CRM Insights Blog

Being Conscious of Limitations in your CRM application

I think that we all know that every CRM system has limitations.  If the limitations aren't in the functionality offered in a specific product suite, then you have to consider the effort it will take to configure the application to fit business needs vs. upgrading to a suite with more functionality.

When I am asked about whether or not a system can support some particular business need, I will usually respond with "yes, but at a cost".  Selecting applications with required functionality, that provide easy configuratioun and setup, and low complexity for administrators and end users seems like the panacea and frankly is more achieveable today than ever. Today, I would like to point out a few things relative to Salesforce CRM and technical limitations.  

Salesforce CRM is quite possibly the most powerful CRM application in the market today.  Being an implementer, it makes a lot of MY job easier from a technical standpoint so that I can focus on the customers business needs. 

Occasionally, I get caught up with an unexpected technical limitation though.  While all the salespeople on the teams that I work with are certified in the application, not all details of the client needs or system limitations are aired out in the sales cycle. This is generally a no-fault scenario that can cause bumps in the road of the project initially.  So in the interest of full disclosure, I offer this link to the website that I use when discussing Salesforce limitations related to specific editions as well as general limitations.  It answers the vast majority of questions posed during business analysis and system design sessions.  It is also a good reference for the person who is responsible for the technical buying of a new CRM application.

Momentum Killers: What you need to be aware of in implementing and maintaining a CRM System

A dropped fly ball in baseball, a fumble or interception in football, or a turnover in basketball, all can be momentum killers.  It is difficult to regain your momentum when a negative change happens in a positive pattern.

The same is true with implementing and maintaining a CRM System.  You can take all of text book steps for selecting, implementing, and maintaining a CRM system, but something unexpected happens.  Let me give you a few examples and suggested remedies in regaining your CRM momentum:

1.  Change in the executive management team.  One of the important steps in getting approval of a CRM system within an organization is executive sponsorship.  As an organization, you want to make sure you have broad based support for a CRM system so if any one executive leaves, your have organizational commitment to move forward with your CRM system. 

2.  The CRM advocate who initiated and drove the project leaves the company.   As noted above, the key is to get broad based support for your CRM initiative throughout your organization.  If one person leaves, other people within the organization will step up and drive the process.  

3.  Major shift in the way your business goes to market.   With the pace of technology and changes in the economy, business needs  change all of the time.  You can protect yourself by selecting a CRM system that is flexible and can be modified very easily. 

4.  You are acquired or merge with another organization.  Again, if you have selected a CRM system that is flexible and modified easily, you will be able to make rapid changes to adjust to requirements of your consolidated entity.  

5.  You company has financial issues.  This is a difficult one to address.  Depending on your contract arrangement with your SaaS solution, you will be able to decrease the licenses you have on a yearly basis.  This will allow you to control the cost.  In addition, the maintenance cost of a SaaS solution is less expensive than an on-premise solution and upgrades are included.  SaaS solutions definitely give you more flexibility if your company goes through a financial issue.

6.  Technical issues with your system.  Solutions like Salesforce CRM provide a company with a solid technical solution with great up-time.  The key is to take a phased approach to your implementation, have a pilot program and address any technical issues that come up, and properly train your staff.  This approach will avoid any momentum killers. 

7.  Poor data quality.  You can have the very best CRM system in the world, train all your people properly, and have an initiative that fails because of poor data quality.  People get frustrated when they are working on a system that does not provide them with accurate information.  To avoid this momentum killer, you need to address data quality issues before the data is imported into the new system.  There are a variety of data cleansing solutions and approaches to addressing this issue.

8.  Poor end user adoption.   One of the biggest momentum killers is the final step - poor end user adoption.  This can occur for many reasons.  You need to make sure that end users are involved in this process from the beginning, the system addresses their day to day needs, and easy to use.  If you address these three steps, you will have good end user adoption.

By being aware and limiting your momentum killers, you will have a useful and productive CRM System.

