By David Sims at CRMGuru.com (note:can't find a live document on the web to link to)
- Unclear goals. Lets dwell on this one for a minute. Typically, the more complex the goal, the more complex the CRM system. Simplify your goals. Are you looking to increase sales? Have more effective support resolutions? Obtain higher customer satisfaction ratings? All of the above? All of that is fine, as long as you're specific and clear, and you also address the tactical questions how long will it take to realise the ROI? Should you look for a flexible solution that can be adapted to your specific and future requirements? How far and wide might this solution be deployed departmentally, regionally, or internationally?
- Weak sponsorship. Your executive team needs to position CRM implementation as the strategic cornerstone of your company, as a business-led initiative with justifiable benefits. As such, it requires sponsorship or buy-in across the company. It won't be successful if the CRM initiative is confined to marketing or sales channels because customers interact with all touch points of the organisation, including distribution and shipping, customer service and the Web.
- Poor communication. Many CRM projects fail because participants don't fully understand the purpose of these projects, nor the company-wide benefits that could result from them. The lesson here is to develop a plan that communicates the specific benefits to each department and then follow up with training across disciplines to reinforce communications.
- Misunderstood customer needs. At which points do your customers make contact with the company? How are the interactions really working? How can you improve the way you are responding to customers? If these answers are quantifiable, the findings of this planning, research, and analysis should flow smoothly into the design and development of the system.
- Blurry workflow. To get the most bang from your CRM buck, you will need to study the way different groups capture and use information gathered from a CRM solution. Having a clearly outlined workflow that shows how information is captured, stored, updated and accessed will keep your business operating smoothly. Having a clear understanding of your partners processes will keep your business flourishing.
- Confused priorities. If the technology does not have the flexibility to grow with your changing needs, if it does not optimize your communications with customers and partners, then what is the point? Different CRM solutions have varying functionalities, capabilities, strengths and pricing structures that are better suited for certain organisations, industries, and user requirements.
- Mismatched partners. The Gartner Group advises companies to be as diligent in the search for a well-matched partner as they are in the hunt for the ultimate software. If you don't understand the vendors CRM solution in its entirety, or don't know the vendors partners, you might wind up with no solution at all. By choosing a vendor that has in-depth experience in your industry as well as solutions that match your requirements, your firm will be better positioned to tailor the solution for a wide variety of uses.
