Introducing A New CRM To Your Company

CRM solutions are continuously evolving, releasing new features and functionality (cloud, mobile, AI) and new vendors entering the market. There is a CRM for you, whether you are looking for an enterprise solution for small or midsize businesses, need a solution designed for a mobile, decentralized workforce, or want something industry-specific, etc. But with such a wide and evolving range of CRM solutions to choose from, how do you determine which CRM is right for your organization? And, more importantly, how do you then get business users to make the most of the software?

 

A CRM program involves complicated business and technology issues and requires significant investments of time and money. It should be applied only to processes vital to a company’s competitiveness that can distance a firm from its competitors or keep a function such as a call center response time on par with the rest of the industry when parity counts.

 

Be Clear About Your Goals

It is very important to pen down your goals for your organization. Once you have all your goals clear then you can decide on the next step. Planning about goals takes time and one should be clear about how realistic those goals are and which ones can be fulfilled. So plan your goals accordingly and jump on to the next step.

 

The Right Time To Adopt A CRM

  • When you want to manage your business from one cloud platform.
  • When you want to save on the costs of multiple business software.
  • When you want great outcomes from every customer interaction.

 

Research shows that, on average, 65% of salespeople who adopt mobile CRM meet their sales quotas. Only 22% of salespeople who don’t leverage mobile CRM meet their quotas. In a recent survey, US-based Merkle Group Inc. estimated that 63% of projects in large organizations fail. That is a very high number and certainly one that can make you consider if CRM can be the success you want it to be. However, the same survey also showed that the organizations who had successfully implemented CRM also saw clear benefits and real business value.

 

Whenever a business wants to make an impact on its customers it should look towards using a good CRM (customer relationship management) solution.

 

Handling your data in a spreadsheet or any traditional method becomes very difficult when your business is growing, it becomes important to have all your data from all sources in one place and that is when you decide to adopt a CRM System.

When you decide that you need a CRM, you need to find one that's suitable for your business, which is not an easy task, given the incredible range of CRM systems available in the marketplace. I typed "CRM" into Google and got 139 million hits!

 

  • The most important consideration is the size of your business, which is the simplest indicator of how many staff and customers you might have and therefore what capabilities your CRM might need.
  • Systems will come and go over time and the relative merits of each will also change over time, so do your research when you're ready and consult up-to-date reviews.

 

Opinions vary on the merits of different CRM systems, which will be heavily influenced by personal preferences and a range of other factors. Several CRM systems claim to be suitable across the whole spectrum of business sizes, with some programs that were originally designed for large organizations saying they can scale down to smaller businesses, and some that were originally designed for small businesses saying they can scale up to big organizations. However, there will be a balance point of cost, features, and usability that will hit a sweet spot for you and your business. Whichever system you choose, you should check the benefits that a CRM System will bring to your business in terms of customer retention and engagement.

 

Understand What Is Needed

Before implementing a CRM you need to understand the needs of the organization from the CRM. What drives your need for CRM? What do you hope to accomplish? What problems will it solve? What processes can be improved? For a new CRM, one goal might be to create a central repository of clean, complete contact data and reliable mailing and event lists. For an established CRM, where the aim is to enhance return on system investment, goals may be more sophisticated, like tracking sales activities or pipelines.

 

Eliminate Data Silos

The final thing you need to keep in mind when managing your CRM project is that you need to eliminate data silos to succeed. Users need access to data beyond what they enter into the system. That means integration across users and departments and integration projects are always difficult.

Let's look at 5 ways in which you can eliminate data silos.

  1. Unify Data Management Systems.
  2. To disassemble data silos, start by understanding the company departments, the processes, and the systems they use.
  3. Look for Data Integration Capabilities.
  4. Prevent Data Silos from Stacking Up.
  5. Set Clear Expectations

 

Define A Strategy

CRM is not just technology, but a strategy and philosophy. Saying “Let’s do CRM this year” is not a strategy. Neither saying “We’ll work in a CRM way from now on” is a philosophy. To have a successful CRM strategy means that you need to define how your work processes will change, what steps you’re going to take at each implementation stage, what you want to achieve and how you’re going to measure your goals, and how CRM is going to complement your business development plan.

 

 

8 Simple Steps for a Successful CRM Implementation with JackTrade

Implementing a CRM system can be a daunting task for small business owners, but it doesn't have to be. JackTrade, a CRM system, helps small businesses effectively manage their customers and sales pipeline. With JackTrade, your team can understand your customers on a deeper level, identify sales opportunities, and track the performance of your organization. In this guide, we'll walk you through the five simple steps for a successful CRM implementation with JackTrade.

