The right customer relationship management system can drive growth by making a business more efficient, flexible and scalable. CRM technology, however, is not one-size-fits-all. A business has to evaluate its needs, choose the right CRM tools, and then take steps to implement those tools correctly in order to fully benefit from the technology. Read on to find out our guide to selecting and implementing the system that is the best fit for your business – both now and in the future.
1. Identify the Needs of the Business
Customer relationship management software, of course, helps businesses manage relationships with customers — but what does that concept mean to your particular business? Some CRM tools specialize in vendor management and accounting. Others are designed with point-of-sales systems in mind. Others still were built to help businesses procure leads and nurture prospects. Why do you need the system? How many employees will have access to it? What pain point are you hoping CRM software will alleviate? Answer these questions first to narrow the list of systems that will suit your business’s needs.
2. Identify the Key Players
The next step is to identify which people are critical to each part of the process. This step not only reveals which people need to be involved and where, but it gives the planners a good idea of what can be automated and what cannot. Some employees need comprehensive CRM, while others require only basic tools. Therefore, it is during this stage that planners begin to develop an idea of the type of system that will work the best.
3. Use a Whiteboard to Build a Framework
A whiteboard is a simple, but effective method that businesses can use to reveal their sales process. The benefit of using a whiteboard is that all interested parties can clearly identify leaky buckets and determine which part of the process needs closer attention.
4. Consider Scalability
How quickly can the business adapt to change? How much is likely to grow? The answers to these questions are critical to choosing the right CRM. A system’s ability to scale is crucial for businesses that are experiencing growth. The last thing a business wants is for the team to learn the new system, love the new system, and come to rely on the new system — only to grow out of it too quickly and then have to spend valuable time getting to know a new platform again.
5. Focus on Training
This critical step is often given far too little attention. If the team doesn’t understand the new system, if they are intimidated by it, or if they aren’t made to appreciate its potential, they will never fully utilize the system and realize all of its benefits. Training cannot consist of a quick phone call and it is not enough to simply distribute log-on information. The director must give hands-on guidance throughout every step until everyone is up to speed.
6. Get the Whole Business on Board
At the end of the day, everybody in the company works in sales — even if they are selling a different aspects of the company. It is critical to get employees to buy into the new system across every department. Salespeople should manage how the pipeline is progressing, but everyone needs to know the system and understand their role in order to maintain a consistent and uniform approach.
Because of the investment involved with CRM, upper management often takes the keenest interest — but if you flip a company’s organizational chart upside down, it is often the senior leaders who are farthest away from the customer. The people lower down on the chart are the ones who engage customers and drive growth. Therefore, any system must be instituted company wide, so that whoever engages a customer will be consistent throughout the process.
To sum up, a CRM for your business is no longer a ‘nice to have’. It’s now a fundamental tool to manage your sales process, pipeline and customer relationships — but only when each individual business identifies and selects a system that fully suits its specific requirements.