In this customer-centric age, the only thing worse (actually exponentially worse) than having no dedicated system for your customers, better known as Customer Relationship Management systems or CRM systems, is to have a CRM that doesn't work the way you intended it to! You may have made massive investments, including money and time. You may have implemented the best CRM for your organization and, yet, slowly but surely you can see it's failing to live up to your expectations. Sounds like a complete nightmare, doesn't it?
If you knew what's ailing your CRM, surely you would do something to save it! With this philosophy, this post looks at some of the most common, yet difficult to perceive, reasons why a CRM system typically fails.
1. Clueless About Your Requirements
As clichéd as it sounds, far too many CRM systems fail because there is no clarity on what is expected of them. Some organizations limit their vision to using CRM merely as a tool for salesforce automation. A few others at the other extreme end of the spectrum tend to invest far too many resources and time toward the CRM, forgetting that, in essence, it is just a tool to be used judiciously. The usage of your CRM system needs to be a balanced endeavor, where you use it to get more insights about your customers and not merely as a data storage center.
2. Top-down Approach
Often, organizations implement a CRM because the management thinks it is required, without taking into account the end users' point of view. A contributing reason to CRM implementation failures is when the implementation becomes overly disruptive to the organization's daily business practices, more so when it is sans the endorsement of end users.
3. Retrospective Planning
Organizations are often guilty of procuring a CRM system and then sitting down to decide how to align it within their organization and processes. By the time you reach a consensus within management and get the end user endorsements, your CRM licenses have been rotting idly for months! So you're spending a lot of money and getting no use of it, inevitably leading to budget overruns, lack of ownership and focus and, thereby, to the failure of your CRM.
4. Lack of End-user Training
Quite a few organizations do not invest enough toward training their personnel, thinking CRM is something their workforce will learn with the passage of time. It is an incorrect and expensive approach. Training your personnel to use the CRM correctly and to its full extent is paramount as it ensures you do not spend thousands of dollars trying to optimize your CRM later.
5. The Wrong Technology Partner (Even at the Right Price)
Last, but not the least, it's essential you get your partner selection spot on. Be sure to focus on getting a vendor with experienced people working on your account, not just a vendor who has past experience as a company. The technology industry is highly volatile with new firms created every day. You will often find some of the best talent in these new and, often, smaller firms where they have more influence on their career. Choose a vendor (large or small) who has experienced consultants and developers with years of implementation experience backing them up and working on your account. They will be aware of the common glitches that you are likely to face, and hence, will be better prepared to tackle them, thus ensuring your CRM rolls out within the stipulated time and budget.
So What?
While factors affecting and ailing the CRM will differ from organization to organization and will be related to their overall CRM strategy, these are the most common factors that contribute to overall CRM failure universally. Now that you are aware of them, make sure you don't commit these mistakes within your organization!
Don't let your CRM fail. Let's talk about how a Managed Service Provider may be a good idea for your business.