CRM Made Easy for Small to Mid-Sized Businesses

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1 CRM Made Easy for Small to Mid-Sized Businesses by Interact Commerce Corporation 8800 N. Gainey Center Drive Scottsdale, AZ U.S.A

2 CRM Made Easy for Small to Mid-Sized Businesses Is there a manager, business leader, analyst, or expert around who doesn t believe that businesses need to know who their customers are? If so, chances are he or she isn t going to say so at least not very loudly. Many companies particularly small ones may not even think of their customer information systems as databases. But, whether it consists of 3x5 cards in a metal box, names handwritten in a ledger, an electronic spreadsheet, a personal information manager, or contact management software, just about every company makes some kind of effort to know its customers. A customer relationship management (CRM) system, if you will. Of course, when used today, the term CRM usually brings to mind a fully integrated computer-based system that ties together all of a company s interactions with customers both before and after the sale. Helping companies know their customers better so that customers feel at home and return to buy again and again lies at the heart of CRM. The Fundamentals of CRM Although there are literally hundreds of flavors of CRM, nearly everyone agrees that successful systems consist of three fundamental elements: Sales Sometimes lumped together under the name technology-enabled selling, the most vital sales elements are contact management and sales force automation. Many CRM systems also include telemarketing, sales configuration, and partner relationship management. Quite simply, these elements allow a company to share knowledge across a company s sales teams, and use that knowledge to turn prospects into customers. Support Used after the sale, the support part of CRM helps customers with any issues they might have. CRM support takes the information learned about the customer during the sales process and uses it to improve field service, call center response, and self-service. Again, the idea is to use the company s understanding of its customers to foster a good experience and more repeat sales. Marketing Once again using the information a business has about its customers, the marketing elements of CRM allow a company to track, manage, and measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. And, using existing customer data, a company can identify its most profitable prospects and leads. In addition to serving the sales, support, and marketing departments individually, CRM fosters collaboration between them. Their missions are no longer unique as they all work toward gaining and satisfying customers. They also begin to have a responsibility to one another to add useful information into the system. 1

3 Enterprise Vendors: Downplaying Small and Mid-sized Businesses While virtually all growing businesses want to take advantage of advanced CRM technology to help them get new customers and support existing ones, putting CRM in place has often been seen as an option exclusively for large companies. As one observer put it, CRM resellers have "thumbed their noses at any purchase below a million bucks." 1 That attitude has changed as economic conditions have changed and as these vendors have begun to realize the huge potential among small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs). But even as enterprise CRM vendors have reached out to SMBs, they have done so with stripped-down CRM packages that are still too expensive, too oriented toward top-heavy big businesses, and full of limiting terms and conditions. In other words, they offer CRM with all of the disadvantages of enterprise software and little of the easy-to-use functionality that SMBs need. On top of that, SMBs have good reason to wonder just how committed enterprise CRM vendors are to them. One CEO of a leading enterprise CRM company recently referred to the mid-market as "crummy," 2 adding that his company was only interested in it to keep smaller vendors from eroding its base of top-tier customers. The fact is: SMBs have not experienced much success with CRM implementations by enterprise vendors, largely because there is a deep-seated mismatch between the two. Edward Teach put it well in an article for CFO magazine: "Big Four systems are associated with a host of evils: high prices, difficult reengineering, lengthy implementations, ruinous service-to-software cost ratios, inadequate support and training. No CFO of a mid-sized company is anxious to see expensive ERP consultants setting up shop in the corporate offices." 3 With little understanding of their new SMB customers, enterprise vendors tend to treat them just like their big business customers. What they fail to realize is that SMBs have neither time nor money to burn. SMBs are more susceptible to competitive pressures and expectations of growth. They must be able to change rapidly, while maintaining full productivity and conserving financial and human resources. They must achieve results that appear in the next quarter s earnings announcement. It is imperative, therefore, that SMBs consider solutions from CRM vendors who fully understand their needs and who have a proven track record of success with companies like theirs. 2