CRM Selection Committee

Choosing a CRM solution for an organization is a very big decision.  Over the years, we have seen our prospects and clients go about this process in many different ways.  If you see your organization using CRM for sales, marketing, and customer service, we suggest using a selection committee to review and select a CRM system for your organization. 

This committee should be made up of end-users, management, and executives.  Each user is going to have different requirements and you want to make sure the solution you select is able to accomodate your requirements.   The involvement of all groups within your organization in the selection process will pay dividends in the future and you will have a better chance at end-user adoption. 

You also want to make sure you have a firm committment from the executive team that the CRM solution selected by the committee will be funded and implemented.  From past experience, you don't want to engage people within your organization in a process that takes time away from their day to day responsibilities that does not  results in a CRM system being selected and implemented.   

Human nature plays a role in selecting and implementing a CRM solution.  People want to feel part of the process.  We have found that end-users and managers can be resentful on having to use a system that they had no input and does not meet their specific requirements. 

Each group of users are going to use the CRM differently.  End-users are going to want an easy to use and easy to navigate system.  They want to be able to work efficiently and input and retrieve information as easily as possible. 

Managers want to be able to get reports on the productivity and results of their sales, marketing, and customer services departments.  Executives want to be able to get key indicators in real time if possible. 

We have seen less involvement from IT in the selection process with the popularity of Software as a Service (SaaS).  You still want IT involved to make sure you have the appropriate bandwidth and security.  If you are considering an on-premise solution, IT needs to have more involvement because of infrastructure requirements. 

The selection committee should determine, document, and prioritize the requirements of each group of users.   This document should help you narrow your selection of potential software solutions and implementors.  By doing a thorough screening, you will be able to narrow your search.  You want to be respectful of your committee member's time and avoid over analysis of solutions that just don't fit. 

If possible, you should narrow the potential vendors to three.  Each product should be evaulated to make sure that your requirements are met.  Many CRM software products provide a free trial version that can be very helpful.  Some software vendors are willing to create a customize demo if the size and complexity of the opportunity warrants it. 

You also want to maintain a tight timeline.   As time passes, you won't have the recall to compare all of the CRM solutions.  In addition, you will lose momentum.   If possible, I would suggest that you begin your implementation as quickly as possible after the selection has been made. 

Involving end-users, managers, and executives in the CRM selection process, priortizing requirements, narrowing potential solutions as quickly as possible, and having a tight timeframe, will increase the probability of a successful CRM system.

The Sales Training Component of CRM

I have been playing golf for along time and to be blunt, I am not very good at it.  A couple of years ago, I made a conscious effort to try to get better at the game.  I had an old set of clubs.  I thought the best place to start would be to purchased a custom set of clubs.  I went to see a golf pro, got measured, and a few weeks later, a beautiful set of new clubs showed up at my house.  I took my new clubs, ran off to a local golf course and played a round of golf.  Guess what - I still am a terrible golfer!  What I forgot in my effort to improve my game is to get the appropriate training.  I would have been better of keeping my old clubs and taking golf lessons instead.

How does a set of new golf clubs relate to CRM?   You can have an excellent CRM solution deployed in your organization.  You went through the appropriate selection process, had a well thought out and executed implementation plan, and trained your end-users on how to use the system.  Essentially, you have a great set of golf clubs. 

But unless your sales team is properly trained in a sales methodology and adhere to that methodology, you are not going to take full advantage of your CRM system.  Similar to my golf analogy, training is just as important, maybe even more important than the CRM system itself. 

There are soft skills that are neccessary for your salespeople to be successful.  Your sales team needs to know how to qualify or disqualify an opportunity, manage the sales process, present the appropriate solution to address the needs of their prospect,  manage expectations, provide a well written and professional proposal, and have the ability to close the opportunity.  They also need to manage their own internal team including sales engineers and sales management. 

Over the years, we have worked with a variety of local, regional, and national sales training organizations.  We can provide you organization with an introduction to a firm that will address your specific needs and requirements.

