Pandemic has changed the entire paradigm of how we used to conduct business operations. Because of social distancing norms, companies are now gradually inclining towards technology in order to make sure sales are properly pursued, customers are given their right value & served properly, and employees are productive. To keep a proper track of all these and more factors, come CRM into the picture and the need for Salesforce CRM consulting services.
The advent of remote working has changed many things. From connecting with customers to executing day-to-day business operations, things have dynamically evolved.
Selecting the Right CRM Software for Business
A good CRM is a must-have for any business. The market is filled with a plethora of CRM software and with so many options available in the market. It becomes a hectic task for companies to choose the right one.
Before we delve into how to choose the right CRM system, let’s briefly understand, how with the help of Salesforce CRM consulting services or any CRM consulting, you can elevate business growth, productivity, and employees efficiency.
Irrespective of the size of the company, CRM software can play a pivotal role in helping you stay competitive in the following ways:
- Through CRM software, you can easily track your interaction with the customers.
- It will help businesses take control of sales and marketing processes.
- Building & maintaining strong customer relationships is now a piece of cake with the help of Salesforce consulting or any CRM software.
- Businesses can sell many more products and services with the help of CRM integration.
- Salesforce CRM integration & implementation or any CRM integration helps businesses improve communication between sales and marketing and in different departments in an organization.
- Finding new customers and retaining the existing ones becomes so much easy with CRM implementation.
An Ultimate Guide to Choosing the Right CRM for Business
How to choose the right CRM software for business? It is the question that every business visionary who is looking forward to adopting the CRM technology ask the technology experts.
Searching for the right Customer Relationship Management system is a crucial process on which many factors such as performance of sales & marketing, teams’ productivity, and business growth & success depends.
Let’s begin, and understand the factors to consider when choosing a CRM solution:
- Prepare a Plan of Action
- Finalize Deployment Method: Cloud vs On-Premise
- Analyze Your Budget for CRM Implementation
- Identify & Shortlist CRM Vendors
- RFP & Demo Invite to CRM Vendors
- Final Selection
Prepare a Plan of Action
Buying CRM is an exciting journey. But, one has to be vigilant enough during this journey. Before you directly jump on the final purchase of CRM, make sure you ask yourself, what do I require from this CRM? Will this CRM fulfil my business requirement?, and most importantly, “is it worth spending such a substantial amount?, because Salesforce implementation or any other CRM implementation demands a huge amount of sum.
Start planning by consolidating all the benefits that a CRM can bring to your business. Analyze how CRM software can improve response time, improve customer reach, or have customer outreach.
You can also pen down the checklist of the CRM requirements. A few points are as follows –
- Email integration
- Data migration
- Fully managed or hosted CRM
- Multiple functionalities such as email marketing, call tracking, etc.
- Customization options
- Downloading options like Excel, PDF, 3rd party app
- Mobile device support
After analyzing all the benefits and features requirements, you will be able to pay specific attention to the CRM deployment method of your choice.
Finalize Deployment Method: Cloud vs On-Premise
Both, on-premise and cloud-based CRM has their uniqueness. If your company has a moderate upfront budget and if you require limited customization and if there is no special security requirement then, having a cloud-based CRM system will be the perfect choice for you.
And if you have enough budget for the upfront investment, if you need complete control over our CRM system, and if you require to have the maximum ability on integration, then having an on-premise solution will be a perfect choice for you.
Both types of CRM have their own kinds of specialties, but with on-premise CRM you will have stronger security, more ability of customization, greater confidentiality, and lesser cost as key advantages.
Analyze Your Budget for CRM Implementation
Now that you have a clear understanding of what you need, it is time you ponder on your budget. Analyze how much your company is willing to spend on the purchase of your CRM.
Among all the things to consider when choosing a CRM, budget analysis is a paramount step. Through a proper CRM budget analysis, you can get an idea of the final feature set. And accordingly, you will be able to seek CRM vendors.
While you are on the voyage of forecasting your CRM budget, don’t always look for the price for features. Sometimes, you might end up giving more prices for fewer features or vice-versa. Here are a few important factors that you consider:
- Price for CRM set up
- Price of training and user adoption
- CRM cost of integration and customization
- Mobile apps cost
- Cost of customer support
Along with the above-mentioned factors, you must also include the time costs that will be required.
Identify & Shortlist CRM Vendors
Here comes one of the trickiest parts of the process of choosing the right CRM vendor. In this step, you have to decide whether you can sell your company to a vendor or not.
Shocked!! Right? Well, by company selling, we mean the handover of the process. According to research, it has been found that companies that have been reluctant in giving their Salesforce implementation process to the vendor often end up at a dead end.
To be honest maximum companies in the market follow this step and sell their process to the best vendors in order to harness the best results.
You are suggested to do the same. And here are the secrets that will help you get the best vendors to engage in your process:
- You can always have an intermediary. This person will help you connect with the most suitable CRM vendors as per your requirements.
- Explain your vendors USP of your business and the reasons to choose you. Do not forget to flaunt great relationships and professionalism. It will give a good impression to your CRM vendors.
- Always be humble. You know what you need, but you have to explain to the vendors the things that you will bring to the table. Always carry a can-do attitude.
- Never compromise with your timeline. Always have a clear timeline. Also have clear decision-making process.
- Keep a proper and thorough track of their time and interest.
RFP & Demo Invite to CRM Vendors
Once you are done shortlisting the CRM vendors, it is time you focus on building an appealing RFP – Request for Proposal. It is a doc that invites CRM vendors with their proposal. It will help you go to the market with a clear plan.
Following are the things you can keep in mind while preparing RFP –
- In your RFP, include your objective to adopt CRM. Mention objectives into small and understandable parts.
- Highlight the important areas that are essential and for which you need the most input.
- RFP should have all the deliverables and receivables. All the things that you can deliver in-house and things that you expect from the vendor must be in the RFP.
- You can ask your vendor to have that level of training that you think you or your team requires. Do not get too specific but always highlight the outcomes expected.
- Document your entire process and highlight to your vendor if it will be an internal process or something that you need from your vendor.
After RFP finalization, evaluate all the CRM RFP responses and invite vendors to give demos. You know the size of your project and the level of response. On this basis, you can finalize three seven demos reasonably.
Final Selection
Once you are okay with the above-mentioned structure. You are all set to make a final decision. There are a few points which you should keep in mind before making a final decision such as, taking different viewpoints of different people, the time required, resources required.
Make sure all your team members are involved in the CRM adoption process so that the process gets streamlined and hassle-free. Before you make a final decision, develop a probation period into the contract.
Still, if you have any confusion, you can connect with CRM consulting companies for more guidance, and they will enlighten you, and you can make a well-informed decision.
