What are the most common CRM implementation mistakes?

The functional Users should be provided with the full Out-of-the-Box understanding of CRM being implimented. Most of the time very small change in business process can save Millions in maintanance of the system.

What is CRM is the first question one has to ask himself.
It is Customer Relationship Management.
Three words that say it all, Managing the Relations with the Customers.
Obviously this means it is not just another piece of software you will buy to automate or simplify some tasks in your organisation.
It will impact, if properly taken on, all business processes in the company.
It will impact on the behaviour of every single person in your organisation.

Therefore, we at CRM-Care approach these projects with that in mind.
Focus on your staff.
Have them involved right from the beginning.
As soon as top management decides to do something about their CRM “as they say”.
Look after your staff.
Talk with them about what you intend to do and involve all the levels in your company in the thinking process.

It will make the acceptance of your strategy successful.

And only then, start thinking about a tool.
Never forget, the application is just another tool to support your strategy. If thought differently, your wrong.
Because whatever software you will buy, only your people will feed it and use it to interact with their customers.
It is logic that they expect some return also for them.

1) Give the users enough benefit that they will want to use it.
2) Give the users enough training that they will know how to use it.
3) Plan - and budget for - regular, ongoing training.
4) Make sure you have enought IT support - internal or external - to keep the system running smoothly.
5) Expect the users to use it. This is not an option - you don't use it, you don't get your commissions.
6) Expect executive level management buy in - and use where appropriate.
7) Implement - and communicate - a clear channel for feedback and acknowledgement of suggestions.
8) Listen for and quickly act upon unforseen issues that are inhibiting usage.
9) Have a committee of users from different departments involved throughout the selection process, including the drafting of requirements (this may be too late in your case.)
10) Be flexible.

Brian and Jason are right on. Almost 70% of IT projects fail or fail to meet expectations because of a disconnect between the technology and how it will be used (business processes), and the frantic insane money and effort thrown at customizations to fix those problems and recover the investment when they're found. It rarely ever works.

No solution can be everything to everyone, so my recommendation is to focus on your operational sweet spot: your most frequently repeated tasks, in their most frequently repeated sequence. This is where the ROI is. Think small, focused and iteratively as you gain experience, and build out farther from there.

You have to figure out whether you want to apply new technology to these tasks and sequences as they stand today, or whether you plan to optimize them first. The absolutely last thing you want to do is buy technology based on processes you plan to optimize "one day."

You have tapped into the longest running question in CRM. Back in 1999 people were asking me the same question. Rather than going through the redundancy of many of the points given on the other great answers here I think I would like to add a few more considerations for you.

1. - Customer Footprint - What is your customer DNA? In other words, what is the baseline information you need for the various groups that will use the system?

2. Operational Objectives - Is this solution going to enable some new external facing reach to the customers or is it more of an operational infrastructure meant to improve current processes?

3. Buy In - Will the people using the system be engaged to give their input on design and functionality or will the solution be given as a condition of employment. When people feel like they have a stake they are much more likely to use it enthusiastically.

4. Feedback Loop - No matter what you think your objectives are in Phase 1 the business and priorities will change and some things just won't go well no matter how hard you plan. Be willing to take input and rethink your approach on day 1, day 100, or day 1000 of your implementation.

5. The 3 P's of CRM - Everyone here has already said it. People and Process will give your CRM project Profitabiity. If you are unwilling to invest in all three areas then don't even bother installing the software. Half of your issues will reside between the keyboard and the chair.

The last thing you should do is to get some aspirin, a bottle of your favorite adult beverage, and remind your project team that if you stay streamlined and focused on small meaningful objectives then you will probably succeed. If not, there's always the pain relievers and booze when it gets out of control.

My blog is http://blog.practicalcrm.net

(Assuming that you already have a customer database). Data migration (DM) (process) is the most important one. The others somehow can be fixed or recovered. However, if DM goes wrong it may take a (very long) while to get done due to lots of compatibility issues.
Just from my experience..

You can write me if you need advice or help via info at voicersuite.com.

Sounds almost cliche but....make sure it is business driven as opposed to technology driven. Do a gap analysis (technology and process for current and future state). Prioritize and weigh business functional pain points to help you select the right product and know what to implement first. Ensure clear, simple metrics are in place and well communicated to track your progress on what pain points you are trying to improve. Keep it simple, overcommunicate, train and reinforce behaviours using metrics. CRM may be top down driven but it will be bottom up enabled so communication and training are key.

