The Following steps help to put the organization on the right path to CRM success

1. Remember that culture is supreme:

A CRM encompasses a mindset, a way of doing business and a way of interacting with others in the firm. The success of CRM implementation rests on the shoulders of a workforce that is willing to share information about clients and contacts. However, this “collaborative” mentality flies in the face of the culture within some professional services firms. For better or worse, many professional services practitioners are skeptical of sharing “contacts” information for the fear of losing opportunities to generate work that can produce themselves. However, if a CRM implementation is introduced to the workforce as an opportunity to create new opportunities for all, success rates will improve significantly.

2. Set Realistic Goals:

One of the greatest mistakes a management team can make is to force –feed technology across the organization. This is particularly true with the CRM implementation. As the firm management prepares for a CRM rollout, planning and patients are critical. Working with the implementation team from the software developer, management should agree upon a plan of phasing software use across the firm. Some organizations orchestrate a CRM rollout by location, others by practice group or department. A phased approach gives both the firm and the implementation team an opportunity to make adjustments, manage expectations, achieve milestones and promote successes.

3. Obtain and Maintain Senior Management support:

Successful CRM implementation start and end at the top. As a rule, successful CRM implementations are characterized as those in which management leads by example. Management should not sugarcoat the process or minimize the effort involved. Similarly, when milestones are achieved, the same managers should be the first to strongly promote the benefits being realized by the firm.

4. Analyze working Processes:

The process of fitting a CRM solution into a professional service organization provides a wonderful opportunity to evaluate processes and procedures across the firm. Working with the implementation team from the software provider firm, management should review, analyze and evaluate the firm’s procedure as well as all the data sources that are used in finding a CRM solution. This is the perfect time to discuss and develop new procedures that will increase the firm’s success.