CRM is not just another piece of software to be loaded onto your computer network or floating in the cloud. It should be the backbone of your customer knowledge, customer service and sales. If senior management, especially sales, isn’t committed to your CRM, then failure of the system is a given.
In particular, sales management must concentrate on the implementation of their CRM, regardless of what system is being used.
There is a great article, titled 7 Signs of an Epic CRM Fail (and How To Fix It) authored by Ken Thoreson, managing director of the Acumen Management Group Ltd. that provides some very valuable information on how to make your CRM effective.
In it, he asks if you can identify with the following challenges:
- Pipeline values and forecasting are neither accurate nor updated in real time.
- Sales opportunities aren't properly updated to reflect the appropriate sales stage.
- Outdated sales opportunities linger in the system.
- Each salesperson uses the system differently.
- Sales activity codes are redundant or not being used.
- Marketing leads and their sources aren't tracked.
- The database is not current or only partial information is recorded, ensuring that marketing can't use the system effectively for campaigns.
I will assume that most of us have faced the above problems. Certainly, after more than two decades of working with my clients, all seven of the above are common issues.
Take a few moments to read Ken’s full article to learn more about executing a successful CRM system. Then, for more information take a look at one of InfoGrow’s older blog posts, CRM Should Be All About Success -- Not Failure.
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Posted by: Sales force consulting | December 19, 2011 at 01:08 AM