3 Things To Watch Out For Before Implementing A New CRM
CRM rollouts fail for predictable reasons. Here are the three most common ones, and how small businesses can avoid them.
CRM projects fail more often than vendors admit, usually for the same handful of reasons. Are you planning to adopt a new CRM system, or replace one that has not worked out?
Customer relationship management software can be an effective tool for growing a business. A CRM lets you track sales, move leads to closed deals faster, manage customer service, and follow up with customers for renewals and repeat purchases.
That’s the promise. Getting there is a different matter. Many businesses start out relying on a jumble of disjointed emails, chat messages and calendar reminders for their day-to-day sales work. Without a system to track leads from first contact to close, promises go unfollowed and opportunities quietly disappear. Small businesses are often slower than larger ones to adopt a CRM — not because it matters less to them, but because three specific problems tend to get in the way.
The three issues small firms run into when adopting a CRM
1. It’s hard to tell what different CRM systems actually do
Not every CRM system is built the same way. Some are strong at managing sales leads, others focus on customer relationships, some centre on marketing automation, and some are little more than a contact list.
Assess vendors systematically before you commit:
- Start with your own requirements. Don’t be swayed by flashy features. List the two or three problems you actually need solved.
- Plan the evaluation. Put every CRM you’re considering into a spreadsheet, noting how well each meets your needs. Use live chat, demos and trials — most vendors offer some combination of these. OneHash’s own live demo is a reasonable way to see this in practice.
- Weigh the cost properly. Price isn’t everything, but it matters for a small firm. An expensive CRM often comes bundled with features that make it harder, not easier, to run day to day.
2. The assumption that CRM is too expensive and complicated
Many small business owners assume CRM systems are costly and hard to use. Some are — but that’s usually because they were built for much larger businesses.
To manage cost and complexity:
- Treat price as a real factor in the decision, not an afterthought. OneHash CRM prices per user with no large minimum commitment, so cost scales with the team actually using it.
- Look for a CRM that is explicitly built for small businesses rather than adapted from an enterprise product. The more a vendor focuses on your size of business, the more likely the feature set matches what you need instead of what a larger company needs.
3. Budgeting too little time and effort for implementation
Many organizations get frustrated and abandon implementation too soon. New software takes real effort to roll out — whatever time you estimate, plan for it to take longer. That is not a reason to avoid a CRM; the benefits still outweigh the setup cost.
It comes down to preparation. Understand upfront what problem you’re solving and what success looks like, in terms you can measure. Knowing that makes it easier to stay the course and to notice when the system starts paying off.
Final word
A bottom-up approach beats the traditional top-down one of buying a CRM and telling salespeople to use it. Find out what your end-users actually need before you implement anything.
Salespeople are used to their own way of doing things, and a CRM asks them to standardize it. Should the CRM bend to make their work easier, or should they bend to the CRM? Adoption rarely happens when a team is simply told what to do.
Technology is a means to an end. It has to prioritize the people using it — simple enough to pick up, while still covering the requirements and removing manual work rather than adding to it.
A CRM rollout succeeds once the people using it understand why it’s there, back the approach, and use it correctly day to day.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are my company’s operating requirements?
A good CRM should cover most of your operational requirements, so defining them first sets the right direction. Look at both documented and undocumented processes across departments, identify where customers or prospects interact with your team, and note any gaps and who on your team needs access.
When and where will my staff need access to customer data?
If field sales or remote staff are part of the picture, you need a CRM that lets people reach data wherever they’re working, without exposing sensitive company information in the process.
What safeguards protect sensitive customer and company data?
Security matters, and a CRM should let administrators control who can see and change sensitive data. Both on-premise and cloud CRM options exist — think through the security implications of each before choosing.
How likely are my team to accept a new system?
User acceptance is usually the deciding factor in whether a CRM rollout succeeds. You can improve the odds with executive buy-in, involving likely users early, proper training, and a designated champion for the change inside the team.
How much IT support will I need?
Unexpected issues can stretch IT staff, strain budgets and crowd out other work, depending on how strong your IT team already is. Choose a CRM vendor that provides ongoing support — OneHash offers 24/7 support — if your firm isn’t set up to handle technical issues in-house.
- Blog written by Vinit Singh Baghel