CRM Implementation Overload!

A good and properly implemented CRM system can address many areas in your business including sales, marketing, and customer service.  In addition, the customization capabilities of the CRM products on the market today allow for broad use in almost every area within an organization. 

The most common mistake that we have found over the years is that organizations try to do too much too soon.  The systems can become over engineered, overly complex, and too much for an organization to digest all at once.  End-users and management become frustrated, don't use the system, and the initiative can be a failure.

A good planning process should address all of the company requirements but a well laid out phased approach is the way a system should be implemented.  The organizations most difficult pain points would be addressed first, provided quick wins, and positive results.  A successful first phase is a foundation to be built upon, addressing the next set of requirements. 

In addition, training on a simple first phase is much easier for the end-users to understand.  It gives them the opportunity to use the system, learn how it works, and better understand how it can help them do their jobs.  It also results in better questions and request from the end-users. 

And finally, you implementation costs are spread over a longer period of time.  No matter what, you are going to have to make the same investment in a thorough business process review and development of a Statement of Work.  It provides you with a blueprint for all of your phases.

The Forgotten Cost in the CRM Total Cost of Ownership Calculation

One of the excercises that our prospects go through when selecting a CRM solution for their business is a Total Cost of Ownership Calculation.   This is a very important step in comparing an on-premise CRM solution to a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution.

In the case of calculating the cost of an on-premise solution, the obvious costs include the following:

1. Allocation of the hardware cost, both for the server and end-user computers;
2. Allocation of the software cost, again, both for the server and end-user computers;
3. Allocation of the NOC expenses, including rent, personnel, and other related infrastruce including firewalls, security software, disaster recovery, and UPS;
4. The cost of the personnel to maintain the system both from an administrative and support;
5. Upgrades.  Is is the most overlooked and underestimated cost of maintaining an on-premise system.   There are the obvious 20% annual maintenance fee that software companies charge.  But you must include the cost of the consultants and internal personnel you need to perform the upgrade.   Overtime, upgrades include the upgrading of the actual software product, underlying database, operating system, and various batches required throughout the infrastructure.  You need to consider down time and loss of prodcution in your calculation. 
6. The Aggrevation Factor. Ah, yes, the aggrevation factor.  What does it cost your organization in personal and financial manpower to go through an upgrade process.  Those valuable resources can be used elsewhere within your organization.

One of the advantages that SaaS provides an organization is the seamless upgrades provided as part of your subscription cost.  You really need to consider this as one of your decision criteria. 

Some of our clients have actually switched from an on-premise solution to a SaaS solution, cost justifying the switch by eliminating the annual maintenance and upgrade expenses.

Please go to our website at http://www.harvestsolutions.net/ and download our total cost of ownership calculator.  Although it is difficult to quantify an aggrevation factor, you must include some soft cost in the upgrade process. 

Why Do I Need to use a CRM Consulting Firm?

I participated in a very interesting sales call earlier in the week.  The management of a 100 person organization needs to address a variety of business issues related to their sales, marketing, and customer service departments.  They have decided to implement a CRM system.

 The chair of the selection committee asked a very good and simple question: "Why do we need to use a CRM consulting firm?   We have very smart internal resources."

A good and experienced CRM consulting firm can add significant value to an implementation as follows:

 1.  The first step is to perform a needs analysis and develop a statement of work.  You need specific experience on how to facilitate this process, asking the right questions, and knowing how your CRM system should be designed to addressed the requirements.  You need experience to help determine pain points and priorities.  Also, an outside party can help avoid internal politics, personality conflicts within an organization, and provide an unbiased viewpoint.

2.  I am sure an organization can assign a resource to learn how to configure a CRM system.  But to get the a proficient stage, you need to take training and gain some experience before you can configure a system to address the requirements gathered during the needs assessment.  This takes time and money.  A good CRM consulting firm should have trained and certified resources on their staff and will be significantly more efficient than an internal resource.

