CRM Success by the Numbers - Part 1: As Easy as 1, 2, 3

When people who are tasked with responsibilities for CRM systems are asked to define success, many words come to mind - words like challenging, demanding, difficult, stressful, time-consuming… painful, impossible, unattainable… changing jobs, retiring, quitting, outa here... It can be enough to have you contemplating the view from you office ledge.

Come down off that ledge. With just a little help, you may find yourself jumping for joy instead. Realistically, CRM success shouldn't evoke feelings of pain or frustration. Instead the thought of CRM success can actually bring you a sense of inner calm and peace – even a feeling of achievement or accomplishment. How is this possible, you ask?

One of the biggest frustrations about CRM success is that often it isn't clearly defined. How can you achieve something that isn't being measured? The best way to define success – and stay off that ledge - often involves utilizing numbers - like goals or metrics. They say what gets measured gets done. Measurements also let you know when you are making progress and doing the right things. But what numbers should you use…?

Winning the Business Development Battle Part 13: The General

While there are many people who can aid and assist your troops in their business development battles, it is imperative to have the support of strong and effective 'generals'. This is why it is crucial that the managing partners, chairmen and other firm leaders be actively involved in any business development campaign.

Their leadership roles may involve many facets. Great leaders should be unwavering in their support for business development and the troops. They should measure and reward positive advances. They should also encourage and publicly praise individuals and accomplishments. While this may seem like an obvious or minor thing to do, it sometimes can be difficult for leaders who are overachievers themselves - and who have come to ‘expect’ this level of achievement from everyone else - to utter the words, ‘good job.’ Regardless, this is one of the most powerful tools in the leadership arsenal. 

Conversely, if any of the troops are not carrying their weight, a good leader should take corrective action privately and provide the assistance needed to promote the needed improvements. Most importantly, generals should lead the troops – by example. They should actively encourage business development. They should share their business development contacts. They should attend business development meetings. They should discuss the importance of business development to the firm as well as each individual. They should provide or serve as mentors for the newer recruits. 

Ultimately, when it comes to winning the business development battles, the troops are only as strong as the weakest link, which is why many firms are now focusing on promoting and rewarding leadership as one of the keys to business development – and firm – success. 

An Apple a Day Keeps CRM Failure Away Part 6 - A Second Bite at the Apple

If at first you don't succeed at CRM... so then what? Should you just give up? Throw in the proverbial technology towel? Admit defeat and go look for a job doing something easier - like maybe becoming a lion tamer or a crash test dummy? No, don't even think about it. 

You should never give up, because it's never too late for CRM success. Besides, you are not alone. There are plenty of firms who have had failed CRM rollout attempts. In fact, research suggests that 50% to 80% of CRM systems may fail. Some law firms have even had to roll out their systems a second time… and even a third.  

This is because, at its core (don't forget our apple theme), CRM is about people, process and technology – and when it fails, it’s not usually the technology that’s to blame – and it’s certainly not you. It’s the people and process issues. So to succeed with CRM, all you have to do is create the processes and fix the people. How hard could that be in a law firm? (OK, stop laughing and get to work.) To do this, just stop focusing on the technology and start finding ways to solve problems and help your end users and firm to accomplish business objectives.

But don't try to do too much or do it too quickly though. If you try to achieve perfection, you will always be in for disappointment. Never strive for things like 100% adoption or 100% data quality. That’s just setting yourself up for failure. Instead, try to achieve small successes. Help one attorney communicate his or her expertise to a key group of targets. Help one practice group improve their success on pitches. Help one Client team with cross selling. And when you accomplish these things, share the successes.

The best recipe for ongoing CRM success is get a good result, communicate it, repeat. Once you do this, you’ll find the next group of willing attorneys lined up at your office door. And then your problem will be getting enough staff and other resources to handle the demand. Frankly, that’s a pretty great problem to have. 

Winning the Business Development Battle Part 12: Counterintelligence

Business development battles cannot be won without dedicated and motivated troops. But motivating attorneys to develop business can sometimes be challenging. Many attorneys went to law school specifically because they didn’t want to ‘sell.’ Just the mention of selling can evoke thoughts of a loud used-car salesman in a bad plaid jacket trying to overcome objections and ‘close’ a deal. That is not a motivator, by any means.

Sometimes the best way motivate your attorneys to develop business is to use counterintelligence, because what makes a great business developer can sometimes be counterintuitive. While initially it may seem to some attorneys that they need to ‘sell’ themselves to develop business, actually the opposite is true. To develop business, lawyers shouldn't try to sell anything. In fact, they shouldn’t spend much time at all talking about themselves, their services or their firm.

