How to properly implement a CRM-system: the algorithm of action and common mistakes

According to a study by CRM implementation company C5Insight, an average of 38% of CRM integrations into a business yield lower-than-projected results. The reason is not because of bad IT-products, but because companies do not know how to properly implement CRM, make mistakes and end up losing their investments.

But if the transition to CRM is successful, the investment will pay off more than 5 times over. According to a study by analytical company Nucleus Research, every dollar invested in CRM brings $5.6 in profits.

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Stages of implementation

The implementation of CRM is different, but there are always five main stages in the process. At each of them, the integrator - a representative of the CRM company - acts as a supervisor, but don't worry: you don't have to write a "checklist". You just need to follow the integrator's instructions: accurately describe the business processes and problems that you want to solve with the help of the IT product. And if you want to simplity your bisiness you may need custom crm software development company.

1.Description of business processes

Since the CRM system allows you to improve and automate existing processes, you must first describe them. This data will form the basis for setting up the program:

  • What is the structure of the company? How are people distributed between departments? How are the tasks between the employees?
  • Who are the company's customers? From what sources do they appear, how are they grouped?
  • What is the algorithm of interaction with clients?
  • How is customer loyalty handled? How does marketing work in general?
  • What analytical tools are commonly used in the company?

2. Drawing up the terms of reference

When business processes are described, it is necessary to analyze the weak points. After all, it is for their elimination the program is implemented.

For example, your managers react slowly to new requests from the company's website - they call back customers only the next day or forget about them altogether. As a result the company loses potential customers. This should be indicated in the terms of reference, so that the integrator offered the variant of solving the problem. But that will already happen at the next stage.

3. Generating a Settings Map

Business processes are described, problems are identified, and now you need to think about how to "win" them with the system: what processes can be optimized, accelerated, automated. For example, you can automate the sending of sms-notifications to clients, invoicing, setting tasks for managers, and so on.

At this stage, the leading role is given to the CRM specialist. He has in-depth knowledge of the capabilities of the IT-product, and can offer nuances that the consumer has not even guessed existed. In addition, the integrator can advise on changing the sales funnel or improving the interaction with customers - in other words, he acts as a consultant.

If you continue with the example from the previous stage, the integrator can offer this way to deal with lost customers: set up CRM integration with the site, so that each request is automatically recorded in the program and a responsible manager is assigned to it. The system will automatically set him the task of calling the client within 15 minutes, and if the task is overdue, the sales manager will immediately know about it through software notification.

4. CRM setup, import, integration

This stage is the technical implementation of the previous one. The work falls entirely on the implementation specialist. He imports data, configures the sales funnel and checklists, creates custom fields, prescribes scripts for automating business processes-in short, adjusts the interface of the system to your business. In addition, this step is configured CRM integration with third-party services that you use in your work: mail, IP-telephony, company website, sms-mailing service and others.

5. Staff training

There is no point in figuring out how to implement CRM in a company if employees can't work with it competently. CRM is only a tool, which in itself does not bring profit, so it is important to explain to employees how this obscure program is better than the usual Excel, and why it is so important to painstakingly record data about customers and transactions at every stage of work.

For example, if you call a client, you record the outcome of negotiations in his card; if you do not get a call, you set a reminder to call back in two hours; if you close the deal, you mark in the CRM that the sale is complete, and then the client will automatically receive an SMS with a request for feedback.

If this is not done, then the sales reports will be incorrect, process automation will not work, and the database will become a simple set of names and phone numbers.

In fact, many people find it difficult to formulate problems, identify weaknesses in their work cases, and understand which business processes need to be automated. To do this, it is better to immediately contact a developer and ask for help.

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