When to Re-Implement or Rework Your CRM
It happens. One day, you realize that your CRM is no longer supporting your business needs. Perhaps your business grew rapidly, or maybe it was stagnant and suddenly accelerated. Now, your CRM has become a glorified contact depository that isn't even well-maintained.
Why Should You Care?
A poorly functioning CRM isn't just an inconvenience—it's a significant barrier to your business's growth and success. Here's why you should care:
Impact on Decision-Making: When your CRM fails to provide accurate, up-to-date information, it directly impacts your ability to make informed decisions. This can lead to missed opportunities, incorrect forecasts, and ultimately, lost revenue.
Client Relationship Management: Your clients are evolving, and your CRM needs to keep up. An outdated data model means you're not capturing the critical details needed throughout the customer lifecycle, which can affect client satisfaction and retention.
Operational Efficiency: Without clear insights from your CRM, planning for resources like Customer Success reps or SDRs becomes guesswork. This can lead to understaffing or overstaffing, both of which are costly for your business.
How Do You Know It’s Time to Re-Implement or Rework Your CRM?
Several signs indicate it’s time to re-implement or rework your CRM:
Decision-Making Challenges: You can no longer get the answers needed to make informed decisions. Missed forecasts over several months without pinpointing data to support them is a common issue.
Outdated Data Models: Your clients have evolved, and the current data model no longer supports the necessary details throughout the lifecycle.
Resource Planning Issues: You struggle to determine how many additional Customer Success reps or SDRs you need.
New leaders often face difficulty assessing CRM challenges due to the myriad of responsibilities they juggle, such as understanding the team, products, and go-to-market strategies. Despite these demands, they frequently sense that the CRM fails to provide essential insights to understand their role and measure effectiveness.
The Cost of CRM Inefficiency
Assessing the effectiveness or studying your CRM can consume anywhere from 40 to 60 hours for a Sales Cloud and marketing tool integration on the sales side alone. This task is often too time-consuming for a new sales leader, who is typically the one feeling the immediate pain of a stagnant or poorly used CRM.
Who Should Lead the Assessment?
If you are fortunate enough to have a Sales Operations team, they can start this journey for you. However, it is often more effective to bring in external experts who can objectively assess and realign your CRM to meet your evolving business needs.
At Walden Edge, we specialize in helping businesses like yours audit and rework their CRM systems. Our managed services then ensures that your CRM evolves with your business, providing the strategic insights you need without overwhelming your internal teams.
Conclusion
Don't let an ineffective CRM hinder your growth. Recognize the signs early, and take proactive steps to ensure your CRM supports your business objectives. Reach out to us at Walden Edge, and let us help you transform your CRM into a powerful tool for success.