Brian and Jason are absolutely right, CRM implementation has to be business driven. It also has to be driven by the sales process. Unfortunately, for many companies, this puts the CRM project at risk, because their sales processes are ad hoc, poorly defined, undocumented. Inadvertently, CRM vendors may tempt us to overlook these process issues, and leave buyers the impression that the CRM technology will magically impose a sales process where none exists. In my experience, this is the single biggest reason that CRM implementations fail - the CRM product is plastered over a non-existent, broken or ad hoc business process.

The best way to avoid these failues is to analyze the company's sales process before you (a) select a CRM product or (b) implement it. If there is no clearly defined or documented sales process, invest some time and money on sales-process definition before you start implementing. You really do not want to automate a clunky, inefficient process (remember Garbage In, Garbage Out). Make sure you decide on these key elements that are fundamental considerations for the sales process:
1: you have a documented set of qualifying criteria that describe your ideal customer
2. These criteria include qualitative as well as quantitative details
3. Your qualifying strategies are designed to rank prospects by potential for lifetime value, not just "will they buy today"
4. Everyone on the sales team understands the criteria and has the discipline to use them.
5. You create sales-stage definitions that are objective and understood by all members of the sales force
6. You do everything you can to make your sales process repeatable and evidence-based.

Can anyone suggest a good book or resource that details a CRM implimentation plan (ie. what questions to ask in process development, what to expect/obtain in each phase, etc...)?

In simple words;

1. Know and agree on the business imperatives and the project scope.
2. Make sure you have executive sponsorship at top level
3. Keep it simple - as few screens, clicks, typing, etc. as possible. Offer comprehensive dashboards and relevant only data to anyone.
4. Keep it simple (again!); your functional requirements should only serve your business goals. Try not to be overwhelming with available functionality and do not expect everything from 'phase 1'.
5. Integrate it to whatever people already use; ERP? Other System? Outlook on the client? Do not simply expect people to 'feed' yet another application.
6. Having done all the above, connect appropriate CRM usage to everyday management processes and if possible to users compensation scheme.

Lesson-1: While choosing a CRM solution, always keep your end user's background in mind. If you have a diverse user profile, then always chose a solution keeping end users with lowest education/IQ level. Answer "What is in it for me?" for every user group, sell the solutions internally rather than forcing down upon the users. Buy-in makes things sustainable over a long time horizon. Create reward and recognition mechanism to promote system usage

Lesson-2: Business processes drives IT solutions and not vice-versa. Therefore before you customize solutions to suit your business need, ensure that you have prepared simple and effective business processes, which can deliver value to your customers and end users.

Lesson-3: Can't emphasize enough keep a focus on the quality of insights and reports, which you wish the system to deliver in the end, so that you can built necessary data points to capture in the beginning. Most of the time, people get lost in designing a good CRM transaction system without focusing on what type of CRM reports/insights are required to make key-strategic business decision. The power of an IT solution lies in the power of insights the system can deliver.

Lesson-4: A CRM system, which is not well integrated to the entire service/product delivery value chain bound to die its an isolated and infant death. Therefore a CRM solution must be comprehensive, thoughtfully carved out and well integrated with in-house systems, such as ERP system. A well integrated CRM solution will democratize information and empower front end staff to take decisions and provide customer delight.

Lesson-5: Excess customization is bad. Most of the CRM solution is customized to the extent of 90%. This is primarily due to the lack of effective fit-gap analysis of the existing/vanilla CRM functionality vis-a-vis the desired process/system functionality. Excess customization can be avoided by conducting a thorough fit-gap analysis. Please remember that excess customization leads to system instability, version upgrade becomes painfully lengthy, and application support can becomes complex and expensive.

Lesson-6: User adoption is most critical. Change Management and user adoption strategy need to be well thought and well planned for system sustenance and benefit. A system full with rich functionalities but the implementation plan do not incorporate user adoption strategy, then such system is bound to fail and stop giving the necessary business benefit.

Lesson-7: Engage good quality system integrator in your project team

The most common mistake that I have come across in CRM implementations is that people forget the importance of training. CRM solutions have grown rapidly over the past years and are now quite sophisticated in their capabilities. Many companies try to cut down on costs by cutting training out and have the view the employees will be able to wing it. This affects user adoption which ultimately means failure of the project.

