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What CRM Should I Use
We hear this question frequently from business owners. Obviously, it’s impossible to recommend a CRM solution that offers the capabilities businesses need to better manage sales, customers, and ultimately grow their business without more information.
Business owners are really asking is “how should I select a CRM solution that is right for our business”? Selecting an "off-the-shelf" or Software as a Server (SaaS) CRM solution, or almost any software (excluding MS Office type products), is similar to the process you would go through if you were buying a home for your family.
Most people would not start looking at houses until they had an idea what they need. For example, at least a 3 bedroom home, 3 car garage, 3 bathroom, good school district, budget, etc. A good real estate agent would ask you questions to determine what you are looking for to save you time as well as their time. It’s unimaginable an agent would be able to show you the right house for your family without asking questions.
Buying CRM software follows a similar process. Before you start shopping for solutions, you need to define the functions the software must support. Many people immediately contact vendors and allow the vendors to demo the software without giving them any guidelines. Vendors are trying to sell you their software - they are going to put their best foot forward and show you their cool features.
Before you contact a vendor, create a list of functions that the software needs to support. Focus on what the software needs it do – not how you want to do it. Let the vendor or a consultant help you with the how during final steps of the selection process.
To get started, simply start a list of functions you want a CRM solution to support. The following is a list of sales management functions you may want to consider:
- Automatically synchronize your business contacts with Outlook
- Synchronize selected emails sent to business contacts – a good sales management policy should track relevant interactions with prospects and customers
- Require sales team to enter a reason your company won or lost a deal
- Run reports that:
- List all customers that your company has not “touched” in the last 90 days (you should be able to adjust timeframes)
- List all the deals your company lost in the last x months so that you can identify trends
This is not a complete list, but you get the idea. After you “complete” (note: don’t worry about defining all the functions, but make sure you’ve identified the critical functions), prioritize the list. It’s very rare that you will find a CRM solution that meets all your needs. Prioritizing your list will help you select a solution that is best suited for you to manage sales and grow your business.
Now it’s time to start researching CRM solutions and contacting vendors that appear to meet your critical needs. Use the Internet to research CRM solutions. Their web sites usually do a good job of describing key functions.
When you’ve found a couple that appear to meet your needs, contact the vendor. Most vendors are more than happy to demonstrate their solution for you. Share your requirements list with them and ask them to show you how their solution supports your requirements. During the demo, rate or score how well the solution supports your needs.
While this may seem like a lot of work, it doesn’t take as long as you think and it is definitely much faster than shooting from hip.