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Warning: Why the CRM System You’ve Got Is Failing

Noticing that your business isn’t running as smoothly as it should couldmean that you have a CRM failure.Sometimes your sixth sense feels there’s something wrong, doesn’t it? You get the feeling that your business isn’tworking quite as smoothly as it should. Your teams appear on to be on top of things, but then a string of problemsarise and you don’t know where they’ve come from.

Do any of these symptoms sound familiar?

Your CRM might seem up to date. Then suddenly, some dead-cert sales seem to have gone cold. You ask yoursales people about them, then they realise they lost track and didn’t put them in the CRM. This CRMfailure means you’re no longer at the top of the game.

Maybe you start hearing complaints from customers with unresolved issues. After asking around, you realiseemails got muddled and passed around between people. Nobody dealt with this CRM failure either.

According to the marketing team’s reports, there are lots of leads. So why is the sales pipeline slow? You askaround and there seems to be a blockage between sales and marketing. That spreadsheet wasn’t passed acrossbecause a member of staff was on holiday for three weeks.

Business growth leads to more problems and complexity.

Whether you have a CRM or not, as your company grows you’re likely to face these kinds of problems more andmore. Things will run less and less smoothly, while scalability makes things even more complex. People fromvarious departments face increasing frustrations because of existing CRM failures.

According to a study by the Merkle Group, 63% of CRM systems fail their organisation. That doesn’t include thecountless unreported failures from businesses which still rely solely on emails and spreadsheets to keep thingsgoing.

So where do these problems come from and what can you do to solve them?

5 common reasons for CRM failure.

1. Lack of sufficient systems in place. Many businesses cope perfectly fine without a CRM for a while. Butthere comes a stage when problems arise, multiple people juggle difficult problems at once and it becomes morerisky.

A good CRM system offers reminders and prompts for critical tasks. It keeps customer records in one place ratherthan in someone’s inbox. It means that everyone can keep on top of their workflows, while others can step in ifthere’s a problem, or if someone’s away.

2. Low and slow CRM adoption. According to a study by Gartner, 49% of respondents stated that slow useradoption of CRM systems had prevented their organisation from being more customer-centric.

With personal training that persuades end-users on the benefits, they’re more likely to use a CRM system.

3. Lack of buy-in from board. 38% of executives surveyed by the Merkle Group said that a lack of executivebuy-in meant their CRM didn’t meet their business goals. By getting buy-in from the top down, everyone can bebehind it. That means that C-level executives have a stake in the success of the CRM software.

4. Loss of sales time. 46% of Sales Initiative magazine’s readers stated that lost sales time is a major issue inchoosing a CRM system. A customised sales CRM can minimise the data-collection, “time-wasting” elements ofCRM and only ask for the most necessary elements.

5. Managers not leading from the front to get CRM adoption. CRM expert Paul Pitman at Collier Pickard triedall the tricks to get CRM user adoption. Making it look like Facebook, setting up mobile and tablet platforms andmaking commissions dependant on data entry were among many of his attempts

But then a free tactic did the trick. He used the system himself and his teams followed. Teams see their boss asan example, so if managers lead from the front, they are much more likely to use the CRM and improve the ROIof the system.

It’s important to act now.

You can palm these issues off. But what happens if a strategic client drops out because your team faced a busytime of year and couldn’t handle their support issues, due to a CRM failure? What happens if your CRM isn’tprioritising sales leads – and you lose the hottest ones?

It’s important to get the right CRM system in place before problems escalate and leave your business behind.

Learn more about getting everyone on your side by downloading your freeeGuide: The ultimate guide to: winning board support

Billy Lyle

Managing Director at RedspireBilly has more than 15 years' experience in deploying business solutions and he makes a point ofattending every customer kick-off meeting. Day-to-day he directs all commercial and technicaldevelopment work at Redspire.