Who are the most effective "champions" of CRM, sales force automation (SFA) and related solutions at your organization -- and why?

There are two levels of champions that I have found consistently to be vital. In the beginning, VP and C level champions lend their authority and respect to the project. Without executive backing, you are almost certainly doomed to fail.

Once the project is rolled out, executive backing is still important, but at this point you also must have power users on board. These power users might not be the most technically adept, and in fact often are not, but they are those that are successful and well known throughout the company. One "big hitter" who goes to club every year, endorsing and evangelizing for the solution is worth 10,000 PowerPoint presentations hawking its worth.

Paul
Please visit my CRM/Technology blog at http://www.paulmyoung.net

I have found the key is (1) sales leader(s) and (2) top sales people. Have those two groups lead the way during project scoping and during implementation.

During planning and implementation use those key executives to provide progress and wins to the executive champion. Gives the sales leaders/top sales people a win to the exec champion and the exec sees the buy-in from their top people.

After implementation adoption is king...and that's a bottom up activity. Focus on the sales people and use your early adopters/sales leaders to encourage/reward the right behavior.

I'd agree with Kevin and Craig IF they are referring to SFA (Sales Force Automation). But the term 'CRM' is defined more broadly than that. Which is why I referred to LOB (Line of Business) owners.

Sales is one of those Lines of Business - but not the only one. Service and Marketing (among others) need to be included as well when the scope of the CRM implementation includes them - for instance, marketing automation, customer support and contact center projects.

I can not pinpoint an exact function or a prefered dept., but I noticed that the champions were people who had a long term vision, the capacity to take an "helicopter" view and took all the available means or tools to achieve their objectives. Those who remained "locked" in daily operational activities have much more difficulties to "fore"see the benefits of CRM & such !

Kevin is dead on! The sales VP and/or CEO have to be strongly behind a CRM solution and have to make it clear to the team that its a strategic initiative and no amount of grumbling from sales people will stop it.

Also, if you can enlist your top producers in the selection and customization process, you're able to use the CRM to enable the entire sales team to follow the "best practices" of your top producers.

Our real problem with CRM is not to define who SHOULD champion it. It is to recognize who really DOES champion it. That's really where the problem lies. Too many companies allow Information Technology to 'champion' CRM; after all, it's an IT application, right? This approach tends to produce very expensive boat anchors. The other replies on this thread are definitely right - we have to engage senior management, sales management, LOB owners, and top producers to define the sales process first., and have them direct the IT guys appropriately.

As Ellen (& others) said, senior management & LOB management is needed first, then users need to be brought in. Every one of these groups needs to --well, if not champion, at least not bad-mouth the solution and process. Often there will be some who don't understand the necessity, so their peers / bosses / employees need to bring them on board. If IT tries to do it, it will become an 'us against them' issue, especially with the sales force.

But once there is enough momentum behind the project, IT needs to also direct the implementation, to work with users and management to get the most out of the chosen solution.

Typically IT guys will understand what the system can do, but not when to use what part of it, while LOB users will know what they want to do, but not how to do it. Many long meetings, preferably with dedicated IT folks and passionate end-users, will usually produce a good app and improve buy-in by all parties.

In smaller organizations, effective champions could come from the top - business owner - or closer to the 'street' - the sales star. In either case, the champion who, in our experience, has the largest positive impact on getting the deal for the system closed and then effectively implemented is one who is closely tied to both his/her peers and the executives at the organization.

Chris,

Thanks for clarifying. I was thinking CRM but wrote my comments related to SFA. LOB leaders and line of business top users would be more appropriate for all encompassing CRM.