The CRM Promise vs. Reality

Last February Barton Goldenberg, founder of ISM, a CRM research and consulting firm, announced the top 15 software winners that offer the best and most comprehensive CRM software functionality tested to date.

During a roundtable discussion with the winning companies, I asked the vendor representatives to share a one-sentence definition of CRM. Surprisingly, every vendor had a different view of what Customer Relationship Management means.

The big promise of every CRM vendor is that sales productivity is bound to increase when your organization is technologically alert, ready, able and willing to respond to its customers. But selection of a capable vendor is no guarantee that your CRM project will be successful. No vendor will guarantee a successful implementation.

A good CRM solution begins in the mind of a visionary leader who is unafraid of taking a risk akin to producing street theater with a group of total strangers. To make the analogy more realistic, the stage is on a flatbed truck barreling down a highway at 80 miles an hour. At every major turn some key components are bound to fall off the truck. Here are a few critical questions.

Does your road to success begin with selecting a CRM vendor or a CRM consultant?

Is your CRM technology aligned with your business strategy, or is it an add-on solution?

Who is in charge of your CRM master plan – your consultant or your IT manager?

What is more important in your CRM plan: people, process or technology?

Do you assign a project manager from your company, or a vendor?

When it comes to customizing your CRM system, does your sales team have the final say, or your IT team?

When requirements change during the building process, who appraises the consequences for the technology, for the budget and for the timetable? Your team or the vendor’s team?

Should you do a pilot with your top guns or with a small regional office?

Should you pull your sales team off the road for training or ship the software into the field and offer online training and support?

These are some of the many critical questions sales leaders must address before, during and after the implementation of a CRM project. Just one wrong turn can result in missing the target, lost time and added expenses. A recent study conducted by CSO Forum found that 69.3 percent of CRM installations failed to meet all goals, 45.3 percent were late, 36.8 percent were over budget and 31.7 percent did not produce meaningful results. In spite of these high failure rates, the CRM industry is red hot. More than 600 CRM vendors chalk up $5 billion in sales. Analysts expect a 54 percent annual growth over the next five years. In spite of these high failure rates, the CRM industry is red hot. To avoid getting burned, it is a good idea to ask yourself, “How will I measure success?” before you envision your next CRM solution.