Instead, to develop business lawyers should focus on the prospective Client – and try to talk as little as possible. They should try to learn as much as they can about the prospect and his or her business and industry. They should ask good questions to gain an understanding of the Client’s needs and challenges. Most importantly, they should stop talking and really listen to the Client. Only then can they find opportunities where they may be able to help the Client.

That’s the real counterintelligence in business development: it’s not about selling – it’s about helping. Once they realize that this is true, your troops will be much more motivated – and much more successful – on the business development battlefield.  

An Apple a Day Keeps CRM Failure Away Part 5 - Slicing the Apple

When it comes to CRM success, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. There are, however, some almost universal ways to fail. Trying to roll out the software to everyone in the firm all at once is one good way. Trying to get the lawyers to sit through point-and-click classroom training is another. Also good: trying to deploy every bell and whistle, feature and function during the initial rollout. These are some sure-fire ways to create frustration - and maybe even cause a minor mutiny among the key stakeholders. Ask any of the firms who have done these things - although they probably won't have time to talk to you because they are in the middle of trying to roll out their system for the second or third time.

In reality, the most successful CRM implementations are achieved one small bite at a time. For instance, because CRM has so many different features, it can - and often should - be implemented differently for different groups. For one practice area, it might allow for tracking activities, for another, opportunities. One group might want to send out eAlerts while another may want to manage events. One practice might want to create an experts database while another wants to track referrals. 

The great thing about CRM is that it can be many things to many users. But the most important thing is to understand that success is also defined by those users. This means you have to engage your end users early and often. But don't expect them to tell you what they want the CRM to do. In most cases, they couldn't... because they have no idea what it can do. Instead, you should inquire about their business needs and issues. What problems are they trying to solve? What processes are they trying to automate? What objectives do they want to achieve? It’s our job to think of all of the ways CRM can help. If we slice the apple this way, then there will be plenty of CRM success to go around.

Winning the Business Development Battle Part 11: Purple Hearts

Alas, you are not going to win every business development battle. It can be daunting to put yourself out there in the field, face-to-face with Clients and prospects, who may either accept or reject your advances. While most of them will not be outright hostile, it's a fact that some of them are going to say ‘no.’ And when this happens, it can be tempting to retreat… to pull back and set up camp in your office, safely barricaded behind your desk. But that is the wrong battle strategy.

As confident as we attorneys appear, it’s really hard for most of us to take rejection. We take that ‘no’ very personally. Face it, most of us were not the ‘cool kids’ in high school. We were more likely to be the valedictorian or president of the Honor Society (guilty) than the captain of the football team or head cheerleader. And even though things turned out ok – sure, we’re successful professionals now – some of us still carry around that stigma from childhood. To some of us, a ‘no’ is more than just a ‘no’ – it’s puts us right back there in 10^th grade being picked last for the team. 

An Apple a Day Keeps CRM Failure Away Part 4 - The Golden Apple

Arguably, the most important thing a CRM system can help a law firm with is business development – attracting and retaining top Clients. This is the reason a lot of firms invest in CRM systems in the first place. Actually, this is the reason a lot of firms do a lot of the things they do.

The problem is that, after the fact, those same firms often complain that their CRM systems are not providing a return on their investments. The reason has less to do with the CRM technology and more to do with the fact that the system either isn't being used properly – or at all – or that the firm hasn’t found a way to adequately measure ROI.

Here are a few measurable things that CRM systems can do to enhance the firm’s business development efforts:

• Communications can be targeted to key Clients and prospects to provide opportunities to generate business related to changes or developments in laws or regulations.
• Invitations to events can be distributed to key prospects to provide opportunities to get face-to-face to discuss key issues and strategies for addressing them.
• Client team meetings can be planned and scheduled to identify cross selling opportunities.
• Information from Client surveys can be communicated to improve Client service and retention.
• Reminders can be set to enhance follow-up after events.
• Pipelines can be created to track business development progress with Clients and prospects. 
• Financial information can be shared to help determine who the firm’s top Clients are so that the firm can serve them better and try to grow them – and to help identify who the firm’s at risk Clients may be so that the firm can serve them better and try to retain them. 

One other thing to remember when it comes to ROI on CRM investments: CRM is about people, process and technology – and when it fails to deliver ROI, it’s more often an issue caused by the people, not the technology. All the technology in the world isn't going to get business in the door if the attorneys aren’t willing to walk out that door and go get face-to-face with Clients.