Why CRM implementations fail for many marketers

So you’ve made the great decision to implement a CRM system for your marketing team to use.

Lack of preparation is the only thing that could hold you back from implementing it successfully. So let’s dive right in shall we?

Here are the crucial mistakes to avoid when implementing a CRM for marketing teams

1. Not getting leadership buy-in

This one is pretty much self-explanatory…

2. Not defining your WHY by auditing your customer journey

A customer journey map is a visual representation of the customer journey.

It’s crucial to start with a customer journey map because it allows you to put yourself in your customer’s shoes and understand their lifecycle with your business.

Avoid thinking ”We know our customers’’. Avoiding this step will cost you more in the long run. Remember… an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Once you’re done with the audit, start with the biggest challenges that are impeding the achievement of business goals.

Since you want to overcome these challenges, your WHY should justify the CRM implementation through the problems it will help solve.

Download this blueprint to learn more about customer journey mapping.

3. Choosing the wrong implementation partner

Hiring the first CRM implementation partner you see isn’t a great idea. In order to hire the right one, make sure of the following:

  • They have experience working with companies in your industry
  • They have marketing expertise, not only technological skills

Here are some signs you might need the help of a consultant:

  • If you have a plan to implement a CRM solution on your own but are unsure if it addresses all of your organization’s needs
  • You store your data in different silos that don’t communicate with each other.
  • If you can’t retrieve basic information about your customer.

4. How to drive a Ferrari

If you have a Ferrari in your driveway, but no one teached you how to drive it, you won’t go very far will you?

Same thing goes in this scenario. You can have the best CRM system in the world but adoption is even more important than the technology itself.

And one thing is for sure, change isn’t easy!

Training your users is the single most important step. And after training them, prepare a refresher document that they can use whenever they feel lost.

Then, a couple of weeks after the initial training, schedule a follow-up training. This will also help eliminate bad habits from becoming permanent in your new system.

5. Pouring orange juice in a sports car

Now if you learned how to drive the Ferrari mentioned above but you put orange juice in the gas tank, you still won’t go very far…

Same thing goes for your CRM. You can have the best technology but if your data isn’t clean, your CRM will not perform the way you want it to.

A tidy CRM means that you can trust the data it contains and the insights it provides.

Contact us today to fix your Salesforce instance and make the most of your investment.

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