Google is not the answer

The worst thing you could do is just search the internet for the top rated CRM without first giving some thought to what your individual business needs. Instead, start by taking a look at your business and teams as they currently stand. What do you need a CRM to be able to do? Where could it assist you? If you have one currently in place, be honest about any problems and areas it is lacking.

Know where you’re headed

It’s not all about the here and now - where do you expect the business to be in a year? Two years? Three years? You will need a system that can scale up with you and adapt to changing company goals. It will always be wiserto investin something designed for where you are headed,ratherthan where you are now.

Plan your process

What processes do you currently have in place for managing customer relationships and handling new leads? What's working and what’s not when it comes to collecting, sharing, managing and maintaining data? What information are you getting and what are you missing? And how is the data then used?

Many businesses actually miss this vital point – the need to outline a clear process before searching through the software options. It may take some time to do but will be crucial when it comes to finding the right one for you. You need to set out what your requirements are as this will help you pinpoint the features you need to be able to meet them.

People vs products

An important point to add is that when looking at your current processes, make sure you give some thought to whetherit’s the people orthe products that may be lacking. While there may be team members who are always reluctant to spend time on what they see as ‘admin’ there are also all sorts of barriers that put people off using a system and that could be an underlying cause. For example, if they don’t understand it, can’t see the benefit, don’t see it as a set process to follow, find it too difficult, too slow or it’s always crashing, or if they haven’t been properly trained. Think how you will manage these issues before you introduce a new system.

Trials

Consider any new CRM system from the point of view ofthe people who will be using itthe most. It may be a very different experience for someone using it 8 hours a day to what you see on a test site. Can you do a trial? If so, how long for and with what functionality included? Who could take part in the trial and give you the most useful feedback? This will help with team buy-in, which will be a huge advantage later on.

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Finally when it comes to implementation, what ongoing technical supportis offered? How easy will it be to adapt the system to do exactly what you need? And on the training front, what introductory and ongoing training is going to be needed?

We have compiled a checklist of all sorts of possible points to consider, discuss and decide on before you investin a particular software.

1) As a first step sit down with a new document, go through this list and decide for each item what the appropriate answeris for your circumstances. This in and of itself is a process during which you will figure out what the best decision making approach is for your company.

2) After you have written your own brief of what the new CRM should be capable of in the first step you can give each item a specific weight. Ask yourself what the truly important items are and know why they are important to you.

3) Lastly put yourinsights into a spreadsheet and start comparing solutions.

[Download PDF to see Survey]

Decisions, decisions

Decisions to make before deciding on a system:

• On-premise solution or cloud-based system?
• What is your BYOD policy and requirements
• How important is mobility in your CRM process?
• What growth do you expect in the next 3-5 years
• What customization will you need? Do you have particular vertical market needs?
• Will a SMB solution be good enough or do you need to look towards an enterprise solution?
• Budget, including cost of software, training, administration, maintenance and support
• Integration needs: which other software are you using that might need to connect to the CRM
• Are there any regulatory requirements you need to consider? Privacy protection laws vary from country to country, your chosen system needs to comply

Do your research

Things to find out aboutthe CRM systems you want to shortlist:

• Do the features offered cover your crucial needs?
• Have you separated the “nice to have” needs from the “must have” needs?
• Implementation process
• Anticipated training period
• Level of support
• Track record of company
• User reviews
• How is the contact database updated? How much is this process automated and linked into online sources of information (e.g. social media channels)
• How long is the trial?
• Does the reports capability satisfy your particular needs?
• Who owns your data? make sure you do.