3 lessons in CRM – Big to small, Language (mostly) right, Execute then refine

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“Perfection takes infinity.”

Bonus: Download the 33 free templates from the book Web Marketing That Works.

“Strategy + Execution.”

“Ideas are free, execution is priceless.”

All pieces of business advice that I think are so important!!!

How does this tie back to CRM? Well, I recently finished a sales process consulting project with one of our clients Mandalay Technologies. I took away 3 key things that tie back to these principles:

1. Start big picture then break it down into manageable chunks

The CEO, Product Development Manager, Business Development Manager (BDM) and CRM administrator presented some huge goals for their Salesforce.com implementation. We all agreed (fortunately for all our sanity!) that we’d start with the sales process and if that went well, then start looking at other aspects of the business.

2. Get the language (mostly) right

Across several sessions and reviews, we realised the importance of using language that the staff were already using to describe aspects of the sales process. There was going to be enough change without making the staff rote learn a whole new vocabulary that meant nothing to them! (I’ll explain the “mostly” part in the next paragraph.)

3. Execute then refine

We went through the project, mapping processes, implementing them into the CRM, identifying documents, defining fields and language. It was great fun and I felt like we’d hit the nail on the head. So I was ready to present the final deliverable to the Mandalay team.

I see it as a victory that when I presented the beautifully designed final version of the processes and implementation, I was hit with another round of questions, with some new points of view and ended up scribbling all over the final deliverable, adding one last step and changing the language of the final 2 steps!

Reflecting on it, I really enjoyed working on this project because it highlighted 3 of Bluewire Media’s core values:

1. Strategy + execution: We had a huge vision, then got started on a small piece of it.

2. Communication: Talking through the processes then getting the language right will be critical to the system being useful.

3. Continuous improvement: Even at the final deliverable there were things to be refined.

CRM Brisbane: for advice on business processes & CRM implementation call Bluewire Media on 1300 258 394.

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About Toby Jenkins

Toby Jenkins is co-author of Web Marketing That Works. He also released 33 free marketing templates, is CEO of Bluewire Media and co-hosts an iTunes podcast and has written for Fairfax Media, ProBlogger, Jeff Bullas and many other blogs. Toby is an Athens Olympian.