CRM is not a tool – it is a strategy used to increase the ROI and overall profit of the company. And it is a very successful strategy. However, it does not work on the plug-and-play principle. In fact, over 70% of CRM projects fail due to the poor adoption of the system. The worst thing is that purchasing and setting up CRM costs money. Training employees costs money. To make sure all of your efforts and investments are not in vain, here are seven tips for a successful implementation of your new CRM system.
What we won’t cover today is the technical side of the setup. This is something you will learn from the vendor. Instead, we will talk about the best practices to teach you how to think as a CRM person and create a successful strategy that will help your business expand.
1. Get the support of your senior executives
This first step in implementing a CRM system is to make sure you have the support of the senior executives. This is a crucial moment. If the executives see a benefit, they will ensure that the system gets enough exposure. They will put all of their efforts into making this work, not only for your team but for the company as well.
One of the main reasons why a CRM strategy may fail is if there are not enough people invested in making it work.
2. Find a passionate project manager
The key to the success of any project is the manager behind it. They are the person who plans everything and steers people in the right direction. Furthermore, a project manager is here to keep things organized and inspire people with passion and dedication. It is the key to healthy and happy employees.
3. Find a dedicated super-user
Testing a system is not easy. It is a challenging and often tedious job. However, this is something that must be done.
A dedicated super-user is a person who loves working in a CRM system – they are your know-it-all. You need a dedicated tester because CRM has a lot of functionalities.
You should also consider hiring a CRM consultant. This is a good idea if you don’t have any employees who have previous CRM experience. In this case, a consultant will be your know-it-all.
4. Motivate the employees to use the new CRM system
As we mentioned before, to successfully run a CRM system, you need motivated employees. This is where you need to use an internal marketing strategy. You need to sell this idea to the employees and colleagues and show all the benefits.
What you can do is:
- create an engaging presentation;
- host a CRM launch party;
- write a fun article;
Remember that you don’t have to spend a lot of money on this. Just make sure that everyone is excited about this positive change.
5. Set up guidelines and support materials
We spoke with a couple of CRM vendors to figure out the most common reason for a failed CRM strategy. According to the experts at moverstech.com, companies that don’t provide helpful user guidelines and support materials often find themselves lost in an endless sea of CRM features they don’t know how to use.
Training is necessary for a complex system like CRM. But it is also essential to make it possible for users to find free materials on how to use specific features.
You should also create use cases for various processes and tasks. Share these with all employees and colleagues.
6. Define CRM processes and strategies
As we mentioned at the beginning, using CRM is not easy. Implementing a system is one thing, but making it work is a whole other situation.
To successfully implement CRM, you need to think about how company processes change from now on. Furthermore, talk about steps you will take during each implementation stage. Define strategies to measure your goals. This is a must if you intend to use CRM to help the sales process.
7. Use relevant data
CRM is only as good as the data it stores. If you feed it with junk information, it will return the same thing. Another common pitfall is not knowing what data to keep in the database. If you start hoarding every little bit of information about the clients, you will only make it harder for the business to focus on the important stuff.
The most important types of data to store in your system are:
- contact information;
- social media profiles;
- contact history;
- order history;
- lead scoring;
- personal traits;
- recent news.
How to collect data for CRM?
Now that we’ve explained the most important tips for successfully implementing a CRM strategy, let’s talk about ways to collect data. While you can do this through various channels, not every source will work the same for your business.
One thing that always works is to collect the data from your social media account. Linking social media with CRM is a fantastic way to collect information about your clients. Another solution is to link CRM with your website. Take notes of any actions your customers take and use that information to understand your clients better. Furthermore, you can create various surveys, polls, and forms that focus on asking customers specific questions. You can do the same by creating an email campaign.
As you can see, there are many different ways to collect data for CRM. You should figure out what strategy or strategies work best for your company.
Successful implementation of your new CRM system is just a few steps away
If there is one thing to underline regarding the successful implementation of your new CRM system, that is to be passionate about the system. You need to be dedicated and persistent in making it work. Look at CRM as an idea of success, and make sure that every person in the company sees it in the same way.
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