You may have a CRM system, but is adding value? Here are five quick ways to test if all is well: What reports does it produce? – reports are a great acid test of how well your CRM system is supporting the business. If there aren’t any relevant reports, or Continue Reading
Growing a business quickly and the role of CRM software
In David Skok’s excellent post ‘Startup killer: the cost of customer acquisition’, he notes that the inability to acquire customers at a cost appropriate to their life time value is one of the biggest reasons that start ups fail. He suggests that a successful business model will see the life Continue Reading
OK, you’ve chosen the CRM software, now who is going to implement it?
This post is about choosing an implementation partner as opposed to a CRM software vendor. The distinction being that while you may choose CRM software from vendors such as Microsoft, Salesforce.com, or Sage, the actual implementation work is likely to be performed by one of a large network of partners. Continue Reading
20 Ways To Cut The Cost Of Your CRM Project – Part 2
Following on from my previous post, the next 10 ways to cut the cost of your crm project: Buy to fit your functional needs – your detailed requirements specification should tell you the functionality you do (and don’t) need from your CRM software. Understanding your needs and matching them to Continue Reading
20 Ways To Cut The Cost Of Your CRM Project
If you’re looking to cut the costs of implementing a CRM system, then here are 20 ways (split over two posts): Do you really need new CRM software? – sometimes organisations already have CRM software, but it just isn’t working well for them. The temptation is often to replace it Continue Reading
Broken Windows and CRM User Adoption
One point I accidentally omitted from my ‘Getting People to Use CRM Technology’ post relates to Broken Windows theory. Broken Windows theory postulates that cutting down on low-level crime, such as littering and graffiti, reduces the incidence of more serious crimes and underpinned the approach taken to reducing crime in Continue Reading
Buying and Implementing CRM Software – CRM Requirements Gathering
This post is part of the serialisation of the ‘An Industry Insider’s survival guide to everything you should know about buying and implementing CRM software’ e-guide, and covers how to gather and document your requirements for a CRM system: Why’s it so important? Getting requirements defined correctly is probably the Continue Reading
Oh no, not the Christmas card list again!
I’ve noticed over the years there are four words that seem to make marketers shudder – ‘the Christmas card list’- because for most organisations this seemingly simple activity exposes the frailties of their CRM systems and databases. While superficially innocuous, it tends to be a hugely manual task involving both the marketing Continue Reading
A few interesting articles and a bit of housekeeping…
Just a quick update on a few interesting articles we’ve made contributions to in recent weeks. MyCustomer have been running a series of vox-pop articles over recent weeks about the history, present, and future of the CRM industry: Does the CRM industry have an identity crisis? The changing challenges of Continue Reading
Buying and Implementing CRM Software – Planning 2
This post is part of the serialisation of the ‘An Industry Insider’s survival guide to everything you should know about buying and implementing CRM software’ e-guide, and is the second and final installment of the planning process in which I cover phasing, costs, and executive support: Avoiding the big bang Continue Reading