When a company makes the decision to do a CRM software implementation, the hope is that they won’t become a statistic. Gartner has indicated that a majority of CRM software implementation projects fail. When my company began the process, we thought that these failures were more about the people implementing them than the projects themselves. Thy myriad of success stories gave us confidence that we would be okay. We knew that this was the next step in our evolution as a company and that when our new CRM software implementation was complete we would be ready to go toe-to-toe with the big boys and really grow our sales. We knew it, and we were wrong.
The Beginning of My CRM Software Implementation Horror Story
It’s best to start at the beginning, because truly, that’s where the problems began. What I would learn later is that there are so many pitfalls with a CRM software implementation and to avoid them means extensive preparation and testing. While the preparation was pretty good, the testing was almost non-existent. Based on an unrealistic schedule from zero to full implementation, we decided to skimp on the testing. Big mistake! We found that there is a very good reason nearly every reputable CRM provider allows potential customers a peak at the software before a purchase is made. There are so many modules and customizations that are necessary with any off the shelf product, that you must have some of your people that will be interacting with the software on a daily basis check out the software before any purchase is made. These are the people that know what is needed and what isn’t with the software for the majority of users. Make sure you have them on your CRM software implementation team, or your problems will just be beginning.
Missing the CRM Software Implementation Deadline
The next part of my horror story was the CRM software implementation deadline. Simply put, it was impossible to meet. The problem was, many things were dependent on getting this implementation done quickly. There were plans to do production planning based on the CRM opportunity data. There were plans to let other software licenses expire and get data moved over to the CRM. There were plans to add to the sales team once the data could be more effectively analyzed. That was just the beginning. Once we realized that we weren’t going to make the original deadline, there was a mad scramble to make sure everything else in the plans didn’t get ruined. Fortunately, we were able to salvage our plans and all that ended up happening was more horror while we put the CRM software implementation even more on hold to make sure we had everything else covered.
Getting Everyone On Board with the CRM Software Implementation
The final problem with our CRM software implementation was the fact that it was difficult to get everyone on the same page regarding the whole idea of a CRM program. The sales reps in the field didn’t believe it was worth the time and effort. The production team didn’t actually believe that the opportunity data would be enough to effectively manage production. Customer service and technical services didn’t see the benefits of the software to them, so getting them to add information was difficult. All in all, the training wasn’t done correctly, and the urgency wasn’t made clear.
Lessons from the CRM Software Implementation
At the end of the day, when a CRM software implementation works, it’s wonderful. It still would have worked with my company, and in fact did once we got it right. Whatever you do, give the implementation the time it needs, take the time to test out solutions to make sure you have what you need for your company, and spend time educating your team to get everyone pulling in the same direction and working toward the same goals using the CRM software.