Is Your CRM (Customer Relationship Management) System Doomed To Fail?

"Right, People. Let's blast out that mail campaign we've been planning for so long."

It's time to put your trusty CRM software to work; to let it earn its keep. You run a search of people and companies you want to target.

You soon realize something's wrong when your list is far smaller than anticipated. A quick check reveals many profiles/categories have not been filled in, impacting your search results. Further inspection shows numerous records are incorrect; others are riddled with typos. And that's just for starters.

With a sinking feeling, you realize that last push isn't going to happen in a hurry.

Time for some Damage Control or Preventative Maintenance.

Fortunately one of the most common reasons cited for the high failure rate of CRM systems - poor data quality - is also one of the easiest to avoid.

Your CRM software is only as good as the information it contains. As the old programmers motto goes 'garbage in, garbage out'.

So how can you avoid incomplete, incorrect, irrelevant or out-of-date and generally unfit-for-use data from permeating your CRM software?

You need to gather your key CRM users together and thrash out a DATA CAPTURE PROCEDURE document, defining the rules of use.

Spell out:

? Who has what rights to the system; who can Create, Insert, Modify or Delete records, assuming your software supports all these functions? Forward this information to your system administrator to action.

? Decide on a procedure to check for any duplicates before creating a record. Depending on what 'de-duping' or 'data scrubbing' features your system has, this might require some simple searches before starting a new record.

? Do you allow abbreviations or acronyms? For example: IBM, or I.B.M, or International Business Machines Inc. or Incorporated and so on. A policy on ensuring consistency of input will help to avoid duplications in future.

? Are records going to be created in Upper and Lower case and when are CAPS acceptable?

? By when do you expect records, notes and so on to be created or updated? Same day, on return to the office?

? Check to see whether your Postal Services have specific requirements. Ensure your data meets these criteria.

? Is the primary address of clients to be created as a postal or a physical address?

? Make sure everyone checks spellings if they are unsure and do not trust spellchecker! When in doubt, ask the client ? they'll respect that. Is it Clark with an 'e'; Shawn, Sean or Shaun? One certain way to get your mail binned is to spell someone's name incorrectly.

? Also confirm the kind of corporation e.g. LLC, Inc, PTY Ltd. and so on.

? Make rules for creating new profiles or User Definable Fields (UDF) (or whatever your specific CRM software calls them.) Place a lot of emphasis on this. Every time a new UDF is needed, it should first be approved. Otherwise duplicates will permeate your database e.g. Lead Source: Yellow Pages, YP, yelo pages.

? Ensure that email addresses are put in correctly. Basic but common mistake!

? Set up procedures, if not supported by your software, of how to create records from inbound emails.

? If applicable, are you going to use Mandatory/Forced fields?

You might as well address the issue of Backups while you are about it.

? Who is the responsible person for backing up your databases/s? Who covers for them when they are absent or unavailable?

? How frequently are backups to be done? Diarise!

? How are backups done e.g. by the Grandfather, Father, Son method.

? Ensure backups are made on good quality CD's or whatever format you are using. It's no good doing a backup, then finding on attempting a Restore that it doesn't work! It is also a good idea to copy backups onto more than one data format.

? Where are the backups to be stored?

? Are the backups secure? This is important for both security and practical reasons.

Once your Data Capture Procedure Document is finished, get everyone to sign it off as READ!

As standard practice, ensure that document is handed to all new employees at your company.

Refer back to this document for possible revision every three months or so.

Try this: select a couple of records - both good and bad - every week, to put on the overhead at staff meetings. Make sure you don't unduly embarrass anybody but watch this become the light-relief highlight of your meetings! People learn best when having fun!

What if your database is in one unholy mess?

Has the rot set in so deeply that your database needs a complete overhaul? Turn this seemingly insurmountable task into an opportunity to you. This is an excellent excuse to re-establish contact with your clients and let them know you care. You can always put lapses down to data crashes but tell them you have fixed the problem!

Importantly, help your staff understand what you need from the data to facilitate more accurate marketing and reporting and hence the success of your business and their careers.

By creating a sense of pride and ownership in the company database, you are nurturing the essential process of buy-in, necessary for the success of your CRM initiative. Don't compromise this critical tool by allowing your CRM software to be infected by inferior data.

About The Author

Perry Norgarb has specialized in Small Business CRM solutions for the last 15 years.

Contact him or find out more about CRM, Contact Management and other Sales Tracking software tips and solutions for small businesses at: http://www.smallbizcrm.com.

You are free to re-publish this article as long as this bio box and copyright remain intact. © 10 December, 2004.

---

Customer Satisfaction and the Service Business

The relationship between customer satisfaction and success of a service... Read More

Retail Store U-Scan Machines: Self-Serve or Voluntary Part Time Job?

Do many of us realize that we are working an... Read More

How CRM Software Works -- Creating Customer Satisfaction with a Click

When people ask, "What is CRM?" the literal answer is,... Read More

Is Your Food Establishment Clean?

Is your restaurant, bar or hotel clean? I mean really... Read More

Handling Difficult Customers - 8 Strategies

In any business our customers are one of our most... Read More

Customer Conversion Mistakes That Will Cost You

The following are common mistakes that Sales Managers and Owners... Read More

Accountants / Lawyers Do Yourself a Favor - What do Your Customers Want?

In my day to day practice in strategic human resource... Read More

Client Appreciation - It Means Everything!

Want to know the secret for keeping your clients forever?... Read More

Handling Customer Complaints

Even the best business will receive an occasional customer complaint.... Read More

A White Paper: Profiting with Kindness

In 2002, there wasn't much interest for Kindness in business,... Read More

Putting The Service Back In Customer Service

The future of customer service is here. Technology has made... Read More

Customer Feedback: Everyone has an Opinion - USE IT!

Have you ever been in a department store and known... Read More

CRM = Customers (dont) Really Matter

CRM was supposed to bring companies closer to their clients.... Read More

Customer Service and Marketing that Works

Go into many businesses today and try and get service,... Read More

How Do You Create Customer Loyalty?

Another sad fact of life is that these days, very... Read More

Customer Neglect

What have you done for your existing customers lately? Probably... Read More

Customer Service - Winning Customer Experiences

Winning Customer ExperiencesMuch research has been done on what the... Read More

Doors by Catering to Your Clients

Clients? they are the most important influence in the success... Read More

Automating Your Customer Support

My regular readers will know that one of the things... Read More

Outsourcing: The Unspoken Costs

Outsourcing seems to be the new-new thing and approximately 50%... Read More

Stand Out in Business the Write Way

When was the last time you received a handwritten note... Read More

Restaurant Owners ? How Important are People Skills?

You are serving great food. Your establishment is new, spotless... Read More

Get Customers to Stop Calling You--12 Easy Ways to Save Money with Online Customer Support

Despite rumors to the contrary, the Web is not dead.... Read More

Handling Angry Clients

What do you do when your client gets mad at... Read More

Are You Giving Your Customers Enough Reasons To Return To Your Business?

Good customer service just isn't enough anymore in the marketplace... Read More