Ten Warning Signs Your CRM Implementation Is in Trouble

Not every CRM implementation is successful. If you see three or more of the following warning signs, your project is in trouble. Five or more, and you’d best be looking for another job.

Warning #1. You’re automating reporting, not selling. While CRM systems can help sales pros sell, nobody has ever “automated” a sales process. Focus on using CRM to increase sales effectiveness rather than on simply automating the reporting of stages of the sales process.

Warning #2. You haven’t managed the risks. Jumping into the deep end, without careful planning for something to go wrong, can be a costly mistake. CRM can’t guarantee measurable business benefits unless you do the homework to make sure that unforeseen problems don’t scuttle the entire effort.

Warning #3. The integrator lacks experience in your industry. While great technology is, well… great, unless your CRM vendor or integrator has specific experience within your industry, you could end up with a system that doesn’t make sense to your reps.

Warning #4. Your customer data is full of errors. Most customer databases are stuffed with redundant and inaccurate information. If you don’t plan to clean up that data before implementing the CRM system, you’ll end up with a system that can’t be used effectively. Get a data quality program started to maintain a high-quality data standard and set up a data quality audit task force of employees.

Warning #5. Your sales process is obsolete. Throwing technology at a sales process that’s broken is like throwing gasoline on a fire. It’s better to have a sales process that uses paper tracking and actually works than an automated system that automates processes that don’t make any sense. Get the process right first; then automate it.

Warning #6. You’ve paid for configuration but you expect customization. All CRM systems can be configured to match different sales environments. Customization is another issue entirely. It involves hiring programmers to make changes in the vendor’s software code. And that can cost a lot of money and time – and you can still end up with a system that doesn’t do what you want it to do.

Warning #7. Your system needs massive back-end integration. If you need to connect your CRM system to the corporate back-end systems (so that sales reps can check the status of orders, billing, and so forth) get ready to hurry up and wait. Back-end integration typically quadruples the cost of installation, and can delay a project by many weeks. Avoid it if possible.

Warning #8. You haven’t budgeted adequately for training. CRM systems are so well designed and easy-to-use that anybody can figure it out in a few minutes. Yeah, right. Over the life of a CRM system, training will cost from one to one-and-a-half times the cost of the hardware and software. Neglect training and people aren’t going to learn to use the system.

Warning #9. You’re trying to hit a moving target. You may think that your CRM implementation effort is over when you’ve got your sales team up and running. But once the sales reps and sales managers get a feeling for how CRM works, they figure out new things that they’d like to do. And that can mean the kind of “back to the drawing board” situation that creates big delays. Define a target and stick to it.

Warning #10. You don’t know how to measure success. If you don’t know how you’re going to measure the success of the system, it will automatically be seen as a failure – by top management. Executives responsible for funding CRM projects require distinct metrics and measurement plans as justification for a CRM initiative. Make sure they get them.