field is Microsoft and they succeeded because they offer the consumers intelligent choices. For instance, you can get to choose the style of payment, which user interface will go with your product, and if the CRM product is to be a hosted product using the Internet as a platform or an on-the-premises type of product. Microsoft also seems to understand that CRM products may differ as to how they are treated.
One last factor may affect the creation of different CRM
products in the near future and that is the spate of mergers and acquisitions in the CRM industry. If the wave of acquisitions in
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crease, the types of new CRM products we can see out there will probably change too as the business philosophies of each company are to be meshed, mixed and matched.
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Certain Things Any Credible CRM
Consultant Should Know
Before you hire the first CRM consultant recommended to
you, you ought to bear in mind certain aspects of the CRM products and the industry itself that will affect (or should affect) your choice of CRM systems to avail of.
First of all, CRM product applications should not be perceived as a business cure-all or magic bullet that will raise sales figures to the level that your organization becomes the leader of the pack. By definition, a CRM application is a software program that is used to manage contacts, prospects and current customers so that the people in your sales team and organization can handle the same information but for specific needs by users.
Your ideal CRM application should have features categorized as, respectively, contact management, automation of marketing management, automation of sales force management, and lastly, service management. It might also have other features added into it like, e-commerce, knowledge management, business intelligence, help desk and call center functions.
With this in mind, you should realize that CRM application use does not translate automatically to better operational or business performance. When implemented the wrong way or for the
wrong reasons, CRM can even hamper business or operational performance.
Some vendors now offer CRM packages that are tied up to or integrated with enterprise-wide solutions. This helps tie together the front-line work of sales teams with back-office functions that
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should really be able to work together to assure that the entire enterprise will function cohesively.
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What Results a CRM Consulting Session
Should Produce for Your Organization
CRM consulting should be considered a process of change
for your organization rather than just a simple shopping trip for buying the next great CRM solution that might work for your organization. CRM consulting is a process because there are different stages your organization has to undergo while under the guidance of a reputable CRM consultant.
First you need to identify why you are looking for CRM solutions in the first place. This means being able to understand what you are planning to use CRM solutions for, what constitutes a perfect or ideal CRM application for someone in your situation, how you believe the CRM solution can increase your revenues as well as profits and how it really can do those things for you, and how to determine instances of customer loyalty and how these can be produced at will through deployment of the right CRM solution.
You should also take advantage of a good CRM consulting
session to figure out the pitfalls that usually make CRM deployment fail, why some individuals and companies seem to keep making the same CRM usage mistakes over and over again, and how some entities that made mistakes in implementation were able to recover from their errors to become successful at CRM usage later on.
These will all give valuable lessons that can help you get the right CRM solution for your organization, implement it the right way, and then benefit from the continuous usage of the CRM solution that you have selected for the near to long term.
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The Value of a CRM Database in
Proper Customer Relationship Management
Having a CRM database in your CRM applications suite is
integral to proper customer relationship management so much so that the relationship between a CRM database and CRM applications is like love and marriage. You cannot have a CRM system
without a CRM database it just does not make sense because CRM
is about sharing information about the same set of customers.
Without the ability to share the CRM database content and without your fellow users, all you have is a set of code but that does not make it a CRM application code.
Nowadays, your CRM database is part of the CRM software
you chose for your organization. To access your CRM database, the developer should create a simple user interface that is easy for multiple users to learn. This does not mean your layout is a plain Jane layout rather, you should strive for a pleasant looking layout design that will not detract from the need for functionality and reliable access. In short, you should make sure your multiple users are not confused as to how best to use your system.
Some developers think that if they try to sub-categorize a lot that this results in a good functional system. Actually, you may wind up losing CRM customers that way because many non-techie CRM folk do not want to have to adjust to a very complicated system. This shows that there are actually two routes to CRM
software development either the customer adjusts to the software developer or the customer is the one the software will adjust to.
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The Right Way to Approach CRM Implementation
CRM Implementation may sound easy but it is not because
to implement a CRM system you need to figure out how to integrate it into your present system. Any CRM specialist can tell you this is the hardest part about CRM application usage and so may need the most attention.
The first step to follow in CRM Implementation is to make sure you adopt a top-down approach. This means engaging feedback from CRM-aware members of management so that you know
the main points and the minor aspects of CRM application implementation.
It also helps to have more heads conferring about the
issues that will inevitably crop up, than just one person implementing everything.
Second, try to assure that CRM Implementation will take a short period of time only. If you opt for a complicated system, obviously CRM Implementation will take longer compared to CRM
Implementation for a smaller system.
Third, try not to obsess about technical details about the technology; rather, try to be focused more on the Customer Relationship Management areas of effective communication, effective
marketing, and effective assimilation (or adjustment) of multiple users to your CRM system.
Fourth, make sure you consult various representatives concerning the CRM Implementation you are thinking of. This allows
your CRM system prototype to be tested based on various factors rather than with just the factors you yourself thought of.
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If you pursue CRM Implementation the right way, it is highly possible that your organization will find its performance in various aspects of the business improving too as a result.
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What CRM Integration Means In Real
Life