3.  In most CRM implementations, there is a data migration and integration component to the engagement.  This requires another set of skills.  You need to have resources with database and integration experience.  This can be fairly complicated and tedious. 

4.  A CRM initiative requires strong project management.  All aspect of the engagement including needs assessment, configuration, data migration, integration, prototype review, pilot program, roll-out, training and support all need to be planned and managed.  Again, this requires a different skillset than someone who facilitates a needs assessment, configures the software, migrates the data, or integrates into other backoffice systems.

5.  One of the most important steps in a CRM project is providing training to the end-users.  A trainer needs to understand the CRM software, how an organization is going to be using the software, and the skills to provide training either in-person or over the web.

6.  Even if an organization has the right resources, do they have the time to devote to a CRM implementation project? If a firm has made an investment in CRM software or subscription service, you are losing money for every day that you fall behind in rolling out a system.  With so many organizations stretched for resources, adding the significant responsibility of implementing a CRM system does not make sense.  

As you can see, even a fairly simple CRM implementation requires a diverse skillset.  A good, reputable, and exprienced CRM consulting firm can provide significant value to a firm implementing a CRM system.

 

Successful CRM Implementations Start with Planning

Over the past 20 years, my consulting staff has implemented over a thousand CRM systems.  One of the questions that I often get from prospects is what is the most important element in having a successful CRM implementation that results in a reasonable return on investment for our clients?

There have been an abundance of articles and books written on ow to successfully implement a CRM system that include key factors like executive management buy-in and end-user acceptance.   Based on our experience, a successful CRM system starts right at the beginning of the process - planning. 

Unless you have a thorough understanding of what you organization needs from a CRM system, how it will be deployed, and a way to measure the results, you will fall short of maximizing the benefits of having a CRM system in place.

We are deploying widely used systems like Salesforce CRM.  The software works and it works well.  Technical issues are resolved quickly and enhancements are added often.  Configuring and customizing CRM systems can be done by properly trained and experienced resources. 

The question is how should a CRM system be configured to address your business requirements.  This is done through a thorough planning process.  Our methodology includes a series of interviews run by our senior consultants and the completion of business process review documents by our clients to give us additional information. 

The area that a consulting firm like ours adds real and tangible value is in the area of planning.  We have the experience to know what questions to ask and based on the response from our clients, configure a system that will address the pain points and business requirements in a timely and cost effective manner.

Our consultants also know how to work with a client in prioritizing a wish list and coming up with a phased approach to address critical issues first and spread the financial and human resource investment over a reasonable period of time.  Trying to do everything at once is not the right approach. 

And the planning process is never really over.  Once you deploy your CRM system, your business continues to change and your system needs to change with it.  This ongoing cycle is healthy and important to the success of your business.

How to choose the right CRM implementation partner

As your company embarks on a CRM initiative, the software selection is only one facet of a successful project. As part of this process, you may consider implementing your CRM system with internal resources. Some software and on-demand vendors position their products as easy to implement and easy to use, suggesting that your organization try to do it itself. As outlined in this article, there are many benefits in selecting a CRM implementation partner.

Even in providing a very simple CRM system to your organization, a variety of steps need to take place including project management, requirements gathering, planning, configuration, pilot-program, rollout, training, and support. An experienced CRM implementation partner has the resources to address each of these areas, providing a company significant benefits that increase the chances of a successful system.

Planning

In planning a CRM system, you have a variety of people involved in the process including sales, marketing, and customer service at various levels including staff, management, and executives. This can be a very complicated and difficult process, dealing with potential political issues and personalities. One of the services that a CRM implementation partner will provide is a resource that can act as a facilitator and buffer during this process. They can use their experience to guide the organization in the appropriate direction.

As noted above, there are various steps that need to take place in a successful CRM roll-out. A CRM Implementation Firm has the experience to properly plan the various steps in this process.

