CRM Magazine, a national publication, recently reported that the driven industry is about 15 years old. Many organizations have been able to evolve their simple contact management applications to more robust and scalable CRM solutions with feedback, real time interactions and analytical capabilities. CRM has evolved over the years from supporting the sales, marketing and service staff only to providing all organization staff with a full view of all customer interactions. Everyone in an organization can now be focused on working with and driving business with the customer. Today, CRM implementations are also focused on business process and workflow for driving staff productivity and profits.
The magazine also listed the Top 5 Best Practices for a successful strategy to implement a CRM application. They are as follows:
- Make your business case. Do not implement a CRM system because your competitor has one. Be very specific and focused regarding your goals for CRM
- Get support from the top. If senior management doesn’t enforce CRM usage, then you will be relying on luck to increase user adaption
- Keep customers in mind. If your organization doesn’t think about your customers first when implementing a new CRM process or technology, don’t expect your customers to think of you when they are looking to make a purchase.
- Build a team. Create a team of stakeholders with representative from each department that interacts with customers or will be using the CRM system. Make sure that their needs and concerns are documented and addressed in the CRM system design.
- Take baby steps. Do not try to do too much all at once. Break down the implementation of your CRM goals to manageable steps. Implement the CRM system in steps with a focus on early success and the highest impact on productivity and profits.
SBS Group, a Microsoft Dynamics CRM partner, incorporates these successful Best Practices and expands on them to manage our customers implementations. SBS also assists in the evaluation of your current CRM system to insure you maximize your CRM software investment.
For more information or to schedule a CRM assessment, contact SBS Group at [email protected] or visit .
By: SBS Group –
