Those of us who love the story of Peter Pan know that we have enthusiastically followed the instructions, "Clap your hands if you believe in fairies!" because we did not want Tinkerbell to die.
Many of us don't want the magic promises of CRM to die either, so we keep believing the CRM Sirens, most of whom work for technology companies. (We are talking about sirens like the mythical ladies who lured mariners to destruction by their singing, not sirens like the sound on the fire truck, coming to save you.)
There is a better way. There are CRM success stories and they do not start with technology. There are people who are excellent guides through the untamed territory called Small Business/Any Size Business CRM. If you are not sure who to call, send me an email.
"You can't start with the automation. You have to start with understanding the process and then moving forward to change behavior," comes the advice from Inc.com - The Daily Resource for Entrepreneurs in A Second Act for CRM.
The newsletter item today, pulls from their own magazine seven months ago (Inc. Magazine: March 1, 2005) and claims "Customer relationship management software is back -- and worth another look.Really."
Are you clapping your hands yet? Do you believe?
Let's look at what they are telling us now: CRM was sold as a foolproof way to spin everyday customer interactions into strategic gold by sifting through mountains of data, identifying hidden patterns, and delivering insights that would help executives sharpen their sales plans. Instead, CRM turned out to be one of the biggest disappointments of the dot-com bubble. Many efforts -- as many as half, by some estimates -- were failures, leaving companies with nothing to show for their investments.
Of course, even the new CRM applications are not without pitfalls, especially for smaller firms. For one thing, a three-year wait for return on investment is still common. And for midsize firms, that investment averages some $4,000 per user over three years, according to Gartner. What's more, many companies fail the human test, targeting the wrong problems or providing inadequate training. That results in the classic failure scenario: a nifty new tech system that nobody uses.
There are dozens of CRM vendors out there, offering products at dozens of prices, and sifting through them can be daunting. Then the article goes on to spot price software from less than $500 to $2,000 per user, called ACT!, Salesforce.com, SalesLogix and NetSuite, then delivers the continuing bad news for small business: "From there, the prices -- and the capabilities -- go up fast."
To do your own reality checks and find sanity in the CRM gold rush, here are some lighthouses, shining through the fog, bringing us safely to a place where we can win business and grow customers:
- CRM Mastery Inc. Subscribe today to Jim Berkowitz's e-Journal, Commentary and Musings on CRM Best Practices and Industry News
- Paul Greenberg. His blog is called PGreeblog - CRM, Philosohy, Baseball & Universal Metaphors. He wrote the book, CRM at the Speed of Light.
- CRM Blog
- CRM Guru
- Duct Tape Marketing's Ultimate Small Business Marketing System
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