An appropriate CRM solution unquestionably is an excellent way to show how much you value your customers and put customer service as the topmost priority. CRM plays a pivotal role in collaborating between a company’s customer service, marketing and sales. Salespeople are the ones at the receiving end when reaping the core benefits of CRM software. Nevertheless, businesses have been enduring several challenges, especially when implementing a new CRM system for SMEs and startups.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software has continuously proven its significance for many businesses across industries through successful implementation records. The ability to manage several aspects of a company, such as Customer Relations, Sales, Marketing, and Service Management, is the core function of all top CRM software.
CRM system serves as a central hub for all businesses by offering several handy benefits related to Sales, Marketing, and customer service. But what help can any software provide unless it is appropriately implemented for full utilization by the company staff?
Why CRM Implementation Fails?
1. Lack of Communication
The top management takes CRM implementation decisions in all organizations because of the budget and the process changes which will happen after the CRM implementation. Afterwards, this decision and the process need to be communicated to the whole staff, and the top management needs to be supportive of the plan throughout the implementation process. Lack of communication can give rise to insecurities and mental barriers in the minds of the staff. Lack of communication also happens when CRM is implemented. Still, the salesforce needs to update the CRM on the go with their meeting details and rely on their support staff to do the same on their behalf. Here, the CRM does not eliminate the problem but gives rise to new ones as double effort is required on the salesperson’s behalf.
Over here, it would help if you had CRM software with a built-in communication management module for the seamless delivery of customer service. For example, if a Prospect or Customer calls and the original team member who spoke with the client earlier is unavailable. Then rather than leaving their query unaddressed due to no knowledge of the previous discussion, another Team member can quickly pull out the notes, such as Email communications, Meeting talks and so on and efficiently answer any questions the caller may have.
2. Lack of Organization-Wide Use
Introducing CRM as an essential and time-saving tool will encourage users to use it widely. Managers must make the CRM software a vital medium to create or record all the interactions done by the Sales team daily. Make your sales representative believe that CRM is not just a tracking tool but very much efficient to help you keep updated with upcoming appointments, open customer cases, and top opportunities, as well as staying updated with the CRM notes of the latest communication done with the client will help manage their time.
3. Lack of Technology Integration
Nearly all the company processes have some software to take care of the manual work. The problem arises because all these systems need to be connected, and the data flow between them is absent. Understanding the need of the business and employees is the central facet of finalizing a CRM software tool for the organization. A successful CRM implementation must guarantee that the CRM will meet every employee’s needs, whether a Management User, a Sales Representative, a Service Executive or a Marketing Manager.
CRM is one such CRM software that allows users to seamlessly access their enterprise database, thereby avoiding the need to enter duplicate data into the system. Full access to information about the Customer, Products, sales – analysis etc., helps the staff do their job more effectively. Data Management in CRM not only helps to maintain data security but also allows the user to identify what they need to close the sale on the go from any device, anytime and anywhere they might be.
Understanding and adopting the full capabilities of the CRM system will lead to a higher level of customer service, increased revenue for the company, and in turn, increased commissions for the sales representatives.
What are the CRM Implementation Challenges?
1. Cost
Cost is one of the most significant challenges businesses face when implementing a CRM solution. Yes, it might turn out as a costly affair if done in haste and without robust planning. Here, it is advisable to decide why your business needs a CRM. This should give a clear picture of the type of CRM implementation techniques required, eventually helping to set a budget for the same. So simply diving in and imitating your competitor’s CRM strategies is a lot like shooting in the dark that might lead to total disaster. So it is always good to discuss the total cost of ownership, IT resources, hardware or software, etc., with all the shortlisted CRM providers.
2. Set Clear Objectives
Defining clear objectives that a business intends to achieve with the system is one of the secrets to a smooth and successful CRM implementation. Further, it is advisable to work towards making these objectives measurable metrics. Please do so to make evaluating the system’s ROI or core benefits easier.
Next, it’s time to reckon with the functionalities you expect from the system. For this, ask yourself: do you intend to have it for sales, marketing, customer service or all of them? What problems do you aim to address with the system? Again, having a clear idea about the objectives and critical functionalities required in the system is a crucial step towards seamless CRM implementation.
3. Deployment Type
This is all about on premise vs cloud! A perfect escape plan here is to compare the fixed budget vs the total cost of ownership, which should include the cost for all the resources required, maintenance, upgrades, infrastructure, etc., before making up your mind about going for on premise or cloud. This further boils down to business preferences, the type of industry the business operates in, etc.
Form a dedicated CRM team within the organization, including people from top management, the IT department, senior executives, customer support and end-users to discuss their daily struggles, reasons leading to inefficiencies in their work, suggestions to boost productivity, etc. This should give a good picture of the best deployment type for your business.
4. Training
Another widely encountered challenge during CRM implementation is the company-wide training it summons up. This calls for involving all the potential users right from the early stages. In fact, it is good to apply all the would-be users of the system right from the decision-making process. Pick key personnel from each department who can be trained extensively. Eureka is these personnel turning evangelists of the newly rolled-out CRM system, which helps significantly to educate their fellow team members.
