The CRM Personal Trainer

Many people who are recognized as leaders in their sport, field or occupation often attribute a significant portion of their current success to a trainer or coach of some type who helped them achieve more than they ever thought they could. And plenty of couch potatoes can attest that the only thing that finally motivated them to achieve the results they said they wanted was a trainer who pushed them and held them accountable. 

This trainer may be a mentor, trusted advisor or expert who shares knowledge and information and helps to avoid challenges and missteps. Even more important may be that encouragement they provide when you need it most or the firm push you need when you think you have reached your limits.

Likewise, seeking the counsel of a trainer or expert can be invaluable in the quest for CRM success, especially since the cost of failure can be significant in terms of lost time, money – and credibility. In some cases, it could even be a career-changer (which may be good or bad).

Your CRM trainer may be a CRM provider who helps to improve customer results through ongoing education and support. It could be a user group of peers who meet regularly to make each other more successful by sharing what has worked for them and what hasn’t. It could be an industry group that provides CRM white papers or webinars. Or it could be a consultant with significant CRM and industry knowledge and expertise whose job is to work together with Clients to provide support as well as information, ideas and best practices.

So get off the couch and find a trainer to help you with CRM success. You’ll definitely achieve more than you could alone. 

Taking the B’s out of B.D.

If you want to be successful in building Client relationships, the key to successful business development, there are two B’s that you need to forever banish when dealing with Clients. The first one is the word ‘busy.’ 

Be Careful Not to “Busy” Yourself Out of Business

Imagine you are sitting in your office, trying to get through the thousand-and-one things on your to do list for the day . Then, unexpectedly, the phone rings and it’s a Client. You pick up the phone, attempting to seem engaged - or at least somewhat interested. But in reality, you are distracted. You can feel the minutes ticking away and emails multiplying exponentially in your inbox. 

The Client asks politely, “How are you?”  and you respond, “Oh just buried - as usual. Don’t know if I’ll ever get it all done. What’s up?”

What message have you just delivered to the Client?  What if she had something important she wanted to discuss  – or some even some additional work for you? Well, if she did, you will probably never know because now she is thinking that you don't have time to handle it - or, even worse, she may be wondering how focused you are on the work you are doing for her already. 

What if instead, when the Client asked how you were, you responded, “I’m doing great! How can I help you?”  Now that starts the call off in a whole new context. It projects to your Client that you are enthusiastic and  focused on her needs instead of your busy day.

The same focus is just as important face-to-face. Before meeting with a Client, take a minute to collect and compose yourself. Make sure you are organized and prepared. Double check your appearance - and your attitude. You don’t want to appear as if you just completed a marathon on your way to their office - even if sometimes it may feel like you have. Greet the Client calmly and confidently, with your focus completely on her and her needs. 

These things may seem like basic common sense, but just think about the number of times you have seen someone fly into a meeting, completely disheveled, and explain that they were so busy with their other commitments that they haven’t even had a moment to breathe. It leaves an impression – and not a good one. These are not the people you want to work with - and neither do your Clients. They want to work with people who appear prepared, composed and confident. 

So take the word “busy”  our of your B.D. vocabulary. You've got better things to say. 

Eat Your CRM Vegetables

Since we’ve just talked – and walked - about the CRM Treadmill, let’s keep the health-y CRM metaphor rolling. 

Your mother always told you to eat your vegetables... whether you liked them or not... because they were good for you... and they’d help you to grow up big and strong. Right? Well it’s the same with CRM.

Sometimes, to achieve CRM success, we have to do things that we don’t like because we know they will ultimately be good for us. Secretaries typically don’t like taking the time to make sure that all of their attorneys’ contacts are correct and complete. Attorneys typically don’t like spending time going through their contacts to decide which ones are private and which should be shared. (Heck, some attorneys don’t like sharing their contacts, period – but that’s a topic for another day). Marketing certainly doesn’t enjoy going through every mailing and event list to make sure that it is accurate – and then having to deal with all the bounced-back communications. And nobody really relishes the ongoing commitment of time, money and other resources that CRM success sometimes takes.

But to succeed with CRM, we do these things because we know that if we commit to do the work and dedicate the time and resources – if we eat our vegetables – we can achieve CRM success... which means we will be more effective in our communication, coordination and Client service... and we will develop more business... and increase revenue... and grow our firm. (and then we can have some ice cream.) 

