CRM: Before Start - CRM implementation strategies - What You Need to Do Before You Begin [Part 2]

CRM: Before Start - CRM implementation strategies - What You Need to Do Before You Begin [Part 2]

  Before you start wasting your time with a CRM company, here are three things to keep in mind: 1. CRM changes the way people work; 2. Most people don't like it; 3. There are more of them than yours. If you haven't gone through the previous article [Part 1] I would suggest going through that page before reading this article. Topics to be covered are CRM strategy definition, CRM implementation strategies, CRM implementation roadmap, CRM implementation steps, CRM strategy examples,  CRM implementation best practices.

Also Read:  CRM Implementation Methodology?

 

Let's jump on to the things to take care of:

Ensure employee understanding and support 

CRM will bring significant changes to the company. If only a handful of enthusiasts understand and support the goals of CRM deployment, the project will fail before it can get started. The CRM program needs the support of most company employees. 

Are you ready to work differently? Will there be enough political will in many places to change the business? Will you be able to convince your subordinates that they need CRM?

The first change often turns out to be the hardest: you'll have to figure out how your company's customers feel. Your employees may tell part of the truth - but they will only speak all if you are not afraid. Most of the things you hear will not please you. So the first thing to change is for yourself: people who tell the truth cannot be punished. Before you can build a better relationship with your clients, you need to develop that relationship with your subordinates. 

Another major change. Sales, marketing and customer service departments will need to learn how to work together. They have to become one team. They need to trust each other. This is very important: these departments will need to help company executives understand who the best customers are for the company and the value they bring to the company.

Do you know how your customers perceive your service? Most of the customers of one known company consider their facility transportation and assembly staff to be part of the company's sales team. So what? Or, they expect collectors and technicians to know about the company's products in the same way that sales managers know. It is easy to imagine the ensuing confusion and wide range of frustrations. Is your company ready to deal with such problems? What do your managers think about this? For the CRM program to work, employees in different departments must work towards a common goal. Who will lead them?

Also Read:  European CRM Methodology

 

Before starting a CRM program, create a safe environment for your employees. All the major companies in the world that have successfully implemented CRM systems have started with IBM, Federal Express, Cisco or Sun Microsystems. 

Before You Start - Checking the Systems 

Before you start the installation, you and your colleagues must first ask the following questions: 

1. Have you developed a CRM business plan? 

2. Do you know who of the company executives, the main sponsor of your initiated CRM project is? 

3. Are there business requirements for the system being developed? 

4. Are there defined project success measures? 

5. Has the project budget been established and approved?

6. Is there an internal agreement on the desired customer behaviour? Are there clear ways in which the company will promote that desired customer behaviour? 

7. Do all functional units of the company have a common understanding of the concept of "customer"? 

8. Can you link the desired system functionality to your data needs? 

9. Will the CRM program use data from external sources? 

10. Have you found out which other IT systems or software the CRM system will need to be integrated with? 

11. Are organizational or political barriers to CRM deployment identified? Have they been removed or neutralized? 

Also Read:  SaaS is bad?