At their best, customer relationship management (CRM) systems enable companies to gather customer data and get to know them better – a lot better.

In sales terms, that means identifying the customers who are most valuable and increasing loyalty by creating products and services more in tune with their needs and preferences.

CRM can improve retention, reduce the cost of customer support, and make it easier to acquire similar customers down the road. How does it work? Primarily by automating the highly-nuanced process of weeding out low-margin punters and pulling in high-margin customers.

But CRM doesn’t always deliver what it promises. Tech analysts Gartner say more than half (55%) of all CRM projects fail to produce results.

Any new management tool can be tantalising, but there’s something especially attractive about software that promises to make stubborn problems disappear. In our experience, there are four common pitfalls you have to avoid to ensure your CRM lives up to its promise.

01 Lack of User Adoption

This is as much a problem of culture as it is a technology fail.  Many people resist change instinctively, and that applies to adoption of any new software or service. New tools can mean altered responsibilities and new ways of working.

It’s also true that CRM systems aren’t always as user friendly as they claim to be. Implementing them and ensuring people adopt them requires training.

To make the process work from end to end, businesses should involve their end-users early in the adoption.

One way to do this is to convene a select group of employees from each department when CRM options are being considered. They can act as a focus group and make their views known in the selection and implementation processes. That will provide a sense of project ownership which they can communicate to colleagues, acting as evangelists for the system and its benefits to help smooth adoption.

Even if you have a CRM project underway, it’s not too late to engage end-users. Create a system to gather user feedback, and where it’s warranted make changes to the implementation in response to what you’re hearing.

02 Lack of training

Closely related to lack of adoption is lack of time spent with end-users to show them how they can get the full benefits of the new system.

Making training a core part of the implementation will improve the chances of wide adoption quickly, and minimise the likelihood of passive resistance, where people quietly revert to their own, un-shared spreadsheets for customer lists and contact records. Proper training can also ensure that everyone uses the system in the same way. In CRM, standardisation is essential.

03 Poor Planning

With so many moving pieces involved, it’s easy to lose track, and a disorganised approach to CRM implementation is a sure route to failure. They say 15 minutes of planning can save an hour of execution. In a CRM rollout with all its complexities, that’s doubly true.

Yet implementing without a detailed roadmap is a surprisingly common error in CRM projects. The system has to be aligned with your marketing and sales objectives if it’s going to deliver value. That makes it vital to first map out what typically happens to a lead as it moves through your funnel, changing from suspect to prospect to customer. You need to understand where each stage of the process usually begins and ends, and what the triggers are. Then build that into the CRM.

Use the time you’ve already set aside for employee focus groups to determine each department’s needs — both practically in terms of new capabilities and in the processes that will need to be either reflected in the system or discarded once it’s in place. After the lead qualification process and list of needs are down on paper, you prioritise initiatives in a sequence that enables the rollout to go smoothly.

04 Going DIY

Implementing your CRM without any outside help is a bad idea. Despite having modern ‘consumerised’ interfaces and being hosted in the cloud, CRM systems are still complicated. They take time to put together, and dedicated effort to learn how to use their functions properly. A good implementation partner can shortcut some of the complicated bits and help you avoid any common traps.

Rolling out a new CRM system can be complex, but if you follow the best practices we’ve laid out above, you maximise the chances of a successful CRM implementation. You’ll see ROI faster if you involve the end-users and keep your objectives always in sight.

Want to know more? Ask us about CRMlysi – the bespoke CRM solution for mid-sized companies.