Do You Want A Successful CRM Implementation? 10 Crucial Elements

Table of Contents

1. Choose a CRM Implementation Leader 

At this point, you should already have a project leader that helped to gather requirements from your team, standardized data across departments, laid out how processes will work in your newly purchased CRM, and of course, helped to select the system itself.

If the person who led the purchase will not lead the CRM implementation, you must choose a new implementation leader. This person needs the authority to make tough decisions that will keep your team and project on track. 

2. Choose Your Team

Just as your leader should be selected before you begin implementation, the same goes for the ancillary team. You should already know who will help to set everything up. While you won’t know the full scope of work before the CRM implementation plan is discussed, everyone involved should already plan to allocate a portion of their time to this project. With that, let’s jump into the details of what needs to be established amongst you, your team, and your vendor.

3. With or Without Help From Your Vendor

You and your team need to decide if you plan to get implementation help from your vendor or not. If so, you need to decide on the level of support. For this, there are a few things to consider:

Knowledge & Experience

You need to assess your familiarity with the system that is to be implemented. Perhaps someone on your team used this same tool for another company or previously implemented it. Whatever the case may be, your team’s knowledge and experience should help to determine if you need help from the vendor.

CRM Implementation Leader Availability 

Time is a major factor when it comes to the implementation of a new CRM. The project leader may be extremely knowledgeable and have experience, but if they don’t have the available hours that’s needed to get things done in a timely fashion, then you may need help from your vendor.

Your Team’s availability

Just as with the CRM implementation leader, your team may be extremely knowledgeable and have experience, but once again, you need to assess their availability based on what’s needed for this project. We discuss the project timeline and expectations below.

Vendor’s Ability to Execute

All this talk is moot if the vendor can’t execute themselves. Ask around to get an idea as to how well other companies’ implementations have gone. You can ask people in your network that use the same CRM or you can read reviews online. You can also ask your vendor for references, but they are usually going to pass you off to their best customers, so be wary.

Another option is to ask detailed questions. Ask to talk with the person that would do the implementation on their side. Ask about their CRM implementation process, ask about your specific needs and what they recommend, and in general, try to throw them some curveballs to assess their flexibility and true understanding of their CRM. 

Example

Ask them a question about a function in their system that doesn’t exist, but would like to see in there anyway. A poor answer would be a simple, “Our system can’t do that.” A great answer would be if they discussed some workarounds and alternative solutions. While those solutions may not be great, or even good, the fact that they are able to try and work out the problem with you is very encouraging. When you implement, you are almost guaranteed to come across at least one or two issues that are tough to overcome. If you pay someone to help out, it’s important to know that they can get you across those hurdles.

Price

This shouldn’t be the deciding factor, but it’s obviously a constraint for many businesses. If you and your team have never used this CRM, it likely pays to have the vendor’s help. Think about the cost to pay the vendor vs. the cost to not pay them and have a poor CRM implementation. This means that the team won’t adopt the system as quickly and easily, you’re likely to argue over issues that will come about due to a poor implementation, and so on. Don’t pay good money for a system and then skimp on the install costs, if you don’t have the experience already. Even if you are on a shoestring budget, allocate some of those funds to the vendor so they can properly assist with your implementation.

4. Your Team’s Timeline vs. Vendor’s Timeline

The term “vs.” implies that there is a battle or argument, but that’s not really the case here. It’s more to clearly point out that you and your vendor likely have different timelines, which need to get sorted out. Alignment of your timelines is crucial when you implement a CRM because it impacts the overall success of the project. 

Project Alignment and Expectations

Your team’s timeline is likely influenced by business cycles, resource availability, and other key objectives that your team strives to hit.

The vendor’s timeline likely reflects their estimate of how long it will take to configure, customize, and deploy the CRM based on their experience, technical knowhow, and your team’s expectations.

Be sure to clearly communicate so that everyone’s expectations align. More about expectations below.

Resource Allocation

Both your team and the vendor need to allocate resources for the CRM implementation. If your team’s timeline differs significantly from the vendor’s, it could lead to conflicts over resource allocation. For example, if your team is particularly busy in the last 2 weeks of a quarter, it might impact your ability to actively participate in the implementation process. This is something that you must share with the vendor.

Customization and Tests

A major part of any CRM implementation is customization and configuration to get the system to match existing business processes. This requires time and testing. Coordinate timelines to ensure there is ample time for these steps.

In summary, the alignment of your team’s timeline with the vendor’s timeline is crucial for a smooth CRM implementation. It helps manage expectations, allocate resources effectively, minimize disruptions, ensure user adoption, and achieve a successful outcome that meets your business objectives.

5. Your Team’s Expectations vs. Vendor’s Expectations

In the previous section, we touched on expectations, but let’s dive deeper: 

Order of Operations

When you discuss the CRM implementation plan with your vendor, they should have a proposed order of when different tasks and milestones should get done. Once you hear their plan, talk with your team to ensure that the timelines and order of operations makes sense for everyone involved. For example:

Your vendor may want to set up access for everyone who will use the system so they can log in right away. However, you may only want the implementation team to have initial access, so general users don’t log in too soon and ask complain about things that don’t work. Talk with your vendor and your team to come up with the correct order of actions based on your unique circumstance.

