Implementing a CRM (customer relationship management) system can be a huge undertaking for a small business. Done poorly it can create more work and inefficiencies for an already small staff. Done well it can revolutionize a business by improving workflow and make it easier to touch customers regularly and meaningfully.

I’ve written some other articles on CRM here and here so if you need a refresher pop over to those and pop back.

There is a lot of literature about CRM success and failure and frankly it would make any small business owner go screaming into the night – most stuff has been written for large businesses that have to implement CRM across huge sales teams, whole marketing departments and a 24×7 support staff.  Most of these articles have very little to offer a small business and what is meaningful is hard to find.  Today I’ll share my top tips:

1. Make sure you understand your overall business goals.  What goals do you want a CRM application to support and what business issues are you trying to solve?
2. Choose a technology that fits your business.  Price and features, though critically important, can’t be the only criteria.  Does the tool fit how your company works?  Is it a cultural fit – a free-flowing, unstructured application might fit a design firm better than one with strict linear processes.
3. Before implementing the tool, define the processes that support the goals in the first bullet.  Don’t just dive face first into the deep end – take the time to figure out the new processes and to configure the tool for those processes.
4. Figure out how and where the new tool will integrate with your other systems.  For example, if you want the contacts in the CRM to update in your accounting system, get that working.  Or if you want your sales folks to see aging data when they look at a contact, get that working too.
5. As you are implementing the tool, be sure to promote the processes.  That is a nice way of saying “make folks use the process”.  I’m not saying to throw them into the pool (another pool metaphor – hey it is summer and it is hot) – they need help, support and training.  At the same time, don’t let them circumvent the new way of doing things.  You’ll only slow down adoption and perhaps create a culture of “we really don’t have to use this”.
6. Finally, even though I am saying you should make folks use the new processes, make sure you allow time to revisit and revise the processes.  You won’t know everything when you start and it makes sense that you might have to make some tweaks.

Small businesses, from professional services to retail establishments to service organizations, can benefit from a well implemented CRM.  Take your time going through these steps.  In many cases it makes sense to get some help; find a technical advisor who can help lead you.

Have you implemented a CRM in the past year?  What went well and what went poorly?

Technology has advanced so much in the past few years – I can’t imagine a world with no internet on my phone, no ability to make dinner reservations online (love Opentable!), no easy way to get directions or maps when I need them or no Angry Birds.  Yet every once in a while I get slapped upside the head with a business process that is, well there is no nice way to say it, so 1990s.

I recently took one of my dogs to the vet – no, this article isn’t about my vet.  They are fairly high tech and progressive (shout out to them!).  As part of completing the check-up I had to get new supplies of various medicines, including heartworm preventative.  Merial, the maker of the heartworm medicine, was offering a $12 rebate if you bought a certain minimum number of dosages.

Going Back in Time

Here is where things got a little surreal.  The process to get the rebate was this:  vet has to give me an extra receipt.  I had to fill in a paper form, attach the receipt and mail to Merial.  Then I have to wait 6-8 weeks for processing.

Really?

There Has to Be a Better Way

Why couldn’t I fill in a form online with some sort of code from my vet receipt?  Or why not allow me to scan the receipt and attach it to the online form?  And why on earth does it take 6-8 weeks to process anything these days?  Other than making sure I’m not sending in multiple copies, what is there to process exactly?  The de-duplicating can easily be done by computer and then it is a matter sending a transaction to an accounts payable system to cut me a check.  Heck, maybe they could have been really out there and deposited the money in my PayPal account.

Ok, so maybe I’m cheap – I did fill out the form and send it in to get my $12.  Unfortunately I’m left with an unfavorable impression of Merial – which is probably not fair because there is a 99% chance that someone else is actually processing their rebates.  In addition – Merial likely had a marketing goal tied to those rebates.  How many folks do what I almost did and just throw it away because it was too much trouble?

Time to Look at Our Own Businesses

This got me thinking – how many of our business processes are inconvenient for our customers?  How many of them leave our customers with an unfavorable impression?  How can a business owner use technology to make things easier for their customers?

By the way, this is Jester, my old girl.   She probably doesn’t need a year’s worth of heartworm preventative anyway but we can always hope!