5. Plan out Integration Needs in Advance
Integrating CRM systems with other business management solutions, such as ERP, payroll, etc., tops the ‘wish list’ for most businesses opting for CRM implementation. Nonetheless, it is advisable to plan integration needs, if any, well beforehand to avoid CRM implementation overkill and information overload to your employees. A smart thing here is to design a phase 2 for integration needs post-company-wide adoption of the CRM system.
6. Hire the Right CRM Solution Provider
Roping in the right CRM solution provider or partner is the crux of successful implementation. Preferably, go with a partner who helps with performances and pre-implementation strategy. Moreover, your partner must put down all the implementation risks on the table well before you sign on the dotted line.
CRM Implementation is an essential and crucial step in the CRM buying process. It is a make or a break situation where it can go kaput or be seamless. In this stage, too, all the data is migrated to the new platform. Since the data is binding, utmost care must be taken during the migration.
To have a successful implementation, we must plan how our performance can be smooth and successful. For most, it may be the first time that CRM is being implemented on their premise. Hence, we have compiled some actions that can be taken to eliminate any blunder. Let’s see the same one by one.
What are the top CRM Implementation Disasters?
1. Lack Of leadership
It’s like riding an Aircraft without a pilot. Only the leader – CEO, CXO, Founders, etc. – has the required insight and direction they need to steer their business. They will be the ones who will be able to provide the ERP vendor with the exact requirement and can overlook the implementation effectively. When the task of implementation or any critical process needs to be handled by mid-level staff, expect that the implementation will not be smooth.
This is because they have the insufficient business knowledge and might not be authorized to access essential data like finances and sales. Hence, the role of a company leader is not restricted to just selecting the CRM Software. It stretches to implementation and post-implementation, helping and motivating the company staff to use the new software.
2. Absence of Clearly Defined Goals:
More than 50% of CRM implementations fail due to a lack of clearly defined goals. For example, before buying a CRM system, a brief plan is laid out that the company wants to grow and expand in the future. Hence, they need CRM software for it. Still, a clearly defined goal gives way more information than that – How many transactions will happen, how many security levels you will need, how you manage the gap between what your company does and the software provides, etc.
If goals are well-defined and handy, then you can measure the success or failure of the CRM implementation. Also, the essential factor is that the entire organization or users need to be in sync with the understanding of these goals and know pre hand what they should expect from the system.
3. Too Much IT Involvement:
It is only sometimes crucial that the IT team is involved in every critical phase. Though they are integral in understanding the technicalities and the functional aspects, it is not sensible to be utterly dependent on them for everything. The sales and marketing team need to understand better how the system should behave to accomplish future goals since these departments are the key users of the CRM system.
Today, many ERP vendors provide Cloud access as a primary feature in their CRM software which assists managers in accessing their client data remotely. This helps in closing deals faster and is where the business is happening. However, the IT team may or may only sometimes be available to show the way around these functionalities. Hence, all sections should participate equally during the implementation and data migration period.
4. "It's My Way or the Highway" Mentality
When any organization decides to implement something new, people often reject it, saying that they are not comfortable with the software. However, to avoid the ‘it’s my way or the highway mentality, the management needs to convince and train them efficiently on the new system that would fit well in their current comfort zone to get more growth and stability. Likewise, the management should ensure that the software is user-friendly and easier to navigate.
These are not the only challenges faced during CRM implementation but are indeed the top ones. Therefore, your partner should educate you about all the possible difficulties hindering a successful CRM implementation. Having a checklist of all the challenges can save a significant amount of money, time and resources, as well as helps in the successful and company-wide adoption of the new CRM system.
How to Make CRM Software an Indispensable Asset?
CRM software can be your core business strength if implemented smartly.
Is your CRM implementation turning out as promised in terms of ROI? If you still need to, then you have reached the right page. CRM systems hold the excellent potential to help uplift an organization’s customer relationship management game. Still, most enterprises, unfortunately, fail to use it to the fullest. For example, several features you pay for need to be used.
Purchasing good software is only half battle won, as its success relies significantly on how it is implemented and used subsequently. Proper implementation and usage are two critical factors for better ROI. It is not just used to capture a customer’s information but also to store essential documents. However, improper use can put a dent in your business.
Also Read: Need to drive growth with CRM?
We only fail to use something when we don’t have proper knowledge about it. Similarly, businesses tend to commit mistakes while using CRM software. The most common mistake is not providing adequate training to users. If users need to learn how to use the software, how do you expect the system to work?
Every user should be adequately trained. This is because the end users will develop and man oeuvre the CRM system according to your company’s requirements.
A CRM is just another tool without a qualified and trained team of Zoho CRM consultants. CRM is all about requirement gathering. Here, you should be logical, communicative and presentative to communicate appropriately with customers and understand their requirements. A CRM solution comes with various in-built features that, when utilized aptly, help you analyze your customers’ requirements and, thus, help you to align your CRM goals on the same line.
The software should also be adjustable. Train the users to use social media sources to get a more precise picture of your prospects, leads and customers.
Encourage users to be regular and consistent in data entry. Your CRM success is all about the data you enter into it.
CRM is not just a tool for sales, as everyone in a company can benefit from it, including marketing, finance, etc., if used properly.
Is your business using the right CRM solution?
To learn how our robust CRM software can help you drive business and enable seamless CRM implementation, you can also write to AL FAHAD IT CONSULTING at najmulhoda@al-fahad.biz
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