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What are the most common pitfalls you've seen once organizations begin pursuing a CRM solution?
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How to Select the Right CRM for Your SMB
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3 Answers
The biggest pitfalls we see with SMBs pursuing a CRM solution are:
1. Loss of Interest: They get started because someone mentions one specific CRM program and they start to look into it, but then soon have more pressing matters and neglect to follow through.
2. Overwhelm: They start doing some research and find out how big the space is, and through overwhelm, they get paralyzed - or just don't move forward.
3. Lack of Vision: They do not sit down with key stakeholders in the business to really map out what they need so they are short-sighted in their solutions. Example: They have an immediate need to track sales, but don't look into tying in their business accounting or marketing until later - when they sometimes find out how limited they are due to an earlier choice.
Something I see in our small and medium business engagements is management indifference. Frankly, it's all too rare for managers to devote sufficient bandwidth to research, planning, implementation, and change management during a CRM implementation. As Lori says, too often they don't fully participate in all phases or just sort of wander off the minute the project is launched (if not before). So, many of the fail points come from poor leadership.
If stakeholders aren't involved the the planning and process then user buy-in suffers, as Lori mentioned. And, since you can't accurately measure sales performance or enable workflow process improvements unless everyone plays, the project transforms from an investment to a cost sinkhole.
Managers should take an honest inventory of their strengths, weaknesses, and level of commitment before undertaking a CRM project; otherwise, half-measures and neglect will doom it to failure.
All too true.
Many managers/business owners seem to think that having a successful CRM implementation is as simple as authorizing the check for the software...
Due to too much flashy marketing promises by the vendors perhaps?
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