How to implement a new CRM effectively, so it actually works for your business

So you’ve found a new CRM.

You’ve considered the options, done your research and are ready to get started. The only thing is, you’ve been here before.

Last time you tried to implement a solution like this, things didn’t work out; the software was confusing, your admin team couldn’t figure out how to get simple things done, and the ability to achieve important functions didn’t seem to be there.

Experiences like this can really put you off paying for a new CRM, however, when rolled out correctly, good software can have a massive impact on your business.

So what can you do to make sure you implement your new CRM effectively?

Ask the right questions

If you want to get your implementation right, you need to start with the right solution. This means doing effective research to find out which CRM is the best fit for you.

We’ve written an article weighing up some of the best CRMs available if you need help narrowing your list down.

As part of this decision-making process, you need to make sure you’re asking the right questions to better understand if the software you’re investigating works for you.

Once you’ve got a list of potential solutions, reach out to the onboarding teams at each provider.

Consider what the primary, secondary and tertiary functions are that you need your CRM to achieve. Once these are clear you can then ask more specific questions about how a given solution will achieve your requirements.

With this information, you can compare how different providers achieve your desired outcomes and which are more effective or best suit how your business operates.

It is likely no one solution will perfectly solve every one of your needs, but by ranking your priorities you can quickly determine what you’re happy to compromise on.

Furthermore, you should also check what each provider's development calendar is like. If one CRM is regularly releasing updates and making changes based on feedback, then this is a good sign that they will address your needs in the areas where they are lacking.

Remember, with many large companies development and customisation can be a slow process meaning any changes or feature promises will likely take a long time to implement.

You should check the company's development history and feature release calendar and also ask them for a timescale for releasing important functionality.

It may be that one company has fewer features right away, but if they’re committed to creating what you need and are quick and reliable at delivering updates, this might be a better long-term solution.

Understand your current processes

If you don’t know what’s broken or don’t have a vision of how your processes could be better, then how can you expect to fix things?

Remember a CRM isn’t a magic wand that’s instantly going to fix all your problems. You need to put in some work to make sure the software works properly. As part of this process, you need to understand where you’re going wrong and what you could do to increase efficiencies.

Once you’ve got a coherent understanding of your current systems, however limited, it becomes far easier to envisage how you can fix them. It also allows you to understand which features are necessary to achieve your desired outcomes.

With this information, you will have a better picture of what you need from your new CRM.

Have a designated lead

One of the biggest reasons CRM implementations fail is that no one takes responsibility for getting set up.

Someone in the business needs to make it their focus to ensure the implementation process goes well. They are the person who liaises with the onboarding team and gets their team to attend training.

If there is not someone bought into the software and driving it forward in the team, then it will not be taken as a priority and the lack of commitment will mean it fails. For efficiency software to succeed, it requires buy-in from the whole team and commitment to make the change.

Implementing a new system does take some effort and inconvenience in the initial stages as it requires everyone to leave behind familiar processes and replace them with something new.

At first new software might appear more complicated, but if the team is committed, in the long term, it makes life far easier.

Your onboarding team will help you, but if there isn’t someone accountable to speak to, the process will fail.

Whole team training

When getting started with new software it’s essential that the whole team takes part in the training.

Employees need to learn how to use the software properly and be given the time and mental space to take on board the information they need. By committing to proper training your team is able to ask questions and reduce potential pain points early on.

By ensuring everyone receives training together, staff can help each other and accelerate the rate of learning. It also helps to create a more focused environment and contributes to that sense of team buy-in.

An appropriate time frame

While it is reasonable to expect to be up and running with your new software solution fairly quickly, you also need to be realistic about the time it takes to get fully integrated.

Factors such as the current state of your processes and whether you already have some kind of digital system in place will affect the time scale for set-up.

If you’re having to completely redesign your systems then this can’t be done overnight. As explained above, the whole team needs to be trained and get used to the new system, while you also need to move records across and make sure all the correct information is available.

Timings are also dependent on you.

If you’ve got someone who is focused on implementation and there is buy-in from the whole team, then getting up and running will take less time.

As a general guide, getting going should take one to three months. Some solutions can take as much as two years to implement, however, we would suggest avoiding these CRMs. No platform should take that long.

Get it all done for you

If getting set up with a CRM sounds like a whole lot of effort then there is another option available to you.

With most CRM providers you are given access to the software and then after that, you are essentially left to get on with it yourself. Yes, you will get some training and possibly an account manager, but most of the work has to be put in by you and it is your responsibility to work out how to best use the software.

The other option is to get Payaca to do it all for you.

What Payaca offers is twofold, there’s the software (described as market-leading by its users) and then there’s the in-person consultation and set-up that you get with their scale programme.

Rather than signing up for the software and getting left to it, with Payaca’s scale programme, you will get one-on-one support from Matt (Payaca’s CEO) and Luke, who will take care of every aspect of setting you up.

The Payaca team will review your processes, design a plan of action, and adapt and apply the software to your unique business needs. Rather than getting left to figure it out yourself, they will implement the software for you and lead training to ensure everyone knows what’s going on.

And what’s more, the support doesn’t end with the initial setup. If you sign up with Payaca’s scale programme you will receive ongoing support and mentoring from Matt and Luke, ensuring the software continues to deliver maximum benefits to your business.

So if you’re worried about implementing your CRM, you can remove the stress and get all the benefits by getting a professional team to do it for you.

If this is something that sounds interesting to you, then you can find out more at Payaca.com or if you want to give the software a test run before committing you can give the free trial a go.

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