How to Implement a CRM: a Step-by-Step Guide
So you’re ready to implement a CRM at your company.
The process might seem quite intimidating and complicated.
But in reality, the process can be a snap if you make the right preparations.
Today, we’ll break down our best tips on how to complete a CRM implementation in order to successfully on-board your team.
Do You Need a CRM?
Before we get into our tips. You want to make sure that your company can benefit from a CRM.
At this point, you might already be convinced of the benefits of using a CRM platform. But in case you need one final push, we recommend checking out our guide on 7 guides that say you might need a CRM solution.
How to Implement a CRM Solution
Now, let’s get into the nitty-gritty of things.
Here are our tips on how to implement a CRM at your business.
Choose a CRM tool
The first step in this process might be the most important one. After all, once you’ve implemented a CRM solution, changing it might be a huge undertaking.
Make sure you review several market offerings before making your decision on which platform to use. If available, take advantage of free trials to test drive the features of several platforms.
When it comes to specific CRM platforms, we obviously recommend Moment, our fully-featured CRM solution with Live Chat and Browser Recording integrations. Best part, we offer a Free Plan with Moment as well.
Get management approval
After test-driving and selecting a tool, you’ll have to get the green light from management to implement a CRM solution.
Depending on your situation, you might have to prepare the most for this step.
One good way to gain approval from management on a new CRM solution is to scope out the impact that it will have on your operations. As we’ve mentioned before, you should be keeping track of your customer support KPIs.
You can then benchmark these and calculate expected improvements as per your test drive.
At the end of the day, the goal of implementing any CRM solution is to optimize your customer operations and increase your customer revenue.
Assign an implementation manager
Next up, you’ll want to assign an implementation manager. Basically, a project manager for your CRM implementation. This person should know everything about the CRM tool you’ve selected and plan out the implementation of the tool.
Most likely, this person will be you, and that’s why you’re reading this guide. If that’s not the case, we recommend choosing someone that you can entrust with the steps in this guide.
Scope within the limits of your team
A new CRM implementation could be disruptive to your customer operations if not scoped correctly. Remember to scope your project within the limits of your team.
Depending on the size of your team, you might want to stagger out your CRM implementation in phases rather than in one fell swoop.
If you’re dealing with a smaller team, the opposite might be a better approach. After all, every company is different and you’ll have to plan accordingly.
Define internal CRM guidelines
Most CRM solutions offer a certain degree of customization. This is done in order to accommodate multiple types of businesses.
As a result, you will have to determine how you will want to use your CRM tool at your company. Which features will you use? How will these features be used? Who will have access to different kinds of customer data?
Drafting a CRM guidelines document for your company can help you solidify these and make them shareable amongst your team.
Set up internal training
This one is a key step in the process. Providing proper training to your staff on how to use your new CRM can be the make or break factor of your implementation.
Keep in mind that a text or video tutorial can only go so far. You want to make sure that your CRM training is interactive. Recreate real-life scenarios and have your staff tackle them using the CRM platform you’ve chosen.
Request feedback
During your training phase, you want to make sure you’re requesting feedback from your staff. After all, they will be using this CRM tool daily from now on.
Furthermore, there’s a good chance you’ve missed something during the process. Is there a feature you need to activate that you’ve forgotten about? Are there ways to make the use of the tool easier? Are your employees finding your training program helpful?
Keep track of your KPIs
Like we mentioned earlier, you should be keeping track of all your Customer Service KPI’s.
In this case, it is key to keep a closer look on your KPIs during your CRM implementation process. You want to make sure that the KPIs that you were looking to improve are actually improving.
After all, these will be the true measure of success for your CRM implementation.
Compare your ongoing KPIs to your initial performance and make sure to make improvements along the way.
Closing Thoughts
A CRM Implementation is not a simple task to tackle.
However, the more prepared you are for it, the more likely it is that you will be successful.
As intimidating as this transition might seem, remember the many advantages of CRMs and how they can help your business revenue.