How do you justify / Evaluate a CRM System Investment?

Most software ROI calculations are built off of two tenets: sell more or cut cost. The problem that most organizations run into is that they have no solid numbers to address either; “sell how much more”, or “save how much time” are elusive concepts.

I suggest that there are three fundamental business objectives that sales, marketing and service must focus on: find more customers like our best ones, keep the ones we want, and increase profitable transactions.  The way to justify a CRM system is to start by asking:  "What is the cost of inaction in effectively supporting and measuring progress associated with these three fundamental business objectives?"

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Taking each of the three areas and starting with the above question will lead to the insight needed by answering the questions that CRM is expected to resolve.

For example:

• Do our sales reps know where to find more customers like our best ones?
• Are our sales reps maintaining the relationship with key account? How often should they be communicating or visiting the customer?
• Can we measure what lead sources translate to our best sales?
• Have there been times this past year when customer service issues have dropped through the cracks and we lost a customer? How often does that happen? What was the value of that lost customer relationship?
• Do we know our quote-to-proposal-to-sales ratios?
• How long does it take us to find out that new sales rep is not going to work out? What is the cost of waiting too long to cut them loose?
• Can we communicate our sales process to the sales force and show the value of measurable points at each stage?

​There are plenty more questions that can be asked, all tied back to the fundamental business objectives of finding and keeping customers while growing revenue. Each question can be quantified to address, what is the cost if you put off doing anything?

InfoGrow offers a FREE 90-minute assessment to work with your team in identifying the questions that you should be asking.  –  www.infogrowcorp.com/assessment