1. Avoiding the Pitfalls that can Doom the Best Sales and Marketing Strategies…
Beyond the CRM Hype
Greg Hatfield
Senior Vice President

2. What do we mean “CRM Hype”
Don’t 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
Didn’t we all see this once before when ERP’s were going to solve all of managements’ needs?
Avoiding the pitfalls early on can make a tremendous difference…
4/7/2019
CONFIDENTIAL

3. Hype Cycle of New Info Technologies
Peak of Inflated
Expectations
Increased
Visibility &
Expectations
Plateau of
Productivity
Disillusionment
Increasing
Realism
Time
Source: The Gartner Group
4/7/2019
CONFIDENTIAL

4. Hype Cycle of New Info Technologies
Peak of Inflated
Expectations
Increased
Visibility &
Expectations
Packaged CRM
Plateau of
Productivity
Disillusionment
Increasing
Realism
Time
4/7/2019
CONFIDENTIAL

5. 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 customer’s experience
Low buy-in and lack of ownership
Insufficient quality and integration of information
Unexpectedly high Total Cost of Ownership
4/7/2019
CONFIDENTIAL

6. 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 don’t work & aren’t scalable
The recovery process can be slow, painful and very expensive
You may not face them immediately, but you will…
4/7/2019
CONFIDENTIAL

7. 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, , 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
4/7/2019
CONFIDENTIAL

8. 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 don’t “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
4/7/2019
CONFIDENTIAL

9. 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
4/7/2019
CONFIDENTIAL

10. 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
4/7/2019
CONFIDENTIAL

11. 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
4/7/2019
CONFIDENTIAL

12. 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
Don’t forget your reporting and analytical needs
4/7/2019
CONFIDENTIAL

13. Avoiding the Pitfalls – Implementation
Scope management is key
Stay within your phase
Pilot’s/Prototypes to reduce risk
Fosters buy-in
Validates assumptions and requirements
Provide hands’ on experience
Help set expectations
Time-boxed approach – Deliver in increments
Don’t short-cut on user training
Business and IT must work together – Don’t “Backroom” the project
4/7/2019
CONFIDENTIAL

14. 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?
Won’t 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
4/7/2019
CONFIDENTIAL

15. CRM is not a thing you buy and implement
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
4/7/2019
CONFIDENTIAL

16. Thank you