Chapter # 2.

CRM Planning
2.1 CRM Planning: Keys for Project Success
Whether you're updating, upgrading, jump-starting, or restarting your CRM efforts, some basic
steps will help keep you on the path to a positive R!"
#hinking about the potential R! of your customer relationship management $CRM% project
should start during the selection process" &efore you write an R'( or start talking to vendors,
you need to do some homework to ensure that you're on the right track to ma)imi*e R!"
2.2 Identify the Problem and the Solution
&efore you start thinking about vendors, you should define your problem in clear business terms"
+o you need to improve management visibility into the sales pipeline, Reduce customer support
costs or improve customer support, Reduce customer-related administrative overhead, Making
your CRM challenges specific will help you determine which technologies or components are
most likely to deliver R! and how you can prioriti*e your development and deployment plans"
Most companies' CRM goals fall into a couple of main categories-
. !mproved sales performance
. !mproved management visibility
. !mproved customer support
. !mproved marketing
. Reduced costs
!f your CRM goals fall into more than two of these categories, you'll likely want to prioriti*e one
over the other and plan a phased deployment" !t's also a good idea to know at this point what
your likely budget is, how fle)ible it is, and what your procurement officer or C' will be
looking for in terms of business justification" !f you know walking into the project that you'll
need to show a si)-month payback period, for e)ample, you can plan accordingly"
2.3 Make the Short i!t
Regardless of your relationship with e)isting vendors, previous e)perience, and technology
environment, you should make a short list of potential vendors and give them a fair evaluation
before you make a decision" /our short list should be easy to define based on these factors-
. /our CRM goals" #he vendors whose functionality meets your needs will depend on
whether you're looking for improved sales, improved reporting and forecasting, improved
support, improved marketing, or a combination of different customer-related technology"
. /our e)isting environment and !# philosophy" +o you have e)isting databases, order
systems, or contact lists that will need to be integrated or migrated into your CRM solution, +o
you e)pect to do your own development or use consultants or systems integrators, 0re you
comfortable outsourcing your sales and marketing data in its entirety - or in part, 0nswering
these 1uestions will help you determine whether a large-scale CRM infrastructure, a hosted
solution, a point solution, or a broad solution is likely to deliver ma)imi*ed R!"