How to successfully implement your CRM system

1. Consensus

One of the first questions you need to ask yourself is: "What does implementation mean to us?". It is important to clarify what the word implementation means to you. This will create consensus in the project team and avoid different interpretations. You need to separate the technical implementation, system adaptations and employee implementation with the behavioral change/use.

Make sure that everyone involved in the project has a common understanding of what implementation means.

It is not only Implementation that can be a fuzzy concept. For example, what does CRM mean? Is it strategic or perhaps technical? CRM strategy can cover the larger part of the buyer's journey and affects several internal functions such as marketing and support, while CRM is also the technical platform that salespeople work in on a daily basis. Take the time to think it through so you speak the same language and avoid unnecessary confusion and frustration. Through this work, you create common expectations, which is the basis for the successful implementation of your CRM system.

2. Clear purpose, plan and anchoring

Why CRM? What do you want to achieve with a CRM? What is working well and what is missing in the current solution?

You should always keep this in mind and the answer must be very clear to everyone. Knowing the answer to the "why" question helps the project team to stay focused. For example, it is common for employees to feel that the old CRM system has never been as good as when implementing the new one. It is essential that everyone understands why you have chosen to change, why it is necessary and how it will benefit you.

Also, ask yourself the question "What value can this create for us?". Instead of focusing on what the system costs, focus on what you can get for the investment you are willing to make. An implementation should be seen as an investment.

To create this clarity and understand what your organization needs, we recommend a needs analysis.

Resistance in the organization

Changing or starting to use a CRM system means a big change in daily work and the big changes increase the risk of failure.

When organizations implement changes, resistance often arises. To avoid this, it is incredibly important to have a clear plan that everyone in the organization knows and feels comfortable with. In a clear plan, as we have mentioned earlier, it is important that you know why you are implementing a CRM system. Once you know that, you can start planning how it will be done, which implementation model, when everything will happen and who is responsible for what.

Should there be a disagreement despite a clear plan, it is important that you have done a risk assessment so that you are prepared for how to handle this. It is important to understand human behavior and thus find ways to manage and respond to it. It is also important to clarify to your staff what they should be focusing on during this period so that they feel it is clear what their role is.

No technology, no matter how sophisticated, can be a success without a strategy on how to implement and use it. That's why it's important that it's embedded in the organization from the start and that "everyone is heading in the same direction".

Here we come back to our common expectations of what an implementation is for us and why we do it.

3. Patience

Develop a realistic timeline that you stick to and don't get scared if your implementation takes up a lot of time. A common reason why a CRM project fails is because you rush and don't take the time to train staff, test the system and go through how the current data will be entered.

A classic problem area is the data, the volume of data, the lack of basis in the data and incorrect data. In this situation, you risk paying too much in system costs related to the volume, while you cannot use the data and the data you have is wrong.

Make sure you are dedicated to the project and give the project the time it needs already in the planning phase. Because while you don't want to rush, you don't want to fall behind either! It is also important to think carefully about which features you want to start implementing. Don't fall into the trap of implementing all the features right away! It can easily feel overwhelming for employees who are new to the system. It also becomes a stumbling block in the project that prevents your organization from getting started.

4. Leadership

In a project there are usually several people in charge. The role of the leaders is not only about answering questions and making decisions. It is also about leading the group in the right direction, towards the right goal. It is their responsibility to ensure that everyone in their team has common expectations, an understanding of what is going to happen, what is expected of them and why. As a leader, you also need to motivate your employees, raise their self-esteem and ensure that they reach their full potential.

Before an implementation process, it is important to think that the system is for the entire organization and not just a department such as sales. It is from this mindset that you should then create a team responsible for the implementation.

Here it can also be good to select one or more people within the organization who act as expert representatives. These can help the others when they encounter problems.

5. Give yourselves the right conditions

So what did an implementation mean for you?
Was it just the technical part, i.e. getting the system up and running? Or do you also want to achieve new and better results?

Do you want to achieve results with your new CRM system and not just set it up technically. Then you need to spend time and resources that are outside the technical implementation. This could be external consultants, training and system development.

There are advantages to using someone from outside who comes in with a different perspective. You can become more confident and make faster decisions, it is someone to "hold your hand" and have as a reference. Dare to take help to avoid the usual pitfalls and gain access to expertise instead of "learning by doing" which can create disappointment in this important phase. Success is not determined by the technology but by the human aspect.

Give yourself the right conditions to succeed with the implementation of your CRM system!

You can also read more about this topic in our post "If You Can't Answer This (Specific) Question, Your Company is Not Ready to Switch or Buy a CRM"

Good luck to you!