Who Does What – You, Team, or Vendor?

Let’s assume that you decide to pay your vendor to help with the CRM implementation. The question that needs to be answered next is, “Who does what?” This is something that your vendor is likely to leave up to you. You know your team better than they do, so it makes sense that you have to make this decision. Consider the skillset of your team, the time it takes to do different tasks, and your timeline. 

It’s easy for the lion’s share of the work to fall on the project leader, so it’s their responsibility to assign tasks, hold people accountable, set expectations, and to keep your manager apprised of any hiccups. It’s also a good idea to let your manager know about the hard work your team does and give praise when it’s deserved.

Launch of New CRM and Cancellation of Old CRM

There are expectations as to what should get done first, who should do what, when the team can use your new CRM, and when access to the old one is to be cut off. It’s important to establish expectations from the outset. Be sure to revise expectations as the installation moves along to keep your team and manager in the loop. Transparency goes a long way toward building trust.

It’s important to note that between the time data is migrated from the old system to the new one, that new deals and data are likely to be created.

Migration Example

You migrate data from the old CRM to the new one on a Monday. You take the rest of the week to test that everything works properly before you give everyone access. One week later, new deals, contacts, and companies were created in the old system, which means that your new system is no longer up to date. 

Remember that data becomes stale the moment it’s entered and no one makes updates. Accordingly, we must train our team and migrate data. Migration is only complete once they feel comfortable in the system enough to stop their use of the old one.

Ensure that the leadership team uses the new CRM. When teams see that leadership uses a tool, everyone is more likely to follow than if they don’t use it themselves. In a previous article we discussed at length about training if you’d like to review it.

Lastly ,you should have some overlap when you have both the old and new CRM. It’s important to set expectations as to when you plan to cancel the old CRM. When you remind people of this date, it sets a specific timeframe as to how long they have until they can no longer access their old system. I recommend that you send out a calendar invite and a few ongoing reminder emails to ensure everyone is crystal clear about the changeover. Be sure to provide support where you can.

6. Project Management Software

The use of project management (PM) software for the CRM implementation of a CRM offers numerous benefits that can contribute to the successful execution of the project.

Organize and Plan

PM software provides tools to create and visualize project plans, timelines, tasks, and milestones. In the previous two topics we discussed timelines and expectations. A PM tool helps with both of those.

Keep Your Team Accountable

A PM tool allows you to assign tasks to specific team members, which ensures that everyone knows their responsibilities, deadlines, and dependencies. This helps to prevent tasks from falling through the cracks.

Collaboration and Communication

PM tools offer features for communication and collaboration, such as discussion threads, the ability to share files, and comment on tasks. 

Some vendors use a tool that you and your team can join. However, if your team has a tool and you want the vendor to join your instance, be sure to communicate that early on. Either way, PM software can be a great asset to aid in your implementation.

7. Best Forms of Communication For Everyone

In the previous section, we mentioned that many project management tools enable users to communicate via discussion threads. However, you may find that another form of communication is better suited to your needs. There are countless software on the market that focus strictly on communication. Whatever tool you choose to use, communicate it with your team and vendor. The last thing you want is for data to be scattered across email, a communication platform, and your PM software. When you promote a focused and streamlined communication approach, you can enhance collaboration, reduce confusion, improve efficiency, and create a productive work environment so you can focus on a smooth CRM implementation.

8. Notify Team of Key Milestones

We alluded to milestones above, but let’s discuss what some of these might be whereby you want to notify the larger team. Note that you might want to schedule weekly recurring standup meetings with management to discuss progress, but here, we focus on milestones.

Project Plan

You may want to let everyone know that you plan to keep them apprised of progress as you hit new milestones such as:

CRM Implementation Begins

Let your team know when the implementation plans to begin and set expectations about when it plans to finish.

Customization and Configuration

This is likely the biggest hurdle to overcome in an implementation. Notify the team when the customization and configuration of the CRM is done. Be sure to highlight unique features/solutions that your team asked for before you even selected a vendor. Also be sure to realign expectations about when the project plans to go-live; every message to your team is a chance to realign or reaffirm the launch date.

Data Migration

Let the team know when data migration from your existing systems to the new CRM is complete. This is a great opportunity to emphasize the importance of data accuracy and how vital it is for everyone to use the new system once it is fully implemented.

Testing, Quality Assurance (QA), and Go-Live

Inform the team after you test the system for issues. Let them know that the CRM works as planned, that it’s officially live, and that they can expect a notification shortly about upcoming product training. Be sure to dish out accolades to your team members in this email. Don’t overlook the importance of praise.

Product Training

Make this a separate message from the Testing & QA one. Training is a key step and you want to ensure that your team reads your entire message. Look at people’s calendars and find the time that works best for the largest number. Down below, we discuss training in depth. 

