There have been CRM failures for more than one reason. The better prepared you are, the less likely you will have to deal with it. Here are some questions and points that should be addressed prior to making the leap:

How to Avoid CRM Horror Stories

1. What if you are unable to migrate your current system data to your CRM system?

2. What if the solution does not solve your business problem? How will it impact your existing operations?

3. Lack of ability to integrate seamlessly with 3rd party applications.

4. Lack of ability to create custom screens, fields and automated business rules that are specific to the way you do business.

5. Employee perception is not addressed and employees are unwilling to use system.

By SuradoCRM

Before you embark on any opportunity, you must be sure of the potential sales volume and the reasonable probability of securing the sale. The first thing an Account Manager must do is to qualify the opportunity.

Answering the following questions early in the sales process will eliminate unnecessary risks before embarking on an expensive sales project with little or no return.

By Surado CRM
CRM1080

Typically, as a Small Business owner or manager, you don’t normally associate purchasing software to reduce costs. However, CRM software specifically has some cost reduction advantages that are discussed below:

Today more than ever, companies are seeking to ensure that they will realize a valuable return on investment from their CRM system. To best achieve this, companies must first have a clear understanding of what information they want to gather and how the CRM system will be used to capture and analyze data to make further improvements in customer service.

Most companies understand at some level that CRM is not really about “managing” customers but rather about putting the customer at the center of the organization. And in providing additional value to customers, customer loyalty increases and business benefits accrue in many tangible ways, from increased sales to customer longevity.

The Secret Life of Your Customer

"Economic and Management Theory" teaches us to examine options with relative scientific objectivity to determine the most efficient and profitable processes to increase revenue. Simply put, we look for the quickest and most effective way to make a profit.

What does "Economic and Management Theory" teach us about CRM?

The news is horrible, the weather is frightful, and you want business to be delightful. What do you do? During an economic downturn most businesses go through the usual motions of cost cutting and layoffs, and while that may help solve the immediate problem of too much expenditures. Additionally, slowing or cancelling projects, expansion, or campaigns will also solve the immediate problem of too many expenditures, but what do you do once you have done all of this and your sales revenue is still shrinking?

The good news, despite all of the doom and gloom, is that you can do something that will help you keep the customers you have and attract new customers; even in today’s economy.

The key is communication. Customers love it when you pay attention to them. How many times have we called a company only to end up in some automated version of semi-robotic purgatory without that ability to talk to a real human being? Did you think that experience was a satisfying solution to your dilemma? Neither do your customers. Ok, so if your customers prefer to talk to you (a real human being) and you don’t have the resources or the time to talk to your customers, what do you do?

Sales: "Help!"

The success of your business is largely dependent on your sales team‚ the lifeblood of any organization. In an increasingly competitive environment, sales teams need to skillfully manage a range of competencies and toolsets.

To successfully execute the sales process, a sales team has to secure a methodology that makes sense to the organization for the products and services they provide. It also must be flexible for dynamic changes in business environments. A CRM Solution that provides a robust Sales Module can not only help streamline Sales Processes but also provide insights into inefficiencies that can cripple an organization’s growth.

These days, since businesses are expected to provide personal service and form relationships with thousands of customers, self-service tools are a blessing .

No matter how great your customer care is, if you’re not offering support on the web, your customers are left wondering why. Many experts agree that having self-service is one of the cornerstones of establishing an e-business presence.

What is "Web Self-Service" all about?

The Self-Service model is founded on the principal of enabling customers, partners and employees to obtain information or conduct transactions directly over the internet, avoiding time-consuming and costly traditional processes involving multiple verbal or written interactions.

Here is 15 benefits of a CRM system would bring to YOUR BUSINESS CRM

1. Enable everyone in your organization to achieve operational excellence with a single 360-degree view of the customer.

2. Facilitate successful execution of business performance philosophies such as Six Sigma, Lean, TQM, and the balanced scorecard.

3. Increase customer acquisition, retention, loyalty, and profitability with standardized and improved sales methodologies.


4. Automate redundant sales processes to better target resources, increasing the number of opportunities closed and accounts managed per sales representative.


5. Empower your sales team with real-time pipeline and forecasting to direct focus to the most profitable opportunities.

CRM Components CRM1080

Guest Post by Sundip Doshi

I trust you had great holidays — Happy New Year!

There are probably tons of articles for what the CRM world is going to bring to the market this year… Perhaps you should read the ones from 2009 to see if the “predictions” were just a great wish list by analysts. Instead of predicting what CRM features are going to be popular or should be popular this year, I am going to take a different approach. I am going to provided you with the content that is necessary to accomplish the goals that you have set out for your organization — how or if your CRM system can accomplish this task is a whole another story.