By: Scott Farmer, VP of Sales at Salesnet
With over 60 percent of CRM projects failing, it is pretty easy to point to the reasons why. Many people will tell you that it has more to do with the company trying to use the CRM than the CRM software system itself, but I believe it is a combination of both.
There are many pitfalls that can limit the success of a CRM project. Some have to do with how you go about implementing and supporting your system, and some are about the capabilities and fit of the system to your needs.
Let’s look at a few of the project downfalls and how to fix them:
Complicated – If you make the initial roll out of the product meet all your objectives you are likely to fail. If you make it too complicated you will have trouble with user acceptance, and without the users you have nothing.
KISS – Everyone knows what this acronym means and everyone should know that it is as true today as it was 20 years ago. You have plenty of time to add functionality but the initial roll out should be simple. You can even configure the system with all the bells and whittles but don’t role them out to the users until they get the basics. What you will find is that they will be asking you to add critical functionality once they get a handle on the basics.
Management – A CRM system not only has to be supported and driven by management, it has to be used by management. The fastest way to kill a CRM system is to tell the sales people that they have to put the forecast into a spread sheet for management.
Driven from the Top – Not only do you have to have management drive the system, but they also have to use the system on a daily basis. If management isn’t going to use the system then you shouldn’t buy a system. Management also needs to enforce the fact that everyone will, and has to, use the system. A little carrot and stick approach works well for this. Many of our customers have a policy that if an opportunity is not recorded in the CRM, the sales person doesn’t get paid for it. I would even go further than this; If the opportunity is not in the system with all the required data (i.e. Competition, Product Info, Pricing, etc) they don’t get paid.
Training – Most companies don’t spend enough time and money on CRM training. While many companies may schedule training classes they don’t insure that the users attend or ,if they do attend, that they really learn the product.
Train, Train, Train – You can’t train too much. CRM systems are somewhat complicated and while your more technical people may be able to figure out how to use the system without training, they likely will not use it effectively. With CRM systems you have a unique problem with training, Salespeople. Salespeople normally have a short attention span because they are focused on what they need to do next to get the orders they are working on. You must develop your training with this in mind. Any session should not be more than two hours and I think it works best if they are one hour. If you are doing training as part of a sales meeting, make sure you have plenty of breaks for them to make phone calls. Management also needs to be in the training to show commitment, enforcement and because they have to use the system too.
Doesn’t Drive Sales – This is where the CRM selection becomes important. Most CRM systems are just big filling cabinets to collect data. If that is all you want, then you are sure to fail. If the salespeople don’t get value from the system they will not use it or if they are forced to , they will put Garbage In and you will get Garbage Out.
Sales Performance Improvement CRM - Driving sales effectiveness is the most important key to success. If the system helps people sell, they will use it and by definition it will be successful. This means the system has to have an easy to use sales process that drives the correct activities and coaches the sales people along the way. It needs to ask for the right data at the right time and make the data entry easy. I, personally believe, that there is only one CRM system on the market today that truly drives sales performance and that is Salesnet.While many systems have some sort of process capability in their product, few products have a true work flow engine that drive sales performance.
With over 60 percent of CRM projects failing, it is pretty easy to point to the reasons why. Many people will tell you that it has more to do with the company trying to use the CRM than the CRM software system itself, but I believe it is a combination of both.
There are many pitfalls that can limit the success of a CRM project. Some have to do with how you go about implementing and supporting your system, and some are about the capabilities and fit of the system to your needs.
Let’s look at a few of the project downfalls and how to fix them:
Complicated – If you make the initial roll out of the product meet all your objectives you are likely to fail. If you make it too complicated you will have trouble with user acceptance, and without the users you have nothing.
KISS – Everyone knows what this acronym means and everyone should know that it is as true today as it was 20 years ago. You have plenty of time to add functionality but the initial roll out should be simple. You can even configure the system with all the bells and whittles but don’t role them out to the users until they get the basics. What you will find is that they will be asking you to add critical functionality once they get a handle on the basics.
Management – A CRM system not only has to be supported and driven by management, it has to be used by management. The fastest way to kill a CRM system is to tell the sales people that they have to put the forecast into a spread sheet for management.
Driven from the Top – Not only do you have to have management drive the system, but they also have to use the system on a daily basis. If management isn’t going to use the system then you shouldn’t buy a system. Management also needs to enforce the fact that everyone will, and has to, use the system. A little carrot and stick approach works well for this. Many of our customers have a policy that if an opportunity is not recorded in the CRM, the sales person doesn’t get paid for it. I would even go further than this; If the opportunity is not in the system with all the required data (i.e. Competition, Product Info, Pricing, etc) they don’t get paid.
Training – Most companies don’t spend enough time and money on CRM training. While many companies may schedule training classes they don’t insure that the users attend or ,if they do attend, that they really learn the product.
Train, Train, Train – You can’t train too much. CRM systems are somewhat complicated and while your more technical people may be able to figure out how to use the system without training, they likely will not use it effectively. With CRM systems you have a unique problem with training, Salespeople. Salespeople normally have a short attention span because they are focused on what they need to do next to get the orders they are working on. You must develop your training with this in mind. Any session should not be more than two hours and I think it works best if they are one hour. If you are doing training as part of a sales meeting, make sure you have plenty of breaks for them to make phone calls. Management also needs to be in the training to show commitment, enforcement and because they have to use the system too.
Doesn’t Drive Sales – This is where the CRM selection becomes important. Most CRM systems are just big filling cabinets to collect data. If that is all you want, then you are sure to fail. If the salespeople don’t get value from the system they will not use it or if they are forced to , they will put Garbage In and you will get Garbage Out.
Sales Performance Improvement CRM - Driving sales effectiveness is the most important key to success. If the system helps people sell, they will use it and by definition it will be successful. This means the system has to have an easy to use sales process that drives the correct activities and coaches the sales people along the way. It needs to ask for the right data at the right time and make the data entry easy. I, personally believe, that there is only one CRM system on the market today that truly drives sales performance and that is Salesnet.While many systems have some sort of process capability in their product, few products have a true work flow engine that drive sales performance.
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