In a recent conversation with a prospect, he lamented that Free Demos concentrated more on how fast you can copy over what you are using now e.g. an excel spreadsheet and declaring it done and a success. Identifying the objectives and processes he needed to drive results was far more valuable but missing. That begs the question: CRM changes everything: without changing your process and updating objectives is this the reason for the epidemic of such low CRM success rates?

1. Don’t limit your CRM vision.

A thirty minute ‘here it is show’ and how to master menu lists won’t exactly make you a CRM pro. I haven’t met an organization just starting out with CRM that knew their way around CRM better than I do. Its equivalent to reading a book on driving and letting you go with the keys. I wouldn’t give the car keys to anyone without extensive and professional instruction. Same for CRM: I care about our clients especially when their CRM is certain to benefit from our deep sales and programming experience.

• Make sure you get adequate time on the bench with the pros.

2. Check lists won’t get you there.

You’ve spent months, maybe years, musing CRM concepts around. During that time you have created a mighty list of wants and needs. Unfortunately most organizations ‘want lists’ are not clearly defined objectives or ways of measuring progress and results. Our expertise and the time we take to peel back the onion skin to find out exactly how things tick in your organization can make shorter sales cycles and identifying customer buying cycles a breeze. This, by most accord, is way more valuable and measurable than how it syncs with a Blackberry.

• Know where you want to end before you begin trial CRM programs.

3. How does it really perform?

Just like test driving a car, a CRM test drive you get the look and some of the feel but sadly zero data on exactly how it will fit your business, sales culture and processes on a long term basis. A month will get you even less concrete data on business process improvement measurements.

• To be fair to yourself, it often takes two or more months to get it right so you can actually see what your CRM really has to do and how it does it.

4. Part time learning is weak at best, and flawed throughout.

You need feedback so you set a couple of bright and eager bodies into the program, maybe even an office. They are busy, haven’t been guided through the real objectives and probably have an hour or two of generic training. So they take a stab at it here and there and trying this and that. Then declare it doesn’t work or doesn’t work how they need it to. That is not at all surprising.

• At MosaicCRM we first question and rationalize every single step of your processes. Then we get joined at the hip so to speak and help you set out the objectives, business processes, and measuring programs unique to your needs.

5. A month is generally not enough time to customize it to your true needs.

CRM always adds a whole new dimension to sales and marketing business processes. Simply copying over your spreadsheet doesn’t make for a better sales system… anymore than your excel spreadsheet did when you left yellow ruled pads or Outlook.

• The pros at MosaicCRM know how to move a field here, change a report there and modify an alert system…. small but knowledgeable things that can totally and dramatically change how you view CRM. This takes time and effort on both sides.  But it’s worth it.

Who Benefits?

There are some benefits to a free trial period. Frankly I feel the only guy who benefits from free demos is the CRM salesman. He gets to add you to his pipeline and with an active demo and moves ahead to an assumptive close position. You get a barrage of email and calls and pressure but not solutions.

MosaicCRM Experts Corner

First and foremost, get a firm grasp of the results you want to achieve and know where you will gain the most. What you really need is a partner that adds to your knowledge and experience base. It does take more time but if that works, there is no need for a high pressure ‘close’ or a rushed implementation. Our expertise and the time we take will allow the both of us to evaluate and prioritize exactly what has to be done.  One thing that you will notice right off the bat: we won’t simply copy your spreadsheets into a CRM program. That is a prescription for disaster.

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Written by

Bill Noonan, CEO MosaicCRM

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Pre-CRM Planning Tips for SMB’s

I’ve put together this slide presentation that covers a number of key elements that can help in your CRM Plan or Re-Start program.  Some of the topics include Beware of ‘Quick and Easy’ CRM promotions, The Human Factors, Competition Applications, Abilities, Resources and Sales Process Design, Budgeting and more.

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