,” Richman points out. “No one purchases software just to spend money and implement for kicks. So ask yourself if your organization understand its requirements?” 

2.         Planning, Rollout and Adoption

When planning for CRM set realistic expectations for your organization. Be sure that goals and objectives are aligned with both your short and long-term strategy. Garner executive buy-in for the necessary resources to support the strategic vision, mitigate risk, and maximize your chance for success. In a 2009 interview with Dr. Natalie Petouhoff of Forrester Research (News - Alert) she stated that the leading cause of IT failure over the past decade is poor executive commitment and leadership (as outlined in her 2008 report Customer Service: a Keystone of Your Corporate Revenue Strategy). Don’t have it? Get it.

“People are interesting creatures in that most do not like change,” Richman points out. “While change is often a good thing it’s often feared, creating anxiety within the workforce. Anxiety turns to water cooler talk. Water cooler talk means people aren’t working. No work leads to little or no progress. And the leg bone is connected to the knee bone. Implementing a new software system or process changes can create unnecessary havoc if you don’t plan for it properly.”

3.         Communication is key

Let the organization know what the plans are, whether looking to purchase a first-time CRM system or replace an existing one. Regular and clear communication will reinforce with the troops that bringing change makes good business sense and isn’t some “just because” decision. And as you begin to select vendors, involve some key members of your user community in the process. Let them speak for the rest of their colleagues on what’s working and what’s not. Harvest their ideas. 

“The system users are the ones performing the actual day-to-day so why not listen to them?” asks Richman.

4.         Know your business. Know your customer

Most CRM systems in the marketplace have been built upon a combination of automating the sales force and servicing customers. Despite advances in technology the basic tenets to manage customers still remains the same after all these years:

*          Find and secure customers so they spend money

*          Keep customers happy and keep them spending

Tools and technology help to enhance this model by automating the collection and identification of customer data. This makes segmenting customer data easier to enhance targeted marketing. Pipeline management and forecasting becomes more transparent to help facilitate the revenue projections and overall management of the top and bottom lines. Recognition of customers for up-sell and cross-sell opportunities becomes more prevalent and accessible. Service efficiencies and holistic customer views provide better service experiences which increase future sales, promote strong brand reputation, and increase company potential. 

“All of these processes can become more intertwined through the implementation of CRM technology, making it easier on the sales force or customer service staff,” observes Richman. “But technology can’t magically make this happen. It’s all built on solid business process that culminates from having a crystallized CRM strategy and roadmap.” 

5.         Stick to the basics

It’s important that the vendor understands and meets your basic needs and requirements alluded to above. Once software is in place and the bulk of the implementation is over, it’s not really over. Everything continues to evolve – the market and your business, your customers, software and technology, processes, laws and regulations.

Therefore when getting out of the implementation gate, focus on basic needs first. Introducing a new system will bring unrest inherent to any major change in one’s work life. Don’t overcomplicate matters. Carefully look at the system and determine how you can use 20 percent of the functionality to meet 80 percent of your business needs. By doing that, you still maintain your basic selling and servicing needs without totally turning everyone’s world inside out – employees, managers, customers.

“So consider the first phase of the implementation as the foundation on which you will build upon in the future, like building a house,” says Richman. “No one wants a wobbly foundation that needs to be redone once you move in. Pour the concrete, let it settle, make sure it’s stable.”

6.         Walk before you run

Let users become comfortable with the system for their basic needs. Increased comfort level means increased confidence. And hitting this plateau is the perfect opportunity to enhance the system through added capabilities in a regular, steady, yet controlled manner. This approach ensures your organization will take advantage of the software and use it to its fullest potential. Conversely, this type of phased rollout allows business owners to hone their processes in support of strategic objectives and changing marketplace demands, while allowing administrators or other technical staff to deliver and rollout added functionality.

“Users will appreciate and use the system more and more as it grows to meet more of their needs, realizing how beneficial the CRM is to their everyday job,” Richman points out.

7.         The 80/20 rule

Now you have the opportunity to use the remaining 80 percent of system functionality to flush out the other 20 percent of your customer lifecycle process. Using the 80/20 rule doesn’t imply that managing your customer relationship strategy isn’t a complex task. Make sure that the basics are being met: find prospect > make customer > keep record > sell more > keep happy > sell more > REPEAT. At the end of the day isn’t that what you’re trying to do? Nor does the 80/20 rule imply that a vendor’s CRM has a bunch of useless feature sets. They don’t. Systems are created with heavy input from sales, marketing and support users with years of experience – it’s a tool for them. 

But some feature sets add complexity and at the beginning of an implementation it’s easier to keep things close to the old way, status quo from a process perspective (assuming the process isn’t flawed). And that’s okay. You don’t always need to swing for the fences when you can crack a hit and get on base. But it’s your responsibility to revisit new functionality and bring it to life once stabilization has occurred. 

Once the implementation is underway and key milestones are being met, continue with your communication plan. Keep the troops informed about what’s happened and what’s yet to come. All of this should be covered during user training prior to rolling out the system. And even before that, do a test run. Flush out any inconsistencies by having a small user acceptance training session to make sure that the requirements work for your primary user base. 

“As you go through gathering requirements to configure and setup the system, remember that to be successful your users need to understand why changes are being made, how it affects them, and what those changes are,” advises Richman.

8.         It is all about teamwork

The last thing anyone wants is to be unsuccessful. If your CRM implementation goes south, there are a number of people who will look bad. Sure, the vendor will likely take the bulk of the abuse since that’s just how it works! But your organization’s Executive sponsor, person(s) involved in the evaluation, Procurement, and whoever’s John Hancock was on the check will all be negatively impacted as well.

Implementations are a partnership. It is a give-and-take relationship on both sides and it is imperative to work together towards satisfying the goals and objectives set forth at the beginning of the CRM sales and implementation process. When everyone works together the odds of winning do increase exponentially. 

Richman offers these closing clichés, and concluding point.

“So don’t let your eyes be bigger than your stomach. Carefully plan, be realistic, and communicate. Change takes time, especially if you want it to be lasting and fruitful. Slow and steady wins the race so don’t get carried away and caught up in the emotions of unnecessary buying and implementation impulses. At the end of the day, my new car gets our family safely from point A to point B – and that’s my major requirement.”