4 What SMBs Need in CRM In addition to the sales, marketing, and support functions described earlier, a CRM system for a small to medium-sized business must: Be easy to use with a high rate of user acceptance; Implement fast so that return on investment is almost immediate; Be affordable and not replete with hidden costs; and Fit the needs of a growing business well into the future. Such a solution not only provides the advantages of well-executed CRM, it firmly establishes a foundation for the company s ultimate CRM objectives through the quick achievement of reasonable goals. This is particularly important because a CRM system that provides a few "quick wins" can help overcome the natural resistance to change that most individuals and business cultures have. That, in turn, builds momentum and buy-in for a more comprehensive and beneficial CRM program. Easy to Use For a CRM system to contribute to its ultimate goal of increasing sales, it must be easy for employees to use. Rather than boasting that it has a thousand screens to meet every possible situation, a CRM solution for SMBs should feature an easy-to-use interface designed for people who are used to working with software such as ACT! TM and Microsoft Outlook. Still, employees particularly salespeople may resist a new CRM system. Their customer information is their lifeline. Knowing details like whether a customer is a baseball or football fan, what she has ordered in the past, and what she is likely to need tomorrow is key to future sales. And salespeople, of course, want to make sure that they are the ones to make those sales. Thus, giving them a CRM system that offers enormous productivity benefits with minimal hassle helps to ease objections. The system must make their lives easier and help them close so many more deals that the risk in sharing their information is worth it. Fast to Implement It s true that the very best CRM systems are those that have been extensively customized to fit the company s business processes exactly. But those customizations increase the complexity of the implementation, the length of time it takes, and its cost. Generally speaking, SMBs cannot afford deep customization. At least not at first. That s not to say that they can t have effective CRM. Solutions with properly-designed processes embracing best practices that have proven useful to a broad range of SMBs can be implemented with few customizations or none at all. 3

5 Affordable Although CRM is supposed to be all about increasing sales and getting a fast return on investment, many small and medium-sized businesses are shocked to discover a host of hidden costs in enterprise CRM systems that seem to bankrupt already tight budgets. Or they discover too late that their "new employees" are often consultants taking up valuable office space and ordering up needless customizations. Because its resources are often constrained, it s vital that SMBs know upfront how much it will cost to not only implement and manage the system, but to train and support users to use it, too. Fits the business Future growth and customization are also major considerations. Even though SMBs are best off initially deploying CRM with minimal customizations, as a company realizes the gains that come with a successful solution, demand for more functions, further customization, and greater personalization will follow. So, it s vital that the solution chosen at the outset be capable of growing to meet that demand. The solution must enable ongoing, significant change without requiring fundamental restructuring. And, as noted earlier, this must be accomplished with limited budgets and little or nonexistent IT support. What s Best for You: Traditional or Quick CRM? Ultimately, when an SMB decides to implement a CRM system, it must determine whether that implementation should be a traditional, highly customized type or a quick, out-of-the-box installation. Here are some critical factors to consider: A traditional implementation may be best for your company if: Your company s CRM vision has not been clearly defined. This calls for a more in-depth, consultative approach. Standard options are not be the best fit for your organization s environment. Your company has already developed its own best practices and you wish to thoroughly customize the solution to your processes. Your company has complex data conversion or integration issues that would require extensive work. A quick implementation may be right for your company if: You want to quickly implement a standard CRM system, then customize it later as your needs develop and your company grows. You are a start-up or recently merged business that has not yet developed any standard processes and has no set IT environment. You need some short-term wins to gain better acceptance and, thus, the additional momentum needed to solve your long-term CRM objectives. You have budget constraints that don t allow for hidden costs. You can t wait a year or two to implement a CRM system or to start realizing a return on it. 4

