“Which CRM should we buy?” usually comes as the first question; yet it should be the last. CRM (customer relationship management) tools organize and make visible a sales process that already exists. If the process is unclear, even the most expensive software will not solve the problem.
Process first, then software
Draw your sales process on paper: where do leads come from, who makes first contact, at what stage does the quote go out, who closes, what happens after closing? This drawing is your requirements list itself.
Five questions
- Who will use it? Salespeople, managers, the support team? Each group has different needs.
- What information do we want to track? Customer information, conversation history, quote, contract, reminders.
- Which reports do we want to see? Weekly number of meetings, opportunity list by stage, closing rate.
- Which tools must it work with? Is a connection needed with email, calendar, accounting or e-commerce infrastructure?
- Will the team actually use it? A tool that is hard to use stays empty, however powerful it is.
Off-the-shelf tool or custom software?
For most businesses an off-the-shelf tool is enough and goes live faster. If your process is very specific to your sector or business model and off-the-shelf tools constrain you, custom software can be considered. Making this decision after writing a requirements document protects the budget.
After setup
- Train the team together; turn use into a habit.
- In the first month, make only the core fields mandatory and add detail later.
- Let managers hold meetings by looking at the data in the CRM: data that is not used does not get updated.
