thinking: relating- celebrating :-)

It may sound obvious, but not every CRM project has a plan or strategy in place.

Sometimes a business will ask its IT guys to implement a CRM program (they mean an application) when they should really be asking for a CRM programme of work.

If you are in the situation of being asked to investigate CRM for your business here are some of the things you might look for. 

1. What are the needs, objectives and goals for new business development? Customer acqusition is a key focus of CRM generally. The new business team will want as much help as they can get with managing leads, qualifying those leads into prospects and when the time is right transforming those prospects into customers. Acquisition=Growth

2. What does the business know about existing customers? How can your new system help with increasing “share of wallet” and improve levels of customer service so that you retain and keep customers (lower “churn” rate) sometimes measured as customer lifetime. (That is how long a customer stays with your business and what share of their Spend is directed towards your products and services.)

3. Is there a structure in place to recognise those customers who advocate for you and refer business to you? Referral business has a lower cost of sales and shorter time to profit so an effective CRM would want to look at this as well. 

The best fit system is part software and part culture – so the other thing you will want to do is to audit the company for supporting practises and customer centric thinking which would underpin any new system.

A CRM audit is best when it is completed in association with an outside party so that internal politics are minimised. This type of review is something we love to help you with. 

This post is part of series on CRM Made Simple. For earlier content please check earlier notes in this series.

• CRM as a Process Platform
• What is CRM Used For?
• CRM Thinking about Strategy 1a>

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