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Will Bill Gates throw off the philanthropic mantle, boot out Steve Ballmer, and once again seize control of Microsoft, restoring it to greatness?
As 2012 draws to a close, it seems like there’s been an explosion in the “boldest prediction” meme, and accompanying debates: Gates versus Ballmer, Netflix versus Amazon, iPhone versus Android, or betting on which business Oracle will gobble up next. And while it’s fun to game the business plans of technology giants, what’s arguably more meaningful to our readers is simply learning how to get more from their existing CRM investments.
To that end, here’s my recap of the biggest CRM mistakes that I saw in 2012. In other words, if you want to get the most from your CRM investments, beware of the following potential pitfalls:
1. Committing To Buy Software Before Defining Goals
The number-one CRM project mistake I saw in 2012–carrying over from 2010 and 2011–was CRM seekers buying software without knowing what they wanted it to do.
Too many companies say, “We need to do CRM,” and mean, “Let’s buy a CRM package and figure out if it should be Oracle, Microsoft, or Salesforce.” So they buy the software, then realize they don’t how to configure it to meet the requirements of their particular organization, because they haven’t first defined their overarching marketing, sales, or service business goals.
That’s the point when we meet a lot of businesses. Without trying to blunt the business’s zeal for CRM, our first response is typically to affirm what they’ve done, then ask: Why not quickly pinpoint which specific business outcomes you’re trying to achieve?
CRM isn’t “one size fits all.” Defining what you’re trying to achieve, and then rolling out the specific CRM features required to make that happen will help give your sales, marketing, and service personnel tools to make them more productive, while saving time and money by avoiding unneeded features and functionality.
2. Sales Thinking: “If You Build It, They Will Come”
Remember Field of Dreams, in which Kevin Costner’s character builds a ballpark, leading to the ghosts of baseball’s greatest players quickly arriving to play a game? Well, when it comes to technology projects, forget that paradigm. Salespeople simply don’t work that way.
Instead, they channel the Jerry Maguire “show me the money” ethos. In other words, you need to sell salespeople on the benefits of any new system. That, of course, requires working with front-line salespeople who will champion the system, providing it really does help make them more productive. That typically happens by automating administrative tasks and highlighting top leads, thus freeing salespeople to do what they do best: pitch more prospects, visit more customers and close more deals.
3. CIOs Selecting Technology Before Defining Goals
The IT department, as you might expect, helps make or break a CRM project, and one of the biggest implementation-related missteps to be avoided is the IT team predetermining the outcome of any CRM technology selection process, without first understanding the business imperative for using the software in the first place.
What’s so special about selecting CRM, and why shouldn’t the IT department just pick the software package it prefers, as it does with most projects? Well, when you put a new inventory system in place, the inventory never gets mad. But when pick a new CRM system, salespeople sometimes do get upset, because using the software is so fundamental to how they do their job.
Accordingly, the most successful CRM projects don’t start with technology selection, but by defining the business goals, and then finding the best technology for the job, with the IT department acting as a trusted guide.
4. Marketing Seeking Social CRM Cure-Alls
On a marketing front, the year’s biggest lesson–or mistake–is that social media savvy won’t cure all customer-facing business ills. Blame the 2012 social hype curve for causing people to lose all sense of perspective about what social CRM can and should accomplish.
Some of the worst 2012 offenders were airlines. American Airlines, for example, was earlier this year merrily tweeting away at the same time as its pilots, protesting the expiration of their contract with the airline, decided to take a “by the book” approach to aircraft maintenance, and log fix requests for any potential issue, thus leading to a widespread slowdown. As a result, flight cancellations began running at 3% to 5% a day–just 1% is considered poor–while only about half of American flights were arriving on time, compared with an industry norm of 80%.
Instead of resolving their pilot issues, these jokers were spending money on social media. While we’re big fans of social media, and every company is now in the social spotlight, take care of your basic business issues–including customer service–first.
5. Forgetting Everyone’s Still A Dog Online
Per the classic New Yorker cartoon: “On the Internet, no one knows you’re a dog.” The same holds true for CRM news, as we discovered after April 1, 2012, when we announced Innoveer’s acquisition of Onagio Software.
Call me naïve, but I thought that an April Fool’s announcement of an acquisition of a supposed Italian technology powerhouse that sold software to enable Twitter from 3270 terminals, or Facebook for Palm Pilots, might garner a bit more skepticism. Yet the post actually led to business development offers. The moral, obviously, is to not believe everything you read online. Especially beware any April 1, 2013, posts bearing my byline and the following headlines:
- Marc Benioff’s Secrets For Fluffier Soufflés
- X-Factor Your Sales Force
- Kate Middleton’s Baby Delivers Shocking CRM Upsides
Out with the old, in with the new. Watch out for my top project pitfalls, and here’s to CRM project success in 2013.
Learn More
Looking for today’s top CRM project recommendations? See our hot picks for marketing, sales, customer service, and CRM technology.
But no matter your current or desired customer service program capabilities, the best project strategy begins by identifying your desired business goals. Then find the right tools and technology for the job, and pursue a rapid implementation that remains focused on achieving your desired, new business capabilities.
Post and thumbnail photos courtesy of Flickr user Vinoth Chandar.