Step One
- Identify the needs of your organisation and the users. It is vital to gain feedback from key personnel and departments, e.g. sales, marketing, service and support and HR if a company has an HR department, on the basis that a CRM solution is generally a company wide implementation and can effect the way in which people have worked or operated for years.
- Understand your requirements – this can be achieved by talking with perhaps two or three CRM providers.
- If possible test a couple of systems for a few weeks in order to see how effective it is. That said, it needs to be done in such a way as to not impact the day to day running of the organisation so you may want to choose a small number of people to use it. At the very least, see a few demonstrations and see if it matches your requirements.
Step Two
- If possible view a live demonstration at an organisation similar to your own.
- Decide whether a hosted solution or an in-house system meets your needs best.
- Make sure that you view CRM solutions that meet your organisation’s needs e.g. if you organisation is a manufacturer then look at suppliers that understand the industry. You want to avoid having to make and pay for complex changes to the system in order to meet the needs of your organisation if there is already a system available that matches those requirements.
- Remember that you may need to subscribe or pay for updates after the first year. Find out how much annual subscriptions cost, and factor that in when comparing prices. Check for any special offers that include extra annual subscription. Budget for potential maintenance or support costs.
Step Three
- Identify the Right Partners / Providers.
- Use Conjungo’s ‘Find CRM Suppliers’ search facility at the top right of this page.
- Who has the experience of working with a company of the same size and profile as yours?
- How many similar installations have they made?
- Ask for references – ensure that the company is capable and reliable.
- Ask to speak with a couple of their customers in order to see what benefits they have been gained.
- Get a credit check to ensure that they are financially stable. You can get this directly from the supplier details found from your Conjungo search.
Step Four
Request a proposal from three or four of your preferred suppliers.
Step Five
Select a Proposal.
- Who best demonstrates that they understand your business and your requirements?
- Is the solution flexible and scaleable and therefore able to meet future demand? You don’t want to find out later that by investing a little more money now will save you money later.
- Is it cost effective? Does it demonstrate clearly the functional benefits – rather than telling a list of particular features, does the proposal clearly show what the benefits are? There is no point on spending money for system with features that are of no benefit or that you will never use!
- How much do the software (licences) cost?
- How much will software support cost?
- Can any savings be made by agreeing a multi-year contract for support?
- How will your potential supplier support and maintain your system afterwards?
- How much will this cost?
- Have you spoken to a couple of your preferred supplier’s customers?
- Agree on financial terms – you may be required to pay a deposit but do not pay the whole amount in advance of delivery.