6 Things You Need to Know to Get the Most Out of Your CRM

The following is adapted from my new book: Lies, Damned Lies, and Marketing.

“Garbage in, garbage out.” It’s a saying that, I’m afraid, applies perfectly to all business processes.

One of the most common mistakes in sales and marketing is to automate processes without first fixing them. If you automate a garbage process, you will only get automated garbage faster! This is a particular problem with customer relationship management (CRM) software.

When a small company begins to grow, at some point the CEO will read or hear about the power of automation. Indeed, it’s practically a buzzword when it comes to CRM. The CEO of that growing company gets excited about the possibilities of automation and rushes to implement it. This is not inherently a bad thing, but some common mistakes are often made at this point.

Let’s look at some of these mistakes and also see what you can do to avoid them. I have arranged them, not in order of importance or significance, but in chronological order as you will likely encounter them in your automation journey.

6 Common CRM Mistakes

The first mistake I see is perpetuating process flaws. This is where “garbage in, garbage out” comes into play. If you have a broken marketing process and you automate it, you’ll simply produce garbage even faster and more consistently.

The next problem comes from overinvesting in your CRM platform. Sometimes business leaders are entranced by all of the shiny features provided by an expensive, fully featured CRM platform, and they end up spending a lot more than they should for nonessential features that they don’t need. Perhaps including a few potential users of your CRM would help you to select a better platform, with features that your employees will embrace.

The third trap to watch out for is losing your uniqueness. Your company might have some unique characteristics in the way you approach and interact with customers, but many of the popular CRM platforms over-standardize. Inadvertently, the platform might force you to lose your valuable uniqueness. This typically happens when companies assume bigger is better. They spend more for a popular platform, rather than finding a CRM that best meets their specific needs today and in the foreseeable future.

Sometimes, companies get a new tool they don’t learn how to use. It won’t do you much good to buy a nice, new CRM platform if you don’t invest the time and money in training your people to make the most of it.

The next mistake is failing to update processes. Once you’ve implemented a CRM, you have to keep your processes updated. Both the software itself and your processes need to be regularly updated as situations evolve around you. Many companies find themselves struggling with their CRM because outdated processes no longer meet their current needs.

Finally, companies sometimes use their CRM to stalk customers instead of attracting and serving them. It’s easy to fall into this habit, because you can send 10,000 emails to your mailing list with the press of a button. You can also digitally stalk them by responding to every little move your potential customers make on your website. As useful as a good CRM platform can be, it also makes it easy to annoy customers. Resist the temptation for your own sake (if not for your customers’ peace of mind).

Be Smart About Your CRM

It may be small comfort, but the truth is that even large, successful organizations have made some of these CRM mistakes. So, if you’re making some of them yourself, you’re in good company.?

The most famous example is Hershey’s Chocolate Company’s catastrophic enterprise resource planning (ERP) software implementation failure, in 1999. The company wanted to upgrade their legacy IT systems, so they invested $112 million in what was then a cutting-edge system, to manage their supply chain and customer relationships.

The software went live during Hershey’s busiest time of the year, at the end of the summer, when they normally receive the bulk of their Halloween candy orders from retailers. However, their implementation team had rushed, cut corners, and failed to properly test and implement correct processes. As a result, the company was unable to process around $100 million in candy orders.

Their team was ill-prepared and undertrained. Not only that, but their processes weren’t refined. They paid a massive price for this failure, which could have been easily mitigated or avoided altogether.

Harness the Power of This Tool

Customer relationship management software provides some powerful tools for more effectively reaching your target audience and meeting the needs of your customers. However, it’s easy to make some of these common mistakes and turn a useful tool into a hindrance.?

Consider carefully how you are using your CRM software to ensure you’re getting the most out of it for your organization. In my experience, if you do that—and update your processes and platform regularly—you’ll be able to harness the power of this amazing tool.

For more advice on how to reach your customers effectively, you can find Lies, Damned Lies, and Marketing on Amazon.

Atul Minocha is a partner at Chief Outsiders, a marketing consulting firm that helps CEOs accelerate growth through strategic planning, customer insight, and disciplined execution of well-crafted marketing plans. With experience in startups and Fortune 500 companies like Honeywell, Kodak, and Toyota, Atul works in a wide range of industries, from automotive and healthcare to industrial goods and technology. Atul has a degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and an MBA from Yale University. He is a professor at the Hult International Business School, a mentor and an angel investor with Sierra Angels, a Vistage speaker, and a Forbes contributor.