6 The Nitty-Gritty So, when you put all the considerations and possibilities together, what exactly should a small or mid-sized business look for in a CRM solution? No matter which type of implementation your company decides on, you can use this checklist to make sure you re getting everything you need for success. Needs assessment and customer profile review. This is important to determine if a quick CRM implementation or a more traditional one is best for the company. Affordable, clear pricing. What are you going to get and for how much? Quick implementation. Whether the needs assessment shows a quick implementation is appropriate or not, the CRM solution should be rolled out as quickly as possible to minimize disruption to your business. A single point of contact. The fewer vendors involved, the better. Keep implementers fingers on their mouse buttons rather than pointing at one another. Software and licenses, including standard warranties for software and services. Make sure you re not getting a stripped-down version. A guarantee stating when the implementation will be usable and how much it will cost. Make that a money-back guarantee. Project management by competent people who ll listen to your needs. Installation of the CRM software. Installation and testing of workstation, laptop, and remote clients. At least minor customizations, as appropriate (fields, picklists, corporate letter template). System administrator training and user training is imperative. The company must get off its CRM "training wheels" and up to full-speed operation as quickly as possible. On-site orientation and demo for users. Web-based tutorial for users. On-site user training. Data Import. If you already have any customer data, you ll want it imported into the new system, ready to use. Unfortunately, the form existing data takes varies greatly from company to company. So, the costs associated with analyzing this data and importing it into the new system is rarely included in the base implementation cost. However, the import is vital to the success of the solution. As with basic pricing, be sure of exactly what you are getting, when, and how much it will cost. Post-installation check up and support. The ability to eventually scale the product and the scope of your CRM program. 5

7 Is SalesLogix QuickStart right for your company? Every small and medium-sized business exploring CRM should consider SalesLogix QuickStart. Made by Interact Commerce Corporation, SalesLogix QuickStart is actually a full version of the same mid-market leading SalesLogix product that has been at the forefront of CRM since the industry began and configured for quick implementation in SMBs. With the full range of features identified as necessary for CRM success, SalesLogix QuickStart provides SMBs with all the tools they need for first-class sales, support, and marketing at a price they can afford and with the quick implementation they need. Perhaps most important, though, is that SalesLogix QuickStart was designed with SMBs in mind. The award-winning SalesLogix interface is logical and intuitive. It makes sense to salespeople, support center personnel, and marketers. They actually use it and that s the first step to CRM success. Additionally, SalesLogix is known for its flexibility. SalesLogix QuickStart is extraordinarily robust out of the box. But as a company begins to see just how powerful CRM can be and wants more, SalesLogix QuickStart can grow and be customized to accommodate just about any new uses the company desires. SalesLogix QuickStart can truly provide the CRM jumpstart your business needs. Conclusion CRM is widely considered by businesses of all sizes and types to be a valuable asset in winning and retaining customers. Furthermore, almost all agree that to be successful a CRM system should be integrated, serving at least the sales, support, and marketing teams. But the CRM needs of SMBs particularly where implementation is concerned require special attention because of the heightened competitive environment they face, their need for minimal down time, and the importance of achieving quick successes. The often-limited CRM packages many enterprise vendors offer to SMBs cannot meet these needs. So, small and mid-sized companies must exercise great care to choose a CRM solution from a vendor that has proven success with similar companies. SalesLogix QuickStart and Interact Commerce are the leading such combination. The decision to deploy a CRM system is a crucial one, regardless of business size. For SMBs, operating within tight limitations, making the correct decision is even more critical. CRM can be successful for SMBs if the solution is right and it is implemented in a way that is best for the ongoing and future success of the company. Knowing what a company needs and making sure it gets it is the key to CRM success for SMBs. And that can be the key to even greater success in the marketplace. "Is it Time for CRM in No Time?" by Dave Fox, CRMguru.com, 8/2/2001 "7 Days Siebel slams the 'crummy' mid-market" Chris Middleton chris_middleton@vnu.co.uk, 06/28/2001, COMPUTING, Page 6 Teach, Edward. "Wooing the middle market." CFO Magazine, September The "Big Four" Teach refers to are SAP, Baan, Oracle, and PeopleSoft. SalesLogix is a registered trademark of Interact Commerce Corporation. ACT! is a registered trademark under exclusive license to Interact Commerce Corporation by its owner, Symantec Corp., in the U.S. and other countries Interact Commerce Corporation. All rights reserved. 6