Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is more than just software or a set of processes – it’s a business culture solidly focused on winning and keeping the right customers.

A good CRM solution builds value for your business by opening up vital communication channels and creating a common client-focused knowledgebase to better serve your clients. CRM is about understanding the buying habits and preferences of your customers and prospects.

"CRM is a customer-focused business strategy designed to optimise profitability, revenue and customer satisfaction.” - Gartner

What do businesses need from CRM systems?

• Reliable user adoption
• Great business fit
• Fast, flexible, and affordable technology

Steps to ensure a successful implementation:

• Successful CRM is not just installing it on a server
• Start the project with well defined business processes
• Communicate the benefits internally to ensure users buy into the system
• Scope the project effectively & define a phased approach in order to "start simple" and get some "quick wins"
• Ensure the business take ownership of the project from start to finish
• Involve end users when gathering requirements and scoping the project
• Get all your data cleaned and centralised - ready to upload into the new system
• Training the end users and a system administrator
• Define your reporting requirements early in the process
• Don't overload Workflow - automating every business process and procedures
• Be realistic when calculating the effort needed for system integration
• Once implemented, formally review every 2-3 months on how the system is used and how it can be fine-tuned or enhanced.

Click here - Preparing for your crm implementation

Click here - 10 common crm mistakes

Click here - Encouraging user adoption

User Adoption

Your CRM rollout doesn't stop the day you introduce the application to your users. To be successful with CRM, you have to instill the value of CRM into your company's culture. This section highlights some of the best practices to help drive user adoption.

Communicate the importance of the initiative

The number-one reason for failed CRM implementations is a lack of executive sponsorship. Senior leadership needs to regularly communicate the important role that CRM plays in the company's strategy and proactively manage to the application. This can be done during company meetings, via a monthly newsletter, or though one-on-one interventions with those resistant to change.

Solicit user feedback

When educating users on the application, ask them what they'd like changed. Often times there are unused fields, cluttered page layouts, or terminology that doesn't make sense. Whenever possible make changes on the fly in front of them to show them how responsive you can be with CRM.

Communicate the value proposition for reps

Whether it's consolidating key sales collateral in the documents tab or importing leads directly from the website into Salesforce, find ways to make this a win-win for users and management. One of the biggest challenges is that reps view Salesforce for a tool for managers and loose sight of how it can make them more successful.

Use dashboards to run your team meetings

When your team sees that you're managing to the application, usage tends to take a dramatic rise. Open up CRM in team meetings and highlight the dashboards which you track. When appropriate, drill down into the details and confirm that the information is accurate. If data is missing tell your reps that, "if it isn't in CRM, it doesn't exist."

Tie compensation to the application

There are a number of ways to tie compensation to CRM, the most popular of which is to only pay commissions on opportunities which were created in the application. You can also create measures which are directly tied to dashboards inside the application.

Leverage adoption dashboards

There are several adoption dashboards available which you can install quicklys. These dashboards allow you to track login activity and new records added by user. Some customers have set up what they call "the wall of shame" to highlight outliers and enforce compliance. Adoption dashboards can also be used to improve data quality. For example, you can create a dashboard element which says who's not filling out required fields.