Business Development Mistake #10 - Confusing Activity with Progress

If you think you are too busy for business development, then you may just need to be more focused. It’s easy to confuse activity with progress, but to be effective, you need to allocate your limited business development time wisely. 

Instead of spending  time on activities that are not generating results, focus on the ones that are proven to build and enhance your relationships. A good rule of thumb is that any activity that does not help you directly or personally connect with potential Clients is probably not the best use of your time and resources. 

The CRM Treadmill

One of my former colleagues was fond of saying that CRM is like a treadmill. Nobody ever got in shape by just buying one – you have to actually use it.

He’s absolutely right, and for even more reasons. Have you ever shopped for a treadmill? The process can be quite intimidating. They come in all sizes and prices with more features and functions than you can imagine. In fact, if money were no object, you could easily come home with a top-of-the-line unit that boasts not only hands-free speed adjustment (which sounds scary to me) and a 50% incline (for those of you who don’t know exactly what that is, imagine Spider man walking up a wall really, really fast), but also a multi-speaker stereo system, a 7” flat screen TV, an iPod dock, high speed internet, a refrigerated drink holder and a foot-powered personal air conditioning unit (ok, I made those last two up, but wouldn’t that be cool?) And you get all this for just under $10,000. This bad boy will look pretty impressive gathering dust or clothes hangers.

CRM is no different. If you don’t know what you need or want going in, CRM providers have all the shiniest bells and whistles. You can get relationship intelligence, opportunity management, referral tracking, Client team support, strategic account management, financial or H.R. integration, PDA syncing, matter and experience management, a document repository, an alumni database, contact self-verification, competitive and business intelligence, taxi-cab reports, reminders with bells and whistles (literally) and a nifty graphical representation of your business development funnel (imagine an empty ice cream cone – both literally and figuratively for some firms) - all for the low, low price of under $500K. Too bad what you really needed was help with mailings and event management. 

Don't get me wrong - all these things are great – but only when utilized to execute a well-planned business development or marketing strategy. Yes, CRM can do a thousand things. That doesn’t mean that it should. To be successful, start with the 2 or 3 things that are essential to helping your firm and professionals achieve their goals.

So, do your homework when shopping for CRM – because if you don’t end up using it, you can't even hang clothes on it. 

Business Development Mistake #9 - Focusing on the Wrong Clients

So which Clients should you focus on developing business with? When in doubt, start with the ones who are writing you checks. 

Typically more than 80% of business comes from current Clients, so start by strengthening and expanding relationships with them. Presumably they already value your services and they often have additional work or can be excellent referral sources. Plus, you should already have a keen understanding of their businesses. 

Next you may want to consider Clients in related businesses or industries who face challenges similar to those of your current Clients. Then look for opportunities to cross service some of your firm’s other Clients. Make connections with other attorneys, professionals or referral sources whose practices are complementary to yours and whose Clients could also benefit from your services. You should also focus on potential Clients with whom you already have established relationships or connections but whom you are not currently working with.

Only after you have exhausted these options, should you consider expanding to new prospects with whom you don't have existing relationships. It's not that these aren't great potential Clients, it's just that developing business with prospective clients can cost up to five times more than working with existing clients - and your likelihood of success will often be lower. Make the most of your valuable - and limited - business development time.

Motivating Change for CRM Success

It’s always nice when something we say is reinforced by really smart people like the folks at McKinsey & Company. One of their articles about change management suggests that there are four basic conditions that must be met before people will change their behavior in the workplace:

1. A compelling story: They must see the point of change and agree with it, at least enough to give it a try.
2. Role modeling: Admired and/or respected colleagues must be seen modeling the desired behavior.
3. Reinforcement systems:  Surrounding structures, systems, processes and incentives must be in tune with the new behavior. 
4. The skills required for change:  They need to have the skills to do what is required of them. 

How does this translate into CRM success, you may ask? Well here is what we have always said about CRM success: 

1. Create a vision statement for CRM success. Professionals and support staff must understand why CRM is important to the firm, what will be expected of them and, most importantly, what’s in it for them.
2. Key firm leaders must actively support the CRM program. They should be the first ones to contribute their contacts and should help to create the vision, foster communication and recognize successes.
3. Put processes and procedures in place to enhance results including an internal communication campaign, incentives for participation and rewards for successes.
4. Make training a priority. Initial training should be conducted in person using real life data and scenarios. Ongoing training should be designed to encourage long-term results and success.

It’s always nice when you find out that what you originally thought was a best practice – or even just common sense - is actually pretty smart. Thanks, McKinsey.