Installation, Configuration, and Customization

Once a company has determined what they need from a CRM system, those requirements need to be translated and configured within the CRM product. Although a company may have technical resources within their organization, there is still a learning curve involved with a new product. In addition, there can be more than one way to configure a CRM system. An experienced CRM implementation firm can provide you with the most efficient configuration that will provide the optimum ease of use.

Better Access To Technical Support

Although your CRM system will provide the end-user with technical support, your CRM implementation partner has access to a higher level and faster response technical support service provided by the vendor. In addition, they may have more leverage in getting a technical issue resolved more quickly than through end-user channels.

Business Process Experience

A CRM implementation partner has gathered significant business process experience from their previous engagements. You need to have a certain skill set to evaluate an organization's business processes, make recommendations for improvement, and apply those processes to a CRM software system. Without this particular experience, it is very difficult and time consuming for a company to do this with internal resources.

Depth of Skill Set

Implementing a CRM system takes a variety of skill sets including configuration experience for that particular product, programming and development experience, database knowledge, project management capabilities, training skills (both technical and presentation), and report writing experience. Very few companies have all these skills available and even if they do, they must be pulled away from their regular jobs.

Resource Constraints

As mentioned above, your organization maybe large enough to have the various skills needed to implement an CRM system. But people have their regular jobs and responsibilities on a day-to-day basis. Reassigning them to a CRM project can cause a variety of issues. A CRM implementation firm provides you with the experienced resources you need without having to tap and strain your own staff.

Although you may think that using an outside firm is more expensive, that is not the case. When you calculate the cost of your own staff and their overhead, the additional time it takes to learn the CRM product, and the cost of their daily responsibilities not being completed, you will find that using an outside firm is not more expensive.

A CRM implementation firm can provide you with the right resources at the right time that will allow a company to complete a CRM rollout on a timely basis.

Summary

A CRM implementation partner can provide an organization with the best practices in every aspect of rolling out a CRM system including needs assessment, planning, configuration, development and integration, data importing, pilot-program and roll-out, training and support. During your selection process of a CRM implementation firm, make sure you get client references and details about the consultants assigned to your account.

The most important aspect of ensuring a successful CRM implementation

One of the frequent questions I get from our prospects is what we think is the most important aspects of ensuring a successful CRM implementation? Although there are many components in a CRM implementation, our experience shows that the initial needs assessment and development of a comprehensive statement of work is the most important aspect of ensuring a successful CRM implementation. It is the blueprint and foundation of your system. The Harvest Solutions Methodology refers to this as the Visualize Phase.

The Visualization Phase consists of the following seven activities:

• Perform needs assessment - Define and refine the customer's needs and requirements, identify their "pain points", determine goals and objectives and collect all other essential information.

• Finalize deliverables - Finalize and document all of the deliverables that will be components of the solution to satisfy the customer's goals.

• Manage customer expectations - Manage the expectations such as perceived resource skill levels, number of hours worked, format for documentation, communications, etc.

• Evaluate Risks - Review the risks associated with the project and determine the impact on costs and achievement of the objectives of the project.

• Hardware Needs Analysis - The Hardware Needs Analysis form is used to identify the type of software and hardware the customer as well as general questions about the customer.

• Complete Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) - Use the WBS form to finalize the resource requirements, calculate project costs and help develop detailed project plan.

• Finalize scope statement - Finalize the business requirements, the solution, the project deliverables and the assumptions that the deliverables are based on.

• Modify Proposal (if necessary) - Make any necessary changes to the proposal based on the finalization of the deliverables, needs assessment, scope statement, risks and WBS.

It is vital that all of the appropriate people within the organization participate in this process including the executive, management, and staff members from the sales, marketing, customer service, and information technology departments. Each person and each department will have their own requirements that need to be gathered and prioritized.

Through this process, expectations need to be set and managed in respect to deliverables, time frame, and budget.

The end result of this process is a statement of work, a blueprint, of what your system will look like. This document must be thoroughly reviewed and approved by management before you start the configuration and development process.

This document should be used to monitor the progress of your implementation to make sure that the requirements that were identified and documented are being addressed by the CRM system.