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Often it is the case that failed CRM projects are due to the staff who are not properly informed about the process. There may be resistance to new training because they have become comfortable and familiar with old systems. Re-training can mean unwanted changes in their working practices. It is important that all staff members are fully informed and are supportive of the introduction of new CRM technology.

Customer relationship management has become a particular way of doing business. CRM solutions merely form a bridge between the customers and the company. It is the control center where the relationship is nurtured and managed. It is where all the customers’ details are stored, and by filtering and reporting, it becomes easy to produce certain demographics that can be used to increase the company’s profits.

CRM has always been around. In the old days it involved using notes, and a mechanical Rolodex. Field operators could quite easily find the necessary customer details, but exchanging information, or filtering and producing meaningful reports was something else altogether. Modern technology has changed all that, and senior executive have to change with it. CRM certainly works, but only if those operating it work in harmony with it.

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Customer relationship management means creating a process and a strategy with each customer that will result in a high degree of loyalty. This is in turn supported and managed by the underlying technology of the CRM software.

The key thing here is customer loyalty. The customer develops that loyalty because of something the company is doing right. They trust the company and they trust that the company will continue to treat them right. That’s the relationship part of CRM–not software, just a close working relationship that the software can then be employed to manage.

There are many disaster stories about how a company rolled out their CRM solution only to be faced with problem after problem that they had not envisaged or expected. The result is often that the company believes that CRM doesn’t work, or at least, it can’t work for them. But what has failed is not CRM, for that is just the software, what has failed is probably that senior executives have not fully understood how to implement the strategies properly.

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This rather surprising statement comes from an article produced by the Harvard Business Review: “55% of all CRM projects don’t produce results.” An analysis of some 200 companies had revealed that, “…CRM backfires in part because executives don’t understand what they are implementing, let alone how much it will cost or how long it will take.”

These are quite alarming statistics that ought to be of concern to every business implementing a CRM software solution. However, all is not lost, for there is a very good reason why this is happening. It really has nothing to do with the quality of the software on today’s market. It actually has more to do with perception than anything else.

The reason why so many CRM projects fail is often due to a single wrong assumption. This assumption is simple; managers all too readily believe that CRM is the solution to their customer relationship and management needs. CRM software is not the solution. It is just software, a tool, nothing else.

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You will also need good systems management. If you have someone in operational control who knows the what’s and why’s and where’s of everything, then the system will run much more smoothly. Your business processes need to have a good overhaul. Do they complement everything else in the strategy? They had better do.

Last but by no means least we arrive at customer service, which includes the management and the relationship. This is the most important area, but it needs to be underpinned by all the others first in order to work at its best.

Your ultimate company goal is, quite simply, more profits. You will achieve this through your customers. You will target them, acquire them, and develop a relationship with them, which will enable you to retain them through their sense of loyalty. Set up your CRM strategy across the initial marketing, customer service and sales, and you will have a sound strategy for success.

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You should be using CRM to obtain every little bit of useful information that can be obtained about your customer. This can then be filtered and output as meaningful reports to better fine-tune the system in favor of your customer. When this happens, guess what else happens∦ You will have happier customers, who will display more loyalty, which will, over time, result in higher profits for your company.

Developing a better CRM strategy is not always easy. It usually takes more than just purchasing a good CRM product and then wrapping your business structure around it, hoping that the CRM software will carry you through. Your entire organization’s policies and practices will require changes to be made in the right direction.

One of the first areas requiring change is likely to be staff training. Your staff might offer resistance to change if they see it as change merely for the sake of it, and not change for the better. You have to get them on your side first. They have to feel that their job is not under threat, but that the software training for the new CRM software will better their position within the company. Creating a happy and contented workforce is more than half the battle won!

(part 3 follows tomorrow…)

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Employing CRM in your business should mean realigning your entire organization in the direction of creating a better service model for each and every one of your customers. If it does not, then perhaps you might want to seriously consider why you bothered to introduce CRM into your business.

Customer relationship management is not a casually arranged title. It is no accident that the three words start with “customer” and go on to “relationship” ending with “management.” Take any one of the three words out, and you have something similar, but altogether different in concept.

So, when you introduce CRM into your business, you are effectively shifting the focus of all your activities directly on to the customer. It doesn’t matter whether or not your activities are business to business, or business to customer; you are seeking relationships with your customers that are cost-effective, loyalty-based, and long lasting.

(part 2 follows tomorrow…)

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CRM is all about customers, your relationship with them, and how to manage that relationship. I did mention “relationship” twice there. There’s a good reason for that, because it’s your relationship (there it is again) with your customer that is at the heart of the entire process. Without a relationship with your customer, you might as well put on a blindfold at stab pins at a prospect list in the hope that the one you pick will be a good one.

Customers have expectations. Some of their expectations are from you, and some might be from the product you sell them. They expect that their expectations will be justified. That bit is part;ly up to you, and partly depends on the value of the product. You can’t change the product, but you can change the things you do. Communication with the customer is the key!

“…setting up processes that assure that customer expectations are managed makes all the difference. A good CRM tool can help you manage expectations, by helping you communicate. This can be as easy as sending a new client start up package or creating a process that states you must contact a client before closing a service order.”

Never forget that you are expected by the customer to deliver their expectations. Do that properly, and the customer will deliver to you. That’s good business! For that to work efficiently you should, of course, be using the very best CRM solution you can get.

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What single thing could allow you to get even more out of every customer you already have, and why would you want to know? If you really don’t know the answer to that question, then either don’t go into business, or get out if you’re already in!

It’s no secret that customer information is the key to customizing the best purchasing environment possible to your customer’s needs. When one of your customers finds an environment that is exactly what he or she wants, whether that’s a subconscious or conscious thing, he or she is MUCH more likely to actually buy! And a buying customer means profits, of course.

How can you get all the possible information about a customer in ways that you can mix and match, so to speak, to allow you to trigger a buying mood? By using a good CRM system, because CRM software, properly used, has the power of a controlled hurricane!
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Employ role-based security in your business and all your worries will grind to a shuddering halt. In simple terms, you need a central administrator who manages it all. He or she will block viewing rights to individuals depending on their role within the organisation. This means that everyone has the right to see what they need to see (a need-to-know basis) and no more. The higher up in the chain of command they are, so to speak, the more they are likely to be able to access and view.

This system has some spin-off benefits. One can be that each sales rep will not suffer from information overload; he or she will only be able to access what they need in order to function properly. This prevents individuals from getting distracted and helps them to focus on what they are doing much better.

While it’s certainly possible to restrict a system that has previously been wide open to all and sundry, It is obviously much better if the system can be planned in this way from the beginning. So if you are looking for the best CRM solution you can find, start planning your CRM security now, because it will be much less hassle than trying to sort it out later.
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When you are considering your business’s security, don’t forget the consultants. Apart from costing your business a small fortune every time you call them in, do you know where their loyalty really lies? Could they actually be working for a competitor? You’d better believe they could be! How would you like to see all your customer records–every little detail–suddenly and ‘magically’ finding themselves in the hands of one of your competitors? It could easily happen to someone who is not being careful enough.

Maybe you are thinking right now that you can’t see how you can change things, because it would cause too much disruption to a system that already works–more or less. It needn’t cause any disruption, and it needn’t limit anyone from using the CRM system you have in place in exactly the way they need to use it. Take a leaf out of the book of all those spy movies I’m sure you have seen. I’m talking about a need-to-know basis, though you won’t have to eliminate anyone who might know too much.Microsoft CRM Software Provider

(part 3 will follow tomorrow…)