Six Steps to Successful CRM

by Adhanda Enterprises, LLC, A technology digest

With summer winding down, thoughts often turn to the start of a new school year, and indeed the start-up of many activities and events that have been on hiatus over the last few months. It seems only fitting, then, to brush up on the things that make a CRM effort successful, especially since there are still many companies that haven't launched such projects. In the June 2002 issue of Direct, Jamie Botdorf and Ari Buchwald set forth 'six steps to successful CRM' worth following to ensure a smooth CRM project.

1. Identify Champions. The CRM team must be committed to the cause. This means gathering 'champions' from every corner of the organisation--upper management as well as each department or business unit. Operations, sales, customer service, Internet support, and information technology should be involved; but don't forget other areas like accounting, legal, and human resources. These members become the project advocates, carrying the message to their departments that this is not just the latest crazy idea or management fad, but a company wide effort and a new way of doing business.
    
2. Develop a consensus. Make sure everyone agrees on what CRM means to your firm. Determine the answers to questions like: What does CRM mean to you, company management, and your customers? How broad or narrow should the definition be? You'll need internal consensus to gain management's support for future phases and drive acceptance of changes such as alterations to operational procedures and adoption of best practices. The definition should address broad business practices, outlining a customer-centric philosophy rather than a detailed plan of attack.
    
3. Develop the Vision. Determine what CRM means specifically to the organisation. The documented vision will serve to guide activities and decisions throughout the rest of the development process. Keep in mind two critical issues:
    
   
   • Business rules should define the system. Once a firm understanding is developed, then technology solutions that match the requirements can be considered--not the other way around.
      
   • Customers, not business goals, measure success. Defining business goals is a necessary step to ensuring selection of the appropriate tools and the development of efficient customer-centric procedures. These goals are not, however, the same criteria by which to gauge the success of a CRM project. It's important to always keep the customer foremost in the process and approach success from the customer's perspective. By focusing on the process, the desired result will come.
      
4. Share the Vision. Generate curiosity in order to build companywide awareness of the CRM effort. Establish communication channels for sharing success stories, answering questions, and addressing concerns. An internal CRM effort can be accomplished with newsletters, e-mails or even via an intranet site. To help people get on board, boil the vision down to one or two sentences or use word pictures. Develop names for customer profiles--for example, 'Karen, the Soccer Mom' might represent your average customer.
    
5. Manage Expectations. Develop an internal consensus on how quickly the company should see a return on its CRM investment. Consider issues such as: How much time has been allowed to develop new procedures and software? How high are the expectations that CRM will deliver significant cost savings or increased income? What's the pace of change within the organisation? Establish quick-win milestones and easily achievable goals to keep the work force on track.

    

6. Continually Refine Efforts. Once the tools are in place for delivering on the vision, don't assume the project is finished. One benefit of CRM is the ability to 'sense and respond' to customer needs. Make sure this also applies to the entire enterprise and that the organisation doesn't depend on technology as its sole business solution. Revisit the vision, documentation, and training regularly to see if it all still applies. Success must be measured from the customer's perspective, so use metrics such as types, number and frequency of issues, as well as the expected time to resolution. Keep the cycle going--make it harder for your customer to want to do business anywhere else.