Month: September 2018

Guide to drive successful CRM adoptions

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Why CRM implementations fail

The reasons why there are so few truly successful CRM implementations vary from industry to industry and even one country to another.

I can give you my reasons based on my observations over the last decade. The reasons are in 3 broad groups:

  1. No clarity on existing process:
  2. Lack of clarity on expectations.
  3. Commitment should start from the top- but it does not.

Much before the search for a CRM- either for the first time or to replace an existing system, there must a serious effort to document existing processes. If they need to  fit a software – understand what is critical and what is not.

A CRM like Saleswah is a fairly large piece of software with multiple features. Rare is the customer who uses all the features and that is okay. What the successful implementer does is understand how his must have processes will work in the CRM.

Process clarity and expectation setting

Process documentation even if not very formal, is must. Have the internal clarity before you speak to the vendor.

A shortcut that often works, is to ask (as a customer)

  • what reports do I need to run and grow my business?
  • what data do I need to capture to get those reports?
  • how can I make the job easier for my people (who will get me the data)?

Reports and required data: these are self explanatory. Ask these questions and you will be surprised how easy the process for looking for a CRM and getting it to work for you will become.

Leading by example

Now for the boss- the one that needs to drive the implementation.

For the user adoption and implementation to work, the boss needs to use the CRM.

Sounds trivial. But it isn’t. Bosses are busy and they simply are unable to fit the CRM usage into their schedule.

So, here’s what we suggest. If you are the boss and you want the CRM implementation to go smoothly, get your reports ONLY from the CRM. Let it be known to your entire team that they do not need to send you reports separately. You will get your reports from the same source- the CRM.

Tell them you won’t read their forecast reports or funnel health or win-loss reports offline or sent on mail. You will only read it in the CRM.

Have you encountered other issues why CRM implementation/ adoption stalled in your company? What did you do to solve them?

 

 

Who is Saleswah for?

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Customers we serve (and benefit)

Years after we started our journey – our focus continues to be those companies who are selling products and services to other businesses.

CRM tends to be a bit of an omnibus term. Here’s how we explain to customers when we talk. In our view, CRM is a software that helps manage- schedule, track and facilitate all customer facing processes. The way I see it, the difference between ERP and CRM is that ERP manages the processes “inside your gates”. CRM manages “outside the gates” processes.

So, within this broad ambit, there are sales and service processes- both.

Let’s discuss them one by one and position Saleswah appropriately.

Sales CRM

If you are scouting for a Sales CRM, first ask two important questions to yourself:

  • Who is my customer?
  • What is my selling process?

Am I selling to individuals or am I selling to companies? Normally most companies do either one or the other. Your product or service will typically determine your choice of customers.

There are exceptions. For instance, you may be a soft-drinks company and have 2 target segments. Individuals who you target through your retail play and corporates like clubs, airlines, hotels who you sign up with for exclusive deals. While the latter is a B2B sales process, the former is B2C. Saleswah does not cater to B2C process at all.

A B2B sales process will need salesmen with feet on street. There will be territories, hierarchies, target setting and periodic reviews of achievements against targets.

A B2B sales process needs profiling of customers- organizations and people who work for them- for they decide on the purchase. The history of interactions, captured over time guides future interactions.

Why Saleswah Sales CRM?

Saleswah Sales CRM helps sell products and services to other businesses. So, all other entities in Saleswah (Contacts, Deals, Tasks, Appointments, Quotations- and even sales targets and achievements) are linked to the Accounts (companies that you sell to). “Account owners”- sales people who are the first line contact for the customer (Account in question) have primary ownership of targets, get rewarded for achievements (deals won) in the accounts, get assigned tasks related to the accounts and so on.

Does the above describe your sales process?

Ask for a demo or Register for a free trial.

Service CRM

If you are looking for a Service CRM, the defining questions are:

  • What is my product or service that I need to provide after sales service for?
  • What is my post-sales service process?
  • Do I provide in customer site or does he bring the product in for service?

There are many products that require no post sales service. Most home furniture, consumables etc require no service. Some products may simply be too inexpensive to require customer service.

But, many products- home appliances and industrial products  (and even services- think the cable TV or broadband service) require services to keep going. Many software products which are customer premise installable, require service as well.

Service can be during the warranty period and after.

Service can even include installation support. And, typically warranty coverage kicks in after installation is complete.

There are products that the customer brings in to be serviced to the service station. Think cars or laser printers or laptops.

But there are many products that are only serviced on-site. Home appliances, large machines – Diesel Gensets, Chillers, CNC machines. Some machines are serviced onsite for minor complaints and brought in to the service centre for major work.

Software support is normally always onsite- this is irrespective whether it is an installable software like Tally or cloud based software. Of course, you may end up providing the support on phone, email or internet.

Why Saleswah Service CRM

Saleswah Service CRM helps manage after sales service processes that require:

  • Onsite services.
  • Tracking warranty and/ or Maintenance contract based service.
  • Require field visits tracking.
  • Asset management- based on serial numbers.
  • Managing out of support cases.

Saleswah can help manage large installed base of equipment- running into tens or even hundreds of thousands. It can easily scale to hundreds of users, many roles and hierarchies and and a complex process of onsite service deliverable.

If you are looking for a easy to use service CRM which can scale to the most complex of requirements,

Ask for a demo or Register for a free trial.