Sales Modeling

The pitfalls of deploying CRM are well-documented and CRM failure rates are lofty.  Your marriage has a much greater chance of success.  However, there are ways to mitigate what are for the most part are well-understood risks.

For example, measuring ROI is highly correlated to CRM project success.  Setting and measuring return on investment creates tremendous focus and discipline before, during and after implementation.  ROI should be measured at sequenced intervals against consensus-based performance baseline.  Having been privy to literally hundreds of CRM deployments, I am consistently amazed at how many companies fail to even consider a practice which includes establishing a baseline and tracking improvements.

Another best practice is proper executive sponsorship with strategic imperative alignment.  For example, messages from senior executives enforce accountability and motivate change which correlates to “all-important” user adoption.  Executive sponsors should articulate specific business rationale such as increasing market share and achieving annual revenue targets.

Lastly, small “pilot” projects will provide insights to ensure success upon broader rollout.  Again, setting MBO-type milestones will create positive energy and generate momentum for holistic CRM effort and galvanize bottom-line impact.