January 25, 2010
Selling New CRM Projects In a Declining Economy
Pfizer. UPS. Thomasville Furniture. With companies as large as these announcing major layoffs in the last month alone and unemployment hovering over 10%, it’s no wonder that employees are running scared and executives are finding ways to squeeze more value out of every company endeavor.
One way to save money, some executives might believe, is to put upcoming CRM initiatives on hold. Although it might seem like a right move — and nobody disputes that despite the promise of efficiencies and savings, getting a CRM project off the ground takes resources — it’s short-sighted.
Instead, revisit your customer facing and busienss development strategies. Convince higher-ups that CRM is more needed than ever before. Identify specific business opportunities that will positively impact the company’s bottom line, and go for quick wins that will reduce cost or add value. Depending on what the company already has in place and the company’s strategic goals, these quick wins might range from adding live chat or implementing more self-service options to the company’s website to using the system’s capabilities to find old sales leads or former customers who might be interested in reconnecting with the company.
And don’t forget social networking — the latest, greatest invention for CRM since, well, CRM. It’s not that difficult to create a blog or Facebook page of interest to a specific group of customers, for example. Or start Twittering about the company’s upcoming products to generate excitement. These are definitely in the “quick win” category — they are cheap, easy and fast.
But choosing your quick win projects is just the first step. Just as important is convincing higher-ups, and that means making sure that the projects you propose have measurable and sustained outcomes, such as increasing sales of a specific product or reducing the percentage of customer complaints.
You can also save significant money by renegotiating license agreements. After all, vendors are feeling the pinch as much as its users are, making it a particularly good time to renegotiate pricing and licensing agreements. But before you ask for a break, take a sober look at what parts of the CRM suite the company is using, and what it’s not using. For example, a company may have paid for a customer behavior modeling module or e-billing on demand, but has never followed through in developing those modules. And if you’re not using something, why pay for it?
Finally, consider moving from an on-premises CRM system to a cloud-based system. After all, if the company is trying to save money, reducing IT involvement and moving to a pay-as-you-go CRM model might be just the ticket.
So that’s some quick advice on what to do. Now here’s what not to do. Don’t ask for new resources — people, money or technology. That’s a deal-breaker for most executive sponsors in this economy. Find a way to make do with what you have.
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Posted by Chuck Schaeffer on Janury 25, 2010 in CRM Software
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