Cancellation of Old CRM

We touched on this earlier, but once your team successfully uses the new tool, it’s time to cancel your old CRM. Timing on this depends on your company’s contract. Perhaps you pay annually or maybe you are month to month. Either way, notify your team of the end date multiple times to ensure there are no surprises.

Performance Metrics and Tracking

No one wants to go through the hassle of a system changeover unless there are material and tangible benefits. Update the team on key performance metrics related to the CRM implementation and highlight achievements and improvements. 

Feedback

A good tip is to ask your CRM users how they like the system; both good and bad. Be sure to share the good with the team and let them also know about your work to fix the bad. 

9. Testing

In the previous section, we briefly touched on testing. This is an important topic that deserves to be fleshed out. Below are some, but not all of the tests that you want to run throughout your CRM implementation.

Inputs and Outputs Work

This first one may seem obvious, but make sure that when you input data, it saves correctly. Furthermore, be sure that the data comes through in different views. If for example you are in a deal record and input a close date, make sure that the same date shows up in the view of all deals. This is the most basic function of the system. If for some reason data does not save properly, you need to talk with your vendor ASAP. This issue is likely to be more present in a calculated field or one that has dependencies rather than a simple input.

Migrated Fields and Data

In my experience, verification of migrated fields and data is one of the most time consuming aspects of any implementation. Use a one-to-one approach. If that doesn’t work, use a top down approach. 

One-to-One Approach

A one-to-one approach is where you compare every single deal in your new system against your old system. You can export all of your data from both systems and compare them in a Google Sheets or Excel. 

Bottom Down Approach

A bottom down approach is where you compare total contract values, ARR, etc. in your new CRM against your previous one. Start at high levels and work your way down. Compare data by year, then if every year is exactly the same except 2023, you can compare months. If every month is the same except May, then you can manually check on a deal by deal basis if you don’t have that many listed. Otherwise, you can compare by close dates one week at a time, by product, or by any other values you capture. Remember that you can also export this smaller sample of data and compare it in another program.

Reports

Once you have data in your system, create reports. In a previous post, we discussed 9 Sales Reports To Run in Your CRM. I would recommend that you create these reports along with other ones to measure your key performance indicators (KPIs). Make sure the outputs are accurate. Use reports to compare migrated data against your previous system. 

Automation

Be sure to test every workflow that you create or migrate from another tool. It can consume quite a bit of time if you have dozens or hundreds of workflows, but you definitely don’t want them to misfire, send emails to the wrong people at the wrong time, or mess up your automation processes as a whole.

Data Security

You want to make sure your new system is secure, and not just from hackers, but also from your own employees.

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a great way to secure your new system. However, it’s not 100% full proof. Check out this article for more on 2FA. Some other methods to protect your data: come up with a policy to remove users when they leave your company, restrict admin credentials to a select few, restrict write permissions only to those who need it, and take advantage of any security tool your new CRM has; ask your vendor for details. Be sure to check that system security is part of your implementation plan.

Compliance (e.g. GDPR)

Ensure that you are in compliance with local and industry specific rules and regulations. In my experience, features around compliance tend to be a bit hidden away. Ask your vendor and work with them to make sure you follow all required laws. Also consult your legal team or an attorney if need be.

Integrations

It’s vital that you check to see if your integrations work properly. This is especially important, just as with all of our other tests, that you investigate for proper functionality before you give access to the wider team. You definitely don’t want 15 people to send you an email where they all say, “My email integration isn’t working. Can you help?” Now imagine that for all of the tests mentioned above. 

10. Training

In number 8 above, Key Milestones, we touched on the importance of training. You need to plan, communicate effectively, and decide on engaging training methods.

Assess Team Needs

Identify the specific needs of your team members. Some may be tech savvy while others aren’t. Some may be in the office while others are remote and unable to attend in person training. Accordingly, it’s vital to take these factors into consideration in order to have the best chance of user adoption.

Set Goals

You can’t teach your team everything at once. Set incremental goals for each training session. This could include simple features such as navigation of the system, data entry best practices, how reporting works, and more.

Select Training Methods

Based on the size, location, or tech savviness of your team, training methods include in-person workshops, online tutorials, videos, webinars, and documentation. Choose the methods that suit your team. Furthermore, choose the right person or people to train the larger team. You might also ask help from the vendor to help out with this step.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to have ongoing training. Your team cannot learn everything in one go. Continuous training ensures the best chance of user adoption.

Ongoing Training

I personally believe that it’s best to set up bi-weekly training sessions with your team. This enables you to review features the team does not use and a chance to correct issues that you continuously see. When you believe that the team is properly trained, you can use the time to train your team on other topics or change it to a monthly meetup. You can offer a refresher on persistent issues or notify the team of system updates or process changes.

Remember that continuous reinforcement, engagement, and support are key to ensure that your team uses the CRM system to its fullest potential.

Wrap Up

With proper planning, the implementation of a CRM doesn’t have to be a stressful process. Hopefully, you now feel confident to look out for some pratfalls and know that you can take a systematic approach to ensure as best a chance as possible for a successful CRM implementation.