Crm: Culture or Technology

I was recently asked to gift on the impact of technology on sales, has it helped, in what way, or has it had a negative impact?

Retained Profits

After examining the issue with some colleagues and experts in the field, it became clear that technology is an enabler, and as such amplifies what is already there, and what is not.

I don't think that that there is anything in sales today that has not heard of, used or been impacted by a Crm holder of one sort or another, be it a simple palpate supervision application with some added functionality, to a top of the line Crm that fully integrate with other enterprise applications. Many fellowships will tell you of the disasters they have encountered rolling out a Crm, in fact an description in the February 1, 2002 Harvard enterprise Review: Avoid the Four Perils of Crm, stated that "55% of all Crm projects don't yield results", and went on to say that "According to Bain's 2001 search for of supervision tools, which tracks corporate use of and delight with supervision techniques, Crm ranked in the lowest three for delight out of 25 popular tools. In fact, agreeing to last year's search for of 451 senior executives, one in every five users reported that their Crm initiatives not only had failed to deliver profitable growth but also had damaged long-standing buyer relationships."

Yet by November 2004, one of the same writers in an description entitled Crm Done Right stated: "Senior executives have come to be considerably more enthusiastic about Crm. In 2003, Bain & Company's yearly supervision Tools search for of 708 global executives found that firms admittedly began to description increased delight with their Crm investments. In 2001, Crm had ranked near the lowest of a list of 25 inherent tools global executives would choose. Two years later, it had moved into the top half. In fact, 82% of surveyed executives said they planned to employ Crm in their fellowships in 2003-a large jump from the 35% who employed it in 2000."

While the piece went on to suggest a whole of factors, we've experienced a whole of key things in our work with clients that are worth noting.

First, we very much believe and have seen numerous examples to retain the view that buyer relationship supervision is a way of doing business. Most of our thriving clients have a consistent view on buyer relationship Management.

To them Crm is part of their culture, part of their corporate Dna. They see Crm as the permissible alignment between software and process to effectively conduct their relationships with their customers. The alignment is based on objectives:

Corporate objectives drive the sales organization's objective; which in turn are the foundation for regional/territorial objectives, and client objectives; when properly executed, these objective form the basis for each client/prospect interaction.

It is as much about process as it is about software. If you don't generate a balance and alignment between the two, you will fail to conduct the relationship with you key customers, and not procure much advantage from your investment. In fact we are working with a enterprise that has spent in excess of million dollars over the last 5 years implementing a Crm software with puny tangible results to show in improved sales, increased productivity or understanding of their clients and how to mutually enhance their relationship.

A study I read recently showed that over 80% of the Ceo's surveyed said their sales society had a process that was poorly defined or a process that wasn't being followed. A sales process is like a good map or a Gps if you will. Used properly it helps you decree where you are, if you are in heading in the right or wrong direction, also helps you plan what your "next step" should be to get to your destination. A well defined sales process gives a sales society the same advantage. It should have logical and defined steps that allow both parties to design a better understanding of each other and a set of questions that help you qualify or "disqualify" an opportunity.

When we meet with a new client we all the time enquire about their sales process. A Vp we recently met responded: "why yes of course, we use Xyz" (name change to safe the innocent, us). Yet he openly admitted that he struggles with forecasting, prospecting, and his population were spending too much time with unproductive activity, in the puny activity he was able to glean from the system. (Unfortunately no software will pick up the phone and do a cold call, I'm working on it.)

The clients who do use the software to retain their process tell a separate story. activity is focused on the client experience. It is still true that getting new enterprise from an existing client, is much more cost efficient than from new prospects. No I am not saying you should stop prospecting, but don't ignore those that have rewarded you with their business, show them some love, make it easy for them to deal with you, and hard to leave you.

A good Crm (software and process) provides you with a unblemished view of the client, allowing you to align your resources to best serve them. Reducing assistance calls, reducing time to respond, reducing the exertion to take orders, reducing the cost of sale, addition their delight level and creating a mutual prudent value add relationship.

The data available to you will also help segment your clients better, allowing you to decree where you want to put your focus, and which clients you may want to off load. Remember that some 30% or your lowest margin clients suck over 50% of your resources. A Crm done right can assure that you are retaining the right clients.

Crm ideas can also break down hierarchical communication barriers allowing everyone, not just sales to focus on the buyer relationship, allowing top executive to get complex in meeting client expectation and driving revenue. Of policy this will only work where the Crm culture is present. And in many fellowships that have rolled out the software without the process, with out the training, without the internal value proposition, it is not. As stated earlier it in fact diminishes the client relationship. Many fellowships are experiencing push back from the front line because they failed to show the Roi to the users. Like the clients sales reps want to know what's in it for them. There is a lot, if there is a supporting process focused on everyone's success, the company, the rep, the client. This can be achieved with a sales process that aligns around key objectives.

One last thing to consider, Crm systems are normally related with sales organizations. But client delight is the function of the whole organization. A truly thriving Crm extends beyond sales to all groups with in a corporation, and as such, a key success factor is the alignment of the sales process with other processes impacting the client relationship.