Digital Transformation
Why more CRM projects fail than succeed, and how you avoid your own project going wrong.
Defining a Clear Vision for CRM Success (Part 1)
Some CRM projects fail in a spectacular fashion and others help a business to successfully change and grow. How can you avoid your CRM project going wrong?
The first learning point is to recognise that CRM projects are complex and can fail. Walking blindly into a CRM project full of hope and optimism will not sustain the months of hard graft delivering change across your organisation.
This article ( Part 1) looks at the role vision and the setting of goals has on creating the right foundations for a successful CRM project. I also explore how to run a good RFI and RFP process, capturing everything in a solid business base. Part 2 looks at the specific project risks as you get your CRM project underway.
This all comes from first-hand experience of helping support tens of businesses with their CRM project deployments. Some have been rescue jobs, others have been well planned and executed projects, with clients simply needing a helping hand to get over the line.
Establishing a vision
A clear vision should be defined from the outset and written down as a statement. This should reflect what challenges you want to address. By articulating and documenting this statement, you’ll have a common reference point and rallying cry to motivate your project team and wider business. It doesn’t have to be very long or detailed, but does need to have clarity and purpose. This is sometimes skipped, leaving the CRM project as a technical project disconnected from the business.
Here is an example of a mature business that wants to improve the value from existing customers;
“We wish to engage our clients more deeply by personalising their journey with us alongside effective retention and cross selling strategies.”
The subtext of this vision statement is a recognition that they have got to a size where automating services would be beneficial due to scarcity of skilled resources, driving more efficiencies and improving profitability, but not at the cost of the personal touch which is key to retention and growth from within.
Here is an example of a high growth sales driven business;
“To enable our existing central sales team to progress any opportunity, utilising a consistent methodology that encourages consultative selling with a systematic method to qualify opportunities that will be readily accessible to our regional sales teams, with excellent reporting on activity, revenue generated, conversion rates and pipeline”
The background to this vision statement is a recognition that with high growth comes high staff turnover and a lack of consistency. This business has been reliant on a handful of star employees and needs to reduce the risk and share the knowledge.
Both businesses are deploying a CRM project, but the visions are very different, and the end outcomes will be addressing very different challenges.
This process is about defining your business vision rather than a technical vision. As such, this process should reflect on the future direction of your business alongside your business values and guiding principles of why you are in business and what sets you apart.
Goals
Goals help support the delivery of your vision. I’ve often seen goals being defined by the senior leadership team in isolation. A good CRM will bring different departments together, sharing key data. This is an opportunity to consider the goals of different teams and departments, such as marketing, sales, customer service, finance and operations. I also like to consider the goals of your end customers at this point in time, especially where the CRM has the potential to improve service delivery.
Here are 10 very common CRM goals;
- Single source of truth about customers, members, prospects & other contacts
- Identifying the most valuable accounts
- Increasing the volume of new sales opportunities
- Understanding the ROI from marketing activities
- Reducing operating costs
- Accurately measuring customer satisfaction
- Reducing administration and simplifying data entry
- Replacing time-consuming workflows
- Ensuring Service Level Agreements are met
- On-demand reporting across key metrics
Vendor selection
There are over 30 mainstream CRM vendors out there and hundreds of smaller start up style businesses offering some very smart CRM solutions. The choice of CRM product is incredible. This choice can be overwhelming and makes choosing hard, as it’s not every day that a business buys into a CRM solution.
Some CRM vendors are rather ruthless with their sales approach, putting a surprising amount of pressure on you as a potential enquirer. I help to avoid that pressure, working closely with a client to match requirements with a short list of CRM providers. This is delivered through a managed RFI and RFP process to ensure the clients own decision making is informed and exact. This process provides a level playing field for the vendors to demonstrate and present their credentials, keeping everything clear and fair for all. Part of the process is an initial workshop with the client’s leadership team, sharing my knowledge to give them confidence to make observations and ask pertinent questions of the vendors later in the process.
Business Case
The assumption is that you have already got the ball rolling in terms of understanding that you need a CRM. You probably have a rough outline of a business case, but it is lacking key details such as budget, timeframe, project approach, impact and expected outcomes. The process above of defining vision, goals and the RFI / RFP will provide you all of that detail, allowing you to go back to the business with a solid case to move forward with.
Next steps
If you are considering or in the process of replacing your CRM, please get in touch. We can help you discuss your needs and share advice to help accelerate your implementation, focusing on a rapid initial deployment that achieves early payback and incremental improvements.
In Part 2 I explore the common risks linked to CRM project delivery. Having the risks in mind will help you to avoid the typical mistakes I’ve seen.
About the author
Chris Hull, Chris Hull – Director, Digital Consultation Ltd.
Chris has worked in the tech sector for over 20 years, helping business of all shapes and sizes to make the most of digital tech. Chris and his colleagues help clients to understand the opportunities and define a way forward, from simply improving a website through to streamlining systems and implementing business wide digital change.
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