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    05.01.2023
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    3 minutes
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    Author: Julia Andrusiak
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Implementing a CRM System: Key Stages and Assessing Implementation Success

Often, we embark on something significant without considering why we need it, what is important to know about it, and whether we truly need it. Implementing a CRM system can be compared to buying a car.

LET'S ASK OURSELVES SOME QUESTIONS THAT IMMEDIATELY ARISE:

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    Why do I need a car?Is it necessary to expand my business or just for family needs?
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    What budget do I have?Am I looking for something economical, or will I be ordering something exclusive?
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    What functional characteristics should my future car have?A minimal set or the maximum configuration available in the chosen model.

Do you understand what we're talking about right now?

What does it mean to implement a CRM system?

Implementing a CRM system is the process of installing specialized software, configuring it to fit the company's needs, training personnel, and implementing new workflows to maximize the system's potential.

The primary goal of CRM implementation is to ensure effective customer relationship management, increase sales productivity, improve customer service, and enhance overall customer satisfaction. This approach allows companies to create more personalized and efficient customer relationships, leading to increased loyalty and profitability.

Main Stages of CRM System Implementation:

Stage 1. PREPARATORY

This stage involves discussing key questions during your company's monthly meetings before selecting and implementing the system. It's crucial to document everything and stick to the chosen direction. During these discussions, it's essential to identify the main goals and objectives of the implementation. They should not conflict with your tactical goals or contradict them. It's also important to define performance indicators because CRM system implementation, like any other project, should have completion criteria and success metrics. In other words, what needs to be achieved?

Examples:

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    Reduce order processing time on social media by 50%
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    Speed up order transmission from sales department to warehouse by 2 times

Stage 2. CRM SYSTEM SELECTION

After clearly understanding why we started this process, we move on to one of the most critical stages - system selection. Here, you can spend months searching and comparing various systems, or we recommend seeking help from CRM integrators immediately. After analyzing your company's business processes, the contractor can recommend a CRM system that meets all your needs.

It's important to note that the CRM system should:

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    Fit your budget
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    Be flexible and easy to use
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    Have convenient data import or migration from other CRM systems

For more detailed information, refer to the article "What to Consider When Choosing a CRM System."

Stage 3. INTERNAL PROCESS AUDIT OR TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION PREPARATION

Sometimes it seems that once we have chosen the system, or even when we have found someone to set it up for us, sales will happen automatically. However, there are still crucial steps ahead. After all, even after buying a car, we adjust the seat, check tire pressure, go for a car wash, or buy covers to our liking.

The essence of an internal audit of the company lies in digitizing all the processes that we would like to transfer to our system. In other words, we try to describe all communications with clients, colleagues, and sales stages on a sheet of paper (usually through Google Docs). This is necessary so that the CRM system reflects the work of your departments and easily reports to you at the end of the month.
The result of this stage is clearly defined tasks with details.

Example:

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    Import client database
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    Configuration of Leads, Contacts, and Companies cards (list of fields and possible options)
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    Integration with social networks (Instagram, Facebook, Viber, Telegram)
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    Website integration (creating Deals with a list of products after filling out the form on the website)
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    Integration with external services (delivery, telephony)

Stage 4. CONFIGURATION AND TRAINING

Having completed all the previous stages qualitatively, configuring the CRM will proceed quickly and with minimal costs, both financial and time-wise. The main mistake of many managers is to think that after configuring the CRM system, everything ends there.

However, it is extremely important to train employees to use the CRM system. Training your team allows them to quickly adapt to the new tool and prevent sabotage within departments.

As a result, you will have a system configured to your processes and step-by-step instructions (preferably video) for working in it.

Stage 5. RESULTS ANALYSIS

Now is the time to return to Stage 1 and answer our questions, and most importantly, to check the success criteria and metrics we documented at the very beginning.

From experience, only 30% of companies evaluate the results of CRM implementation. It's always worth conducting retrospectives and evaluating the results of invested resources.

Key Signs of Successful CRM System Implementation:

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    The system is user-friendly, and over 90% of managers actively use it to record customer and order data.
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    Managers' activities and the volume of requests for each are known to the management.
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    Monthly reporting is available for both the manager and the owner.
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    Order processing speed has increased.
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    Employees spend less time on routine tasks.
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    Some "repetitive tasks" are automated.

The process of implementing a CRM system may seem complex, but the effectiveness outweighs all the difficulties.

CONTACT US, WE WILL HELP YOU CHOOSE A CRM OR SWITCH FROM ANOTHER CRM SYSTEM, ANALYZE YOUR PROCESSES, CONFIGURE CRM, AND PROVIDE TRAINING.

Julia Andrusiak

Julia Andrusiak

Account Director

+38 050 700 75 72

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