The CRM Marathon: Plotting Your CRM Course

Before embarking on your CRM marathon, it’s important to plot the best course. To do this, it’s helpful to determine where you are now. Successful CRM implementations begin with a comprehensive assessment of your current situation. Think about the reasons your firm needs a CRM in the first place. What problems are you trying to solve? What processes are you trying to improve? What are you trying to accomplish?

With the information you gather from your needs assessment, you can begin setting goals to measure your progress. For a firm new to CRM, goals could be as simple as creating a central repository of clean and complete contacts or building reliable mailing or event lists. For a firm with an established CRM that wants to enhance return on system investment, goals may be more sophisticated, like tracking business development activities and opportunities or supporting Client teams. No matter what your goals are, if you have identified them in advance, they will be your milestones of success.

Keep in mind that while CRM can do a thousand things, you shouldn’t try to achieve too many goals during the initial deployment. Instead, focus on three to five key goals that are measurable, achievable and agreed upon by key stakeholders. Save the rest for later down the road…