Greg Hatfield

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Avoiding the Pitfalls that can Doom the Best
Sales and Marketing Strategies Beyond the CRM
Hype
Greg Hatfield Senior Vice President greg.hatfield_at_
bi3solutions.com 510.521.8865
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What do we mean CRM Hype

• Dont get us wrong the CONCEPT of CRM is
  critical to all companies
• Companies must be Customer-Centric and have an
  effective CRM (Sales, Marketing Customer
  Service) strategy
• The Hype has been around the implementation of
  packaged CRM applications as the end-all solution
• Didnt we all see this once before when ERPs
  were going to solve all of managements needs?
• Avoiding the pitfalls early on can make a
  tremendous difference

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Hype Cycle of New Info Technologies
Peak of Inflated Expectations
Increased Visibility Expectations
Plateau of Productivity
Disillusionment
Increasing Realism
Time
Source The Gartner Group
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Hype Cycle of New Info Technologies
Peak of Inflated Expectations
Increased Visibility Expectations
Plateau of Productivity
Disillusionment
Increasing Realism
Time
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Why the Disillusionment?

• Failure to deliver as expected
• Implementation times too long
• Vendors and packages not living up to their
  marketing messages
• Reasons for implementing often flawed a
  Control approach rather than focusing on
  improving the customers experience
• Low buy-in and lack of ownership
• Insufficient quality and integration of
  information
• Unexpectedly high Total Cost of Ownership

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Setting the stage From Experience

• Pitfalls are Equal Opportunity
• They are seen in every vertical
• They affect companies of all sizes
• Rapid growth intensifies the problem
• Tactical matters always seem to get the attention
• Band-aid cures usually dont work arent
  scalable
• The recovery process can be slow, painful and
  very expensive
• You may not face them immediately, but you will
  

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Pitfall 1 Not Doing Your Homework

• Not Defining your Customer
• Lifecycle (Prospect, Lead, Customer, Repeat
  Customer)
• Forms (Individual, Household, Organization, Group
  of Organizations)
• Attributes (demographics, interactions, scoring,
  profiles)
• Touch Points (Call Centers, ATMs, POS, Kiosks,
  Web, Email, Direct)
• Not Clearly Defining your Objectives
• And aligning them to your needs
• Not Making a Business Case for Initiatives
• Including Impact to Profitability and ROI
• Not Defining Aligning to Analytical Needs

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Pitfall 2 Out of the Box CRM

• Believing that implementation of a packaged CRM
  application is the full solution
• Creating another data silo
• Ignoring critical factors such as People and
  Processes
• Underestimating the importance of data quality
• Implementation of CRM as an IT goal
• You dont Implement CRM, you strive to improve
  it
• Underestimating the importance of Ownership
• The If you build it, they will come fallacy
• Not considering integration and addressing the
  gaps in functionality

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Pitfall 3 Isolating Sales Marketing

• Not understanding how information all departments
  must flow across the enterprise
• Siloed budgeting
• Leads to siloed applications and data
• Not having an oversight committee that
  understands the bigger picture
• How can investments in the Sales Marketing area
  be leveraged across the company?
• How do these initiatives tie in with other
  corporate initiatives?
• How do they fit into overall corporate
  objectives?
• Not having alignment between Business IT

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Avoiding the Pitfalls Think First

• Your goal is to provide a superior experience to
  the customer when dealing with your company
• How will you achieve this?
• What returns to you expect?
• How will you measure the returns?
• How will you strive to improve?
• Only when you understand and have consensus on
  the answers to these questions, are you ready for
  the next step
• Involve all stakeholders early in the process

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Avoiding the Pitfalls Make A Commitment

• Effective CRM is a business strategy, not a
  technology
• There must be alignment between Sales, Marketing,
  Support IT
• Priorities must be set based on business
  objectives (current and foreseeable future)
• These business objectives are ongoing
• Corporate commitment and sponsorship is key to
  success
• This commitment must filter down the ranks

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Avoiding the Pitfalls Plan Prioritize

• There are constraints and realities that must be
  addressed
• Resource availability people and funding
• Ability to deal with change and rapid growth
• So, think at an enterprise level, then prioritize
  and plan in phases
• Focus on a foundation first
• Be sure to address integration of web,
  back-office and front-office systems
• Dont forget your reporting and analytical needs

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Avoiding the Pitfalls Implementation

• Scope management is key
• Stay within your phase
• Pilots/Prototypes to reduce risk
• Fosters buy-in
• Validates assumptions and requirements
• Provide hands on experience
• Help set expectations
• Time-boxed approach Deliver in increments
• Dont short-cut on user training
• Business and IT must work together Dont
  Backroom the project

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Other Points and Considerations

• Carefully examine your Marketing/Campaign
  objectives
• Can you measure the results and lift?
• What information would you need to really
  understand the effectiveness of your marketing
  initiatives?
• Wont this information come from various sources?
• Consider outsourcing while you build internally
• Make sure you own and can integrate both internal
  and hosted data
• Get help. Experience and a bigger picture
  perspective can make the difference between
  success and failure

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Closing Summary

• CRM is not a thing you buy and implement
• Packaged software is an important component, but
  only a component
• People processes are critical
• Buy vs. Build is a misnomer
• Avoid pitfalls by thinking, planning and getting
  experienced help
• Your foundation architecture is critical
• Business Intelligence and Data Integration must
  be a part of your CRM strategy

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Thank you