Choose the right customer relationship management (CRM) solution and you can immediately increase the effectiveness of your sales, marketing, and support organizations. You’ll understand what marketing campaigns are most effective, where your most profitable customers come from, how effective your sales cycle is, what types of customer support problems you face, and how quickly they can be resolved.
Pick the wrong solution, however, and you can find yourself spending millions of dollars for an overly complex system that goes unused, wasting precious IT/IS resources on an unproductive project, and compromising your organizations ability to succeed in an ever-competitive marketplace. So how do you make sure you see a healthy return on your investment in Customer Relationship Management?
Below are six questions you should ask before signing on the dotted line.
1. How much is it really going to cost?
Be sure to research all of the costs associated with each Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution you are considering. This means looking beyond the official “list” price. Will it work on your existing equipment or will you have to invest in any additional hardware to get the system up and running? Will your organization require lap top upgrades? How much consulting and IT personnel support will you need for implementation, data migration, customization, training and upgrades? Make sure you have factored in all of these costs so you have a clear understanding of the total cost of ownership (TCO).
2. How long will it take to get up and running?
Once you’ve decided to maximize your customer relationships, you need to know how long it will take to get started in order to reap the benefits. With some systems you can be up and running in a matter of hours. Others take months of implementation. You’ll also want evaluate training time. How many days out of the year will you be required to pull your reps out of the field to teach them how to use the system? Chances are, the more complex the customer relationship management solution is, the more time you can expect to spend on consulting and implementation, not to mention training.
3. Will my Sales, Marketing and Support organizations actually use it?
Even the best customer relationship management solution is useless if you can’t get your sales force, customer support reps or marketing organization to take advantage of it. Look for simple, well-designed applications that are easy to learn and easy to use. How intuitive is the interface? How much advance training will be needed to teach your people how to use it and how much lost productivity will it equate to? Does the service offer personal setup wizards and online tutorials to help your reps ramp up quickly, on their terms, when it is convenient for them? The more complex the application, the more training involved, and the more likely your organization will be frustrated with the process and go back to their “old” way of doing things. Sometimes less is more – especially if it means more of your organization will actually use the system.
4. What other useful, timesaving services can my sales people access through the application?
The Web is full of helpful tools, services and information. Before meeting with a potential client, for example, you can research their company’s prospects, find a map and directions to their office and even locate a nearby restaurant for some good old wining and dining. To save time, look for applications with built-in access to these kinds of resources so you can quickly and easily take advantage of them. You want your organization to leverage the best of the Web, but you certainly don’t want them to waste time trying to search for the right information and services. A good customer relationship management service can give you quick access to the most useful resources online.
5. Will it help my organization be more productive and offer better customer service?
Let’s say a potential customer shows interest in your company’s products or services by stopping by your booth at a trade show, signing up for information on your website, or calling your 800 number. The truth is, following up and tracking these leads can be a nightmare for most companies. Too often real opportunities are lost because no one was able to follow up on leads in a timely manner. The good news: some of the newest customer relationship solutions can help you not only capture leads from various sources, but even route them to the right person in your organization based on geographic territories, industries or size of organizations, track where the leads came from to help you measure the effectiveness your marketing campaigns, and understand what is needed for your organization to offer you consistent, appropriate customer support.
6. Can it help me understand what is happening with my business and report on it more effectively?
Nothing is more frustrating than not having easily accessible data that lets you understand how your business is performing. A good customer relationship management service can help. It makes it easy for representatives in Sales to track and forecast their deals, makes it easy for representatives in Support to track and monitor their customer support levels, and allows Marketing to understand what campaigns are successful at delivering the most profitable customers. It also empowers managers to instantly assess and report on organizational performance. The best customer relationship management solutions can help managers create customized reports at the click of a button.
Selecting the right customer relationship management solution is no easy task. Before you make your final decision, you need to have a clear sense of how much it is going to cost and how long it is going to take to implement. That means you can’t be afraid to ask tough questions. After all, you need to make sure the vendors you are considering are responsive to your needs. Look at their customer list to see if they have a track record of serving companies like yours. If you can, see if they will let you use the system for a trial period without making a long-term commitment. You should be able to try the product and walk away without penalty. The good news is that there are some very good products and services out there to help you maximize your organization’s potential. All you have to do is find the right one for you.
