What are the challenges in implementing CRM in small businesses?

We have been working with small businesses for about 20 years in both hardware/infrastructure/networking implementation and support and in supporting several sales management systems aimed at the smaller enterprise.

In addition to what has already been stated, here are a few things that have been pretty consistent challenges to successful "CRM" implementations...

"We can do it on our own."

"Let's ask out tech guy (my nephew) what he thinks."

"We do [fill in name of some technical service], so we can handle implementing a little old CRM system."

"Our users do not need training - you said it was easy."

"That's too much money."

"The boss is still going to use Symantec Q&A".

I agree with all the points made above. There are a couple of other challenges I would also note:

1. Understanding the Cost/Benefit equation. Many small businesses focus on the total expenditure to implement and use a CRM solution but do not take the time to evaluate the Opportunity cost of not embracing one. One small business I know walked away from CRM despite the fact that their Sales Manager had no visibility into the contact/opportunity stream of his reps. He had no ability to measure the volume, effectiveness and profitability of his sales rep pipelines.

2. Research/Evaluation of Solutions. With the advent of SaaS (software-as-a-service) capability more and more user friendly options abound, typically for a reasonable, scalable price.

3. CRM Automation enables steep growth. One of the hardest transitions that small businesses have to make is the evolution from one-to-one (my Rolodex) sales to larger prospect pools - which are reachable via email, social media and so on. Another fallacy is that automation breeds mass communication when in reality it allows for "mass" personalization.

4. Onboarding and Continual Learning. It's a fact that time and resources are needed to learn a new software tool and simply a new sales communication process. The newer CRM tools however make virtual learning/online learning accessible thus minimizing time away from work for training classes.

5. Low to No Accountability. Many companies install software solutions and assume that their staff will "get to it." As others have already stated that's a recipe for failure. Having an Owner - a manager or staff member - who will monitor, collaborate, educate or provide visibility to problems is critical to the solutions integration and success.

6. Orchestrating communications. CRM can enable a consistent, fluid conversation to the prospects and customers of a company. Too often once a CRM system is in place and "mass" personalization is enabled, brand message, offer treatments and contact strategy and timing go out the window. Embracing a communication approach and strategy which will sync with a sales strategy will bring the greatest success.

The biggest challenge is to time to manage it.

Adam I agree with William!
But I would like to add: In a typical SMB environment, you don't specialise as in a big organization - division of labour, responsibility and skills. So a CRM implementation is much more challenging, because the strategy is never well defined. It's more or less a opportunistic approach, driven by the day by day business.
Therefor: Keep the technology at a minimum and don't expect too much change from the established organization and don't expect you get any procedures or workflows implemented by tomorrow.
Don't get me wrong: This does not ipmly, do nothing! But it is challenging and you have to be backed by the management to get things moved into the right direction with discipline.
Regards, Alexander

I would add that, with their small IT departments, small businesses have a lot of difficult integrating their sales / CRM data with their order management and accounting processes and systems.

Rob

Small business (10 to 100 employees)and many retail sites have difficulty with new CRM systems. As Robert Israch summerized the problem, it is a real challenge to integrate sales, quotes, part numbers, prices, shipments, calls, billings, collections, tech support and accounting processes. Ad hoc processes that do exist usually need to change to create value from CRM suites. For example, when you hear it is not my fault for the billing error, John is repsonsible for the prices and discounts and he did it wrong on the quote. This stupid system wouldn't let me schedule the ship data without creating the new modified part number...

In general, site manager (could even be the owner) often lack the people skills to manage the operational changes, efficiently. This leads to ad hock work arounds that seem to forego some of the advantages of the CRM system.

Howard

From my experience, there's a series of tough challenges in small businesses that may jeopardize a CRM project implementation, if not taken into serious consideration;

1. One of the toughest, I agree, is the lack of well-defined business processes. It's typical for people in SBs to wear multiple hats, not to find real ownerships, whereas there are gray responsibility areas and reactive situation management with ad-hoc methods.

2. Another one is key-people 'fiefdoms', who define 'how things get done here' and bosses reluctance to risk the relationships and find project support and true adoption- more often found in family businesses.

3. The lack of internal IT, common in most SBs, puts additional hurdles; CRM implementors, often need to discover by themselves infrastructure & system software issues, existing apps (custom & packaged), internal IT literacy, etc.

4. Project expectations are really hard to put into a realistic scope; once they decide to finally deploy a CRM system, it's typical to expect everything from phase 1. All automations, integrations with other applications and systems, custom flows etc should be there. Also, many ERP gaps and missing functionality, are -somehow- automatically within CRM scope!

5. Unclean, unstructured, diverse and improper end-customer data to upload to the new CRM system, kept in many SBs, may undermine company's estimations regarding the time and effort required to reach productive system operation.

6. On top of the above, it's common to have champagne taste and beer budget...So very often they easily get disappointed and drop their CRM project.

Overall, regardless the pain-points mentioned, I'm not against deploying CRM to SBs; Just keeping in mind the above, both the CRM implementor and the small co, can avoid many pitfalls.

First, Scott's post is right on! When and if you choose to engage in CRM it must be with both feet. Lean on, and invest in, those who do CRM for a living. Reinventing the wheel only makes for a very bumpy ride!

Second, think corporate culture even if you are a small corporation. User adoption is going to drive you crazy unless you can fully demonstrate the value of everyone coming on board. Most often employees engage in things that bring them value and shy away from systems or programs that slow them down or are only one sided (Is this new CRM for Big Brother to watch what I'm doing?).

Third and lastly, here are some suggestions:
1. Invest in experience even if you think you can perhaps handle it on your own...don't risk it
2. Demonstrate value to the end users
3. Make sure it's easy to use and fits your company needs
4. You will probably have to spend some money each month on your CRM to succeed...do it, it's worth every penny.

Best of Success!

Everything that’s been mentioned is right on. Of course, identifying the greatest obstacle for small businesses will depend on certain variables: a company’s budget, resources, preparation time, and many more.

For the sake of brevity and not to repeat what’s been already stated, I would add to the mix that small businesses have a tough time anticipating and understanding what it takes to fully embrace, implement, and adopt a CRM solution. That’s to say most companies are hoping for easy and immediate results; and we all know that the reality is quite different. The amount of time involved in preparing a company before, during and after is based on each business’s size and resources; but inevitable, it all takes time.

- Before implementation, companies need to make sure that that everyone is onboard: from each department, to management, to the executive board. Without everyone’s buy-in, there will be delays and bumps along the way. Plus, actually getting various departments’ input and advice will also help implementation and adoption.

- During implementation, companies shouldn’t expect deployment in one full sweep. Rather, deploy in stages, with ample training and patience. This will ensure a smooth companywide transition—and help everyone better embrace the new system.

- After implementation, companies may think they’re off the hook – that the CRM solution should start increasing their bottom line. Quite the opposite: continual training is mandatory. Training ensures everyone is on the same page; turnover staff is up to speed; and that renewed interest in, and use of, the CRM solution is instilled".