As with any project, the backbone has to come from the participation of the key users and the support from the stakeholders.

For CRM project in particular, it takes a strong consultant to facilitate the entire project. This is because CRM projects are never just about technologies, the people and the policies/processes(AS-IS and TO-BE) are critical to the success of the project.

For technology, generally you need to find one that not only meets your business needs, but also one that can evolve and cater to your growing and expanding needs. These needs are not purely functional, but should also include maintenance as well as enhancements costs. A simple example would be that you need to add some information and change your workflows. If these cannot be managed or cannot be done due to costs, users will have to do this out of the system. Once users have to manage outside, the use of the system will slowly dwindle and as new unfulfilled requirements pile-up, you will end up with a white elephant. This again will cause other problems like re-consolidation of data, reporting, etc.. Generally, it will end up like many other failed CRM projects.

As far as the people are concerned, you need to understand the maturity level of the organisation. Are they customer centric? Are they workers or thinkers? What is the culture like? Wil they embrace or disrupt the project?Are they savvy or adverse?
These details are important to understand when you design the solution. A well designed and practical solution will facilitate better adoption. Remember you don't need to have everything from day one, you should plan to evolve your solution as your users evolve. This way you deliver a solution that is inline with the users level, competency and tolerance. This drives adoption which is the key to being successful.

Lastly, the policies and processes are generally what makes the solution usable. Of course, these need to be supported by the relevant features and functions from the CRM application. In designing and solutioning the application, you will need to understand what your processes are right now, what needs to be achieved, what's the gap(new process), can these gaps be bridged? If so, you need to get the buy-in from the users. If you study and design your AS-IS processes and your TO-BE processes well, you will find that your TO-BE processes should have streamlined many things and this would again be key to the success of the solution. Quite simply, users will discover this value and find little reason not to use it. A typical challenge would be capturing data into the system. What previously would have been a simple capture on phone, email, paper or excel, will now be a conscious effort to login to the system and type into structured fields. However, if you articulate that while the initial pain is there, many other tedious tasks and communication would be eased, eg. reporting, collaborative engagements, immediate visibility for anyone following up on the account, etc..users would then be more receptive.

There are in fact so many things to consider, but if you align your project actvities along these three areas, you will appreciate that covering them well will in fact help you avoid the many mistakes that lead to failed CRM projects.

Good Luck!

My # 1 issue and challenge for companies to master is to get everyone on-board and committed to the CRM project at hand. I routinely tell clients that they should either get the CEO (or other senior leader as appropriate ) or forget the project. Without this top-down commitment CRM project almost always suffer and do not succeed.

My # 2 is to communicate well both upwards and downwards in the organization setting and managing expectations.

I have begun a lengthy article (in a series) on this topic in my blog: http://www.ridgetek.net/blog/crm/the-roadmap-to-successful-crm-%E2%80%93-part-i

Thanks

Rick

# 1 - Ownership to make the CRM project run on a day to day basic. It needs to be clearly defined and commitment obtained.
# 2 - Buy-in of the sales team so that they do not get threatened that CRM is a monitoring and policing tool against them
# 3 - Expectations set that everything cannot be automated and always there will be a human aspect to make the application work

In nutshell looking at Technology, process and people, process and people aspect is a key area where most of CRM implementations fail.

CRM for B2B is grown to a huge control system. So, do not make a control system, but make a helping system for a difficult job. For interesting practical advise please visit www.makida.nl and send me email. The commitment from the CEO is second. Salespeolpe need help in their job, with their emotions in contact with customers. Is it allowed to say in the system that your saleswork was not good??

Would like to summarize into

1. Not clearly defining the functional requirements.
2. Not have a clear vision on what value you are deriving from a CRM implementation
3. Needs unwaivering support from Top Management
4. Not having the right team
5. Not providing proper end user training.

Remember CRM is a strategy not a Project.

It is normal that we use a CRM system to give more structure and insights into the sales-proces.
But as we know emotions are most important in finding a new customer (B2B) the current systems are not usefull for the users. They are dealing with their own emotions and the emotions from the prospect or customer. And the need help to deal with those strong feelings. So, after 15 years of using the normal CRM I developed a system to include the emotions during the salesproces. If you like to have more information look at www.makida.nl

don't know enough about computer talk to answer with any intelligence..

i am interested in email capabilities with this new equipment.

This blog speaks to some of the things you are after. http://tracykinsey.wordpress.com/