Selling the Customer What the Customer Needs

(Not What You Want)

In the last issue of got sales? I talked about Sam, an old acquaintance of mine. Sam owned a small general store and suddenly found himself competing with a couple of large department stores (if you don't remember what he did, or if you forgot, click HERE for an archived copy of the Feb. 2004 issue). What I did not discuss in that story was the first time I met Sam.

The first time I met Sam I had stopped in his little general store while passing through town to buy some soda for my long car ride back home. His was the only store in this very small rural town and he did a sizable amount of business. As I walked down one of the aisles to get to the refrigerated coolers in the back where they kept the soda, I couldn't help but notice that the shelves were loaded with containers of salt for sale. There were salt containers from the front of the aisle to the back, from top to bottom, and on both sides of the aisle. I couldn't believe it, an entire aisle dedicated to just salt...Read More

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM - 1943

Top 10 Tips to

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Success

1. Make sure your goal is to target the solution for the Customer. Using CRM to simply solve your company’s problems is not sufficient. The “C” in CRM is for Customer. So make sure their needs are addressed first and foremost.

2. Develop a Plan. Implementing a CRM solution without a plan is like trying to build a house without an architect. You can have all the best tools money can buy, but without a good plan, you won’t know what to build.

3. Prioritize. Avoid the temptation to do everything at once. Make a list of your business needs, then prioritize them according to the most important and largest payoffs first.

4. Engage Management Support and Ownership. You can’t do this alone. You must have senior management behind you all the way. A project champion at a senior management level should be your objective.

5. Pilot the Program. Test your CRM implementation before going live. This will help get the kinks out and allow you to make final adjustments prior to show time.

6. Roll It Out In Phases. Do not roll this out all at once. It will completely overwhelm your users. Feed it to them in small doses.

7. Train! Train! Train! You cannot train your people enough. Without training, the product and processes will not be used correctly, or at all. Always follow up with on-going training as well.

8. Get User Buy-In. To ensure users embrace the change and actually use the new system, make sure you have their understanding, support and buy-in. Make sure they understand the benefits they will get from using the new system.

9. Monitor It Closely and Continuously. Keep a close eye on how the rollout is progressing so you can monitor its success and make necessary adjustments over time. Do this continuously.

10. Fund The Project Adequately—Don’t Skimp. If you cut corners or don’t budget enough, something will be sacrificed that will jeopardize the success of the project. Understand the full costs up-front, then fund it accordingly. Don’t step on dollars to pick up pennies.

As an added tool to help you plan your CRM strategy and implementation, why not pick up a copy of "CRM For The Common Man"?

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