ARE YOU

PREPARED
FOR CRM?

HOW-TO GUIDE
 Are you Prepared for CRM?
HOW-TO GUIDE

CRM projects are notorious for failing in mid-sized enterprises for a variety of reasons. Although
there have been considerable CRM product developments, including the rapid growth of solid
hosted solutions, there is still a need for a foundation built on mature processes, alignment with
goals, and senior level buy-in.

Use Demand Metric’s downloadable CRM Readiness Assessment to gauge how ready
your organization is to tackle this initiative.

What are the Key Success Factors?

Senior Management Commitment — your executives must understand that CRM is a complex,
long-term initiative. They need to commit to providing the required resources, and potentially
upgrade backend IT systems.

Alignment with Goals & Objectives — CRM must be on your strategic plan for organizational
development priorities. Each department needs to document their requirements for the system,
and indicate how the increased functionality will help them achieve current and future goals.

Process Maturity & Documentation — defined, repeatable, and measurable processes need to be
documented for Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, Billing, and Order Management.

Data Management & Accuracy — customer and product information needs to be stored safely in
either a data warehouse or online storage system. A unique customer identifier should be used
across all departments, and IT needs to take responsibility for all departmental data.

Customer-Centricity — is your business driven by customer needs? Have you profiled an ideal
customer and communicated that profile across departments? Do customers typically deal with
more than one representative?

System Training and Support — appropriate resources need to be allocated for training system
users and administrators. Consider creating a position for a Director of Sales Support who can
manage the CRM program.

Bottom Line
CRM has the potential to have a major impact on your business. Don’t waste time and resources
evaluating and implementing a solution, until your organization is in a position to really reap the
benefits.

2 ARE YOU PREPARED FOR CRM? HOW-TO GUIDE

 Action Plan
STEP 1 - Conduct a Readiness Assessment

Conduct a Download the CRM

1 Readiness
Assessment Readiness Assessment Tool

Use Demand Metric’s

Prioritize downloadable CRM
2 Results Readiness Assessment tool to
measure your preparedness
across 6 dimensions.

Evaluate CRM
3 Systems

CRM Readiness Assessment

Consider a SFA
4 Pilot
VIEW RESOURCE

Make a
5 Recommendation

3 ARE YOU PREPARED FOR CRM? HOW-TO GUIDE

 Action Plan
STEP 2 - Prioritize Results

Conduct a
What Needs to Get Done?
1 Readiness
Define Your Priorities.
Assessment

Review your ‘results’ to

identify key areas that need
2 Prioritize
Results to be addressed immediately,
can be completed over time,
or can be ignored.

Evaluate CRM
3 Systems

CRM Program Strategy Scorecard

Consider a SFA
4 Pilot
VIEW RESOURCE

Make a
5 Recommendation

4 ARE YOU PREPARED FOR CRM? HOW-TO GUIDE

 Action Plan
STEP 3 - Evaluate CRM Systems

Conduct a
Stay Up-To-Date on CRM
1 Readiness
Vendor Offerings
Assessment

Read Evaluating Hosted

Prioritize CRM to quickly get up to
2 Results speed on vendor offerings.

3 Evaluate CRM
Systems

Evaluating Hosted CRM

VIEW RESOURCE
Consider a SFA
4 Pilot

Make a
5 Recommendation

5 ARE YOU PREPARED FOR CRM? HOW-TO GUIDE

 Action Plan
STEP 4 - Consider a SFA Pilot

Conduct a
Map Success with Sales-
1 Readiness
Force Automation (SFA)
Assessment

Even if you score poorly on

Prioritize the readiness assessment,
2 Results there may be some value in
conducting a pilot project for
sales- force-automation (SFA)
to help you manage leads,
accounts, opportunities, etc.,
Evaluate CRM and build momentum for CRM.
3 Systems

4 Consider a
SFA Pilot
CRM System RFP Template

VIEW RESOURCE
Make a
5 Recommendation

6 ARE YOU PREPARED FOR CRM? HOW-TO GUIDE

 Action Plan
STEP 5 - Make a Recommendation

Conduct a
Put Recommendations
1 Readiness
into Action with Senior
Assessment
Management

Prioritize Once you understand your

2 Results current CRM readiness,
make a recommendation
to Senior Management
to get started, approach
cautiously, scale back, or
Evaluate CRM
3 Systems
cut the initiative indefinitely.

Consider a SFA
4 Pilot

5 Make a
Recommendation

7 ARE YOU PREPARED FOR CRM? HOW-TO GUIDE

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