Why CRM must be at the hub of your business to be effective. Explore the reasoning, along with the pitfalls.

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1 Why CRM must be at the hub of your business to be effective. Explore the reasoning, along with the pitfalls.

2 Outline Introduction Why CRM should be at the hub of every business What to consider 10 steps to successful CRM implementation Our process CRM project checklist Summary About EWO

3 Introduction Much has been said about Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and the impact it has on business. In our opinion, CRM is the strongest and the most efficient approach to maintaining and creating relationships with customers and increasing the average value of your customers. This is why we believe that CRM needs to be at the hub of every business. The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer. -Peter Drucker Not everyone is fully aware of the benefits of CRM and how it can improve their business. Many see it as a cost rather than an investment. Before you decide to implement a CRM system, you need to establish your long term goals and what you want to achieve from the system. By putting a clear strategy in place, goals can be set ensuring that all parties are focused on what needs to be achieved and when. Making these plans visible also guarantees stronger stakeholder support.

4 Why CRM should be at the hub of any business Customer relationship management aids strong personal bonding with your contacts, resulting in customer loyalty. Development of this type of bonding will drive your business to new levels of success. "You can almost always make life better by doing something that's no skin off anyone's back. At the outset you want to get everyone's top thing they like. But what's the thing they hate most? If you keep that in mind you can reduce their pain and give them some goodies, and they'll buy in." Sean Clemmons, Piraeus Data LLC Once the personal and emotional link is built, it is easier for any organisation to identify the actual needs of customers and meet them in an effective way. The more sophisticated strategies involved in implementing CRM, the more successful the business will be. In today s business landscape, contacts, connections and communications are everything. With the right CRM system, you can keep track of all communications and ensure your business and its marketing communications are effective. This is why CRM should be at the hub of every business.

5 What CRM can do for your business A CRM system holds a historical view and analysis of all current and future contacts. CRM contains every detail about a contact, making it very easy to track them accordingly. This can be used to identify how best to communicate with them. In CRM systems, contacts can be segmented according to their type of business and location etc. This helps in focusing and concentrating on each and every contact separately and building loyalty. This results in an increase in customer value. A CRM system is not only used to deal with existing contacts, but is also useful in acquiring new customers. The process first starts with identifying a customer and maintaining all the corresponding details into the CRM system. The Sales and Field representatives then follow this up. Having all data in one place, such as a CRM system, makes it easily accessible, reducing the process time and increasing productivity. A CRM system can efficiently deal with all contacts, providing them with what they actually need, increasing contact satisfaction. This also increases the chance of obtaining new business, which ultimately enhances turnover and profit.

6 What to consider Develop a clear strategy Engage with your team before, during and after Identify the benefits of CRM to your business Not everyone is aware of the benefits of CRM and how it can improve their business. Effective planning To make sure that any risks are limited and returns are maximised, effective plans need to be put in place. By building the right foundations, everyone goes into the project with a full understanding of what and who needs to be involved. Making the right selection for you The wide range of CRM software out there can be both a blessing and a curse. Making the wrong software choice can destroy a CRM project. What works for one organisation may not work for you; the key is making the right choice for your business. Negotiating the risks of CRM implementation There can be various pitfalls at this stage of the process such as process and system design, data imports and integration, user acceptance testing and user adoption. Users (your colleagues) in particular can be very unforgiving, so it is imperative that the project delivers what they were expecting and when they were expecting it, in order to gain their support.

7 The process To ensure that the right system for you is implemented, clear objectives need to be identified. This will strengthen the case for engaging all stakeholders. Key stakeholders need to buy into the project right from the start, in order to drive the project forward and support the overall change. In order for CRM to become the hub of the business and create a single customer view, all teams need to be involved in the process.

8 Teams to consider Finance Sales HR Telecoms Digital Marketing Operations Others depending on the business

9 10 steps to successful CRM implementation 1. Strategy and planning 2. Develop business case 3. Ensure that you have support from the senior team 4. Prepare detailed functional specification 5. Ensure the system fits the business needs 6. Establish and train super users early in the process 7. Engage with all staff in order to gain their support throughout the process and when the system is live 8. Monitor usage once the system is live and review on an ongoing basis 9. Ensure that working habits are adapted to meet the potential of the system 10. Continuously evolve the system to fit the business needs

10 CRM project checklist For CRM to be at the hub of your business, the system needs to hold a single view of all your company information. To achieve this, you need the following: Clear goals Sponsorship from company executives Team engagement from start to finish Dedicated CRM project manager Continually review the system for your business to reach its full potential (this could also be seen as an adjacent change management project) Summary Contacts, connections and communications are everything. By installing a CRM system, you can keep track of this and ensure your business and its communications are effective. With a solid plan, clear goals, good communication and stakeholder buy in, your CRM system will create one single view of your business, allowing it to reach its full potential. Discover your potential - make CRM the hub of your business.

11 About EWO Ever since we were established in 2003, our work has been based around excellence in communications. In the early days, this focused on external marketing, but as our client s needs have developed, our skills have also evolved. Now, our focus is still on communications, but more so working with organisations to help them evolve through behavioural change, re-positioning and working with internal teams, to ensure they are fully engaged in all change and transformation. We are still true to our origins and have an experienced team of consultants, including CRM specialists, working with organisations across a number of sectors, to deliver external communications and marketing that deliver results and more importantly, work within the business strategy and objectives. W: T: E: info@ewo.uk.com