In today’s post, we will share our experience from hundreds of conversations and dozens of implementations of CRM systems from Salesforce with our Clients.
How to implement a CRM system?
From the beginning, we have conducted hundreds of conversations with companies of various sizes and industries. Despite the differences, we have noticed that some similarities. When meeting a company often, you get the impression that the company doesn’t really know what it wants. The purpose of this post is to prepare companies for the first talks with Salesforce partners, or themselves, to implement a CRM system in the company.
Perhaps you are already at the stage where you can see that it is impossible to continue without modern technologies. Your sales team has grown? Can’t find the information you want? Are you looking for a client’s email address in various places on the hard drive? Smartphone? Maybe e-mail or in various files scattered somewhere on the computer? Or maybe the decision to implement a CRM system results from concerns about the future and creating an environment for remote work?
Each of these questions leads to one solution – a customer relationship management (CRM).
Citing the internationally recognized authority, the author of the book “Start With Why”, Simon Sinek, proposes each one to start with “why”. Then, the author proposes to ask himself the question “how?”. The final question is “what”? So let’s start with the question: “why do I need a CRM system”?
Without CRM, it is impossible to comprehend all the information that reaches us.
Let’s face it, the amount of information that reaches us in one day is constantly growing. This also applies to business. Even in the case of small and micro companies, the amount of information that reaches us during the day is constantly growing. Information scattered on various carriers and systems can “get lost”. This is not conducive to efficiency and deprives us of our most valuable resource – time. Instead of digging through hundreds of different media, files and e-mails, wouldn’t it be better to have all your information in one safe place?
CRM system from Salesforce is an organized database that will allow you to centralize all data – even from different sources.
Second question the author asks in his book is “how?”.
The answer to this question is the main topic of this post.
How to implement Salesforce CRM?
The out-of-the-box version of Salesforce CRM includes a full set of functionalities, which is assumed to meet the needs of most companies. Matching fields, dependencies between objects/fields, creating automation of business processes, assigning appropriate permissions and much, much more are activities aimed at personalizing Salesforce in accordance with the individual needs of the company. Salesforce shares the knowledge needed to set up the system according to the user’s needs. The largest CRM Provider in the World has even created a free platform for learning how to use and administer the system. In order to be able to speak of a “tailor-made” system, knowledge is essential. New Salesforce users are encouraged to visit the Salesforce Trailhead website, where you can find many free courses that will teach you how to set up and use your CRM system.
The second way to implement a Salesforce CRM system is to hire an official Salesforce partner.. Salesforce partners have appropriate knowledge confirmed by numerous certificates. Additionally, Salesforce ensures that the possessed knowledge does not expire, obliging its partners to constantly update and acquire new knowledge. The second method has the advantage that it saves a lot of time and energy on self-study. It also ensures that any changes will be made in a way that will not create problems in the future.
Regardless of whether you choose to work on your own or hire experts for it, it is good to prepare yourself at the beginning.
How to prepare for the implementation of the CRM?
First of all, you need to clearly define and specify the business processes taking place in the company. How we run the company and perform our daily duties is very individual. Having knowledge of how we conduct various types of activities, we can transfer them to the ground of the CRM system. In other words:
Transfer the company to a CRM system that will correspond the specifics of the work at your company.
Another important question is: what will be the number of system users? The answer to this question will allow not only to determine the costs, but also to plan the implementation work. Perhaps at the beginning we want to implement the system only for the sales department?
The next question relates to the security of the processed data. Especially in the case of sensitive data, the possession of which is necessary, for example, to process an order. Who should have access and to what data? Should every employee have equal access to all data? Or maybe this access should be limited in some way?
How are the individual processes related to each other? Knowing how the business processes in the company are related allows you to design various types of automation. Automating repetitive – often boring and time-consuming tasks is a huge advantage of the Salesforce CRM.
Basic IT knowledge is also necessary to use modern technologies. Do your employees have sufficient knowledge? Or maybe they need training?
We have why and how. There is still the last question the Author asks: “what”. It will not be a surprise when we say that to the question: “what should I implement?”, we answer: Salesforce CRM! Back to the “why” question? Salesforce is the largest and most innovative CRM service provider in the World! He has already been trusted by over 150,000 companies from all over the World!
Conclusion
In order to implement a CRM system, first of all such a need must be noticed. We do not negate the way in which business processes are carried out in companies – as long as they work. Maybe a good old notebook, calendar, mailbox or a table in a spreadsheet is enough. We will not tell you otherwise. One little note. How the data is organized and presented is of great importance. The human eye is not suited to viewing spreadsheets.
You also need to ask yourself: am I able to implement a CRM system myself? Do I Have Enough Time? Do I have enough time to study? If the answer is yes, there are loads of free resources, tutorials, and videos made available on Salesforce Trailhead. Free materials available on the website allow you to fully master the knowledge of the administration and use of CRM from Salesforce. Salesforce shares knowledge, giving you free access to its vast resources.
If we have neither the time, nor the knowledge, nor the desire to implement the system ourselves, we can turn to specialists for help. To which specialist? The best choice is the official Salesforce partners who have the appropriate knowledge confirmed by numerous certificates. There are many advantages to choosing this option. There are many companies and partners on the market. Among them there will certainly be one that will meet our expectations.
How to prepare for the first meeting?
Before meeting your Salesforce partner for the first time, ask yourself the following questions:
- what do i want to achieve?
- what business processes are taking place in my company?
- how does the working day at my company look like?
- which activities repeat and we would like to automate them?
- how many users will have access to the system?
- what’s my budget?
The last question may be controversial, but we ask it at meetings anyway. Why? Because it often turns out that the client’s needs significantly exceed the budget he has to implement advanced Salesforce products. It is hard to expect that the micro-company will have a sufficient budget to implement Salesforce Einstein. And yet, sometimes companies that have read a bit about it on the Salesforce website expect to have access to such powerful analytical tools. Therefore, it is good to consider – even approximately, what is the budget for the project?
As an official Salesforce partner, we design, implement, advise and train employees in the use of dedicated CRM systems based on the latest Salesforce technology.
You can read more about our services here.
Grow with Salesforce!
ME PL Solution Team
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