Wednesday, March 23, 2011

The CRM Marathon

When you first begin to roll out a CRM system in your firm, it's easy to get carried away and want to really take off right out of the gate. It's perfectly understandable that you might get excited about the potential of CRM to help the firm solve problems and automate processes. You know how effective CRM can be in improving communication, coordination and Client service – so it’s tempting to run around telling everyone what it can do.

Can it fix the mailing and event lists? Absolutely. Support the firm's Client teams? Of course. Allow the business developers to track referrals and opportunities? Sure. But realistically it when it comes to CRM, it’s often better to pace yourself. There are a thousand things you can do with CRM, but if you try to do too much too fast, you often won't end up doing anything very well. Besides, the last thing you want to do is over-promise and under-deliver.

Instead, slow down and pace yourself. Remember, CRM success is a marathon, not a sprint. It involves a fundamental change in the way that your firm thinks about and manages its crucial relationships. While change is good, it is also rarely easy and it takes time. If you just take deep breaths and move forward one step at a time, you will be better prepared for the long haul. 

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