  1. Gain Company-Wide Commitment - Before beginning any project, it's important to identify the problem that the project will solve. CRM systems involve several areas of business, so it's crucial to get support from all departments: finance, manufacturing, sales, marketing, and support.
  2. Planning The Implementation - This step involves strategic planning of the implementation process. The project manager should outline the currently perceived shortcomings in business processes, the proposed timeline, and the technology that will be used.
  3. Business Needs Analysis - For any success in a CRM project, there is a need for an analysis of the business needs. In most cases, the project team skips the assessment of the current processes and directly moves to the CRM initiative technology without determining what needs automation.
  4. CRM Plan Of Action Once you have conceptualized the ideal CRM system, the next phase is the Plan of Action. This phase involves determining factors that may extend beyond the CRM specification. Begin by searching for CRM solutions in the industry, and selecting the one that best fits your business needs. With JackTrade, you can rest easy knowing that you have a CRM system that will help your small business thrive.
  5. Data Migration and Integration To ensure a smooth transition to the new CRM system, it is important to properly migrate and integrate all necessary data from the previous system. This includes customer information, sales and marketing data, financial data, and any other relevant information that is needed for the operation of the CRM system.
  6. Testing and Quality Assurance Before the CRM system is launched, it is important to thoroughly test and conduct quality assurance on the system to ensure that it is functioning properly and that there are no bugs or glitches. This includes conducting user acceptance testing, performance testing, and system integration testing.
  7. Go-Live and Support Once the CRM system has been tested and is deemed ready for launch, it is time to go live with the system. This includes deploying the system and making it available for use to all employees. It's also important to have a support system in place for employees to address any issues or questions they may have about the system.
  8. Continuous Improvement The implementation of a CRM system is not a one-time process, but rather a continual improvement. Regularly review the system and gather feedback from employees to identify areas for improvement, and make necessary updates and enhancements to the system to ensure it is meeting the needs of the business and driving desired results.

 

CRM Rollout Needs Attention

CRM rollouts are very complex and sometimes lead to failure. Lack of communication between everyone in the customer relationship chain can lead to an incomplete picture of the customer and one could not be able to close the deal. Poor communication can lead to technology being implemented without proper support from the users. For example, if the sales force isn't completely sold on the system's benefits, they may not input the kind of demographic data that is essential to the program's success.

 

Build An Implementation Team

Once the planning has been outlined, the next step is to select the project team. This team will be the CRM effort nucleus, making recommendations and decisions, and ensuring communication of CRM program benefits and details to the entire business. At a basic level, you should include:

  1. Project manager: the leader during your CRM planning
  2. Application analyst: responsible for data migration and cleansing
  3. Application developer: in charge of system customization
  4. QA test engineer: heads up testing efforts
  5. Representatives from all key user groups:
  6. Sales team
  7. Sales managers
  8. Marketing team
  9. Marketing managers
  10. Project managers
  11. Customer service representatives

These will help you decide on a particular role for each one of them for your organization. Assigning roles will make it easy for the team and everyone can focus on their tasks.

 

Provide Proper Training And Support

Proper training and onboarding of employees are crucial for the successful implementation of the CRM system. This includes providing employees with the necessary knowledge and skills to operate the system, as well as ensuring that they understand how the system can benefit their daily work and the overall operation of the business.

The most successful training tends to be a mix of online, face-to-face, practice, and having managers who can support their team. Getting teams out of the office for a day is very important. Not only does it give trainees mental space it sends out the right message - that the training is important!

  1. Marketing training should focus on things like contact segmentation, list building, event management, and reporting.
  2. Data teams need training on research and data-quality best practices. Assistants need training on inputting and updating information and activities and adding contacts to lists.
  3. Sales teams need to learn tasks and tools to enhance their productivity and processes to improve their close rates and managers need to learn to glean insights from relevant metrics and reports.

You can choose a classroom-type training from an expert, or you can assign your super-user to do the training. You should also include an introduction to your CRM system in the onboarding process for new employees. This way new personnel will learn how to use CRM from the start.

 

Launch With A BANG!

A CRM project manager’s mantra should be motivation, motivation, and motivation! Internal marketing is often underestimated, but when implementing CRM software, you need to sell it to your colleagues. Publish a fun article on your website, create a poster, make a special launch t-shirt, or even better – organize a launch party for everyone! It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money, but something to celebrate the launch and increase enthusiasm. You can ask people how things are going and help them if they struggle.

 

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