CRM Improvement Process

Our consultants review key areas of your technology, staffing and other resources to create an analysis of your CRM utilization across the firm.  We investigate marketing processes such as event management and eMarketing as well as interview key CRM staff to evaluate job responsibilities, technology skills and knowledge of CRM. We also review CRM system integrations with other firm technology.  The resulting report contains recommendations and best practices for any need modifications or improvements.

When did you last take time to assess the data in your CRM database?  Too often, data quality can be pushed further and further down the “to-do” list as more pressing tasks demand your attention.  But, to be truly successful, a CRM must have clean data.  We can help you evaluate your data quality needs and determine the optimal resources that should be deployed for initial and ongoing database maintenance and integrity. We will work together with you to formulate a plan for data quality success.

The CRM Assessment provides you with crucial information and assistance to guide the CRM selection, planning and/or implementation (redeployment) processes or to improve your current CRM initiative.  Detailed interviews are conducted with key stakeholders. Questions are designed to gain insight into the firm’s key priorities and initiatives in order to create a Strategic CRM Plan customized to the firm’s needs.  The information is synthesized into a document that can serve as a roadmap for your CRM. The analysis will identify opportunities for success, as well as potential challenges, and will provide you with recommendations and best practices to enhance success.

After a Firm has been using the CRM system for some time, it may need specific, internally identified reconfiguration needs.  Often a firm will request that our consultants reconfigure a CRM database based upon our configuration review.  Our consultants can handle your reconfiguration needs at your request.

Our custom consulting services also include process and procedure review and assistance with tailoring your workflow to include best practices to optimize the use of your CRM database.

Custom consulting services are useful regardless of the stage of your CRM initiative.

End User Training – Professionals and Assistants: Your CRM investment will not be fully realized unless the system is used regularly and consistently. To encourage adoption, people have to want to use the system. The key to driving adoption is user-focused training. Our CRM training focuses on the why, not the how of CRM. Training is tied to the needs and business processes of key user groups. We focus on the individual user’s perspective – identifying reasons they should want to use the system and ‘what’s in it for them.’

CRM Support and Marketing User Training: Our CRM Support training includes training for CRM Administrators and customized “Train the Trainer” boot camps tailored to your firm’s needs. Our Help Desk training gives your support team the skills they need to troubleshoot user questions effectively.

Marketing CRM users are usually the ‘power users’ of the CRM.  They must manipulate contact data into lists for mailings; search for groups of contacts based on certain criteria and deliver reports from the CRM to the firm’s professionals. We offer specialized Marketing User training tailored to their specific needs.  We also offer specialized Reports training for certain systems.

We offer specialized Data Steward training that encompasses best practices for maintaining your firm’s data quality. Additionally, data quality professionals responsible for data accuracy require a firm knowledge of contact research tools and techniques.  Our Data Research training provides them with the best practices needed to find information on people and company contacts.

Custom Training Documentation: Our consultants work with your firm to deliver high impact, easy to understand customized training documentation for all levels of your users. From complete user manuals to Quick Reference Guides for specific tasks to educational videos and email communications, we can tailor any CRM documentation to fit your specialized needs.

Planning is crucial to CRM success. In the initial stages of a CRM rollout, a data quality plan must be put into place for cleaning duplicates and standardizing data. If you currently have a CRM, you may have never created a full functional data quality plan.  Our team will help you create a plan that allows you to optimize your staffing and avoid missteps that can drain time, money and resources. We can also help you gauge your return on investment by providing periodic progress updates throughout your data cleansing process.

Successful data quality processes begin with setting data standards.  Our team will work together with you to create a Data Standards Guide that reflects your firm’s unique style. This guide will assist your end users in consistent contact entry and formatting to reduce the number of duplicates and incorrect data entries in your CRM. This guide will also be an invaluable resource for your data stewards as they clean and merge contacts daily.

Successful data quality processes begin with setting data standards.  Our team will work together with you to create a Data Standards Guide that reflects your firm’s unique style. This guide will assist your end users in consistent contact entry and formatting to reduce the number of duplicates and incorrect data entries in your CRM. This guide will also be an invaluable resource for your data stewards as they clean and merge contacts daily.

Good CRM employees are hard to find. It takes a great deal of time and training to learn the functionality and intricacies of today’s complex CRM systems.  Often, firms struggle to fill CRM staffing roles while their CRM quality slowly degrades.  But, help is available! We provide a variety of interim CRM assistance – from CRM Project Managers to Administrators to Help Desk Professionals – on a full-time or part-time basis to fill any need. Contact us for an evaluation to determine which assistance level best suits your needs.

Our Management Assistance services include:

CRM Manager: Our CRM Managers can assist your firm by managing internal staff projects; creating reports; making configuration adjustments; managing lists and processes, and more. Our Managers have extensive experience with a variety of CRM systems as well as project management experience and excellent organizational and leadership skills. We will roll up our sleeves and work side-by-side with your team members to keep your database operating at optimum levels.

CRM Administrator: Our CRM Administrators often assist CRM Managers who are focused on strategy and need a knowledgeable assistant to handle everyday tasks. This project-based role will assist with challenging projects such as managing event processes; importing and exporting lists; generating reports; creating complicated searches and more.

CRM Help Desk: We employ CRM experts who can be on call to answer question from your end users and assist in trouble-shooting issues.  Our Help Desk experts can also be used to supplement your existing Help Desk as a CRM-specific resource. More complicated questions can be escalated as needed to our team of Consultants for the best solutions.

Advanced Data Quality Professionals: Sometimes there are data quality tasks that need additional expertise to complete.  Our Advanced Data Quality Professionals can assist you with updating sensitive records, such as Top Client information, and researching and merging Company contacts as well as other advanced tasks.

Ready for a Tune Up?