The right Customer Relationship Management solution provides a comprehensive view of all your customers, sales and marketing operations. It can transform your business and unleash your full potential. However, if you want a high return on your investment, first you need to implement it well. It is not an easy task. CRM systems have a very high failure rate.
Some estimate that even half of all deployments fail to achieve its business objectives.
“Gartner predicts that by 2021, CRM will be the single largest revenue area of spending in enterprise software.”
We have identified five common reasons that prevent great CRM implementation. If you know them, you can quickly fix them.
CRM is not only a technology
Technology is not a problem. But you cannot start a CRM initiative with the technology focus. It is a recipe for disaster. The success of every IT project depends on three factors: technology, process, and people. CRM initiatives are no different. If you believe software itself will improve your business, you will likely fail. Technology is just a tool and to see great results; you have to know what to do with it. That is why you have to plan for strategic and operational changes and start with setting business goals for an entire organization.
Sales and tech teams struggle to find a common language
Some tension between the tech and sales team can be creative. But too much of it and CRM software will not serve your business well. Effective communication depends on a universal language that everyone can understand. Creating it consumes energy, but is essential for future success. These are very different worlds. You have to make sure they both have a deep understanding of what they are doing.
Sales have changed – but people haven’t
Although change is the normal state of business, organizational change can be tricky. It requires soft skills. CRM initiative leaders need to acknowledge who will use the software. People are afraid of the unknown. The less they know about the change, the more fearful they will get. Effective communication of the project’s business goals is critical.
Proper onboarding is easily forgotten
You have to take care of salespeople before and after implementation. Why? Because as we said earlier technology is just a tool. It’s the people using the technology, who improve customer relations. They need to know how to use it. The tricky part is to strike the right balance with the least time for training that will be enough. If you succeed, CRM will be a productive tool and salespeople will use it.
CRM lacks the support it needs
CRM initiative is a journey, not a typical software project that will end at the production start. After the successful deployment, you have to start periodically evaluate the system. Does it meet your needs? Do you achieve your goals? As the organization is evolving, your CRM systems need to change. That is why good support is also essential.
Above are the 5 most common problems we have seen when companies start implementing CRM. They might seem like a basic ones but it is important to understand the readiness of the company before proceeding with a new technology. Manage risks that could stop you from succeeding.