Breaking up with your CRM!

Breaking up is never easy to do. Your lives are intrinsically linked - shared events, joint calendars, all that history together. Moving on from a CRM feels like an impossible thing to do.

We decided to do just this at 4-Roads. We broke up with Hubspot. It is definitely for the best, but it wasn’t an easy decision, and it isn’t an easy transition. We utilise so many plug-ins and options for our marketing, sales. Sometimes it feels like the office lights rely on Hubspot to switch on. (There probably is an automation plug-in somewhere to control smart lights).

When we began with Hubspot, they were like us, a smaller plucky company looking to do great things. As both of us have grown, things have started to feel strained. Some of the tools are now clunky and less user-friendly than other options. The email server catastrophe that resulted in far too many emails being blocked simply from an issue with one company left us looking for alternatives.

CRM Migration - the 4-Roads guide

1 - Assessment and Planning

Thinking about leaving your CRM is only possible if you fully understand it. Take the time to talk to your account manager about your needs, what is lacking and what you are struggling with. They might have a solution for you that means you don’t need to migrate.

Identify the pain points you and your business are feeling from the CRM. Is it outdated features? Are there scalability limitations? Is the cost becoming exorbitant as you add more and more users?

You must define your goals and expectations for your new CRM that fits your organisation’s goals. Think about how your CRM can be used to improve your customer engagement and streamline and enhance your sales processes.

?2 - Prepare your data

Data is the lifeblood of your CRM system. You may have gotten into a few bad habits with your current CRM system. Duplicate records happen more often than they should. Outdated information is held, and worse, realising that a lot of your data is irrelevant is something you should audit before you find a new CRM.?

Understanding the state of your current data and requirements will highlight your pain points. Knowing these issues can help select a new vendor that can minimise these internal weaknesses.

Starting a new CRM with clean data will save you much more work later.

3 - Finding a new Vendor

Choosing the right vendor is pivotal. You don’t want to have to go through this again in a short period.?

4-Roads were lucky in our evaluation. Rob met a founder of Sugar CRM at the Engage event. They hit it off, and that personal relationship helped to explore our problems and how a new CRM could better suit us. Take your time, meet with many vendors and be honest through the process about what you need. Don’t hide anything thinking it will increase the price if they know we need a specific functionality. Your CRM is the engine driving your sales and customer interactions.?

Speak to each vendor about your growth plans; future needs should be evaluated alongside what is available now.

4 - Configure and Customise

This is an essential part of your transition from old to new. Don’t simply recreate what you had on your old CRM system. You have changed for a reason. Take this opportunity to reassess your unique processes and workflows. What changes can you make to help your output? What old, manual processes can be automated now that you are starting fresh? What rules do you want to configure, and how will you integrate your CRM with your other systems?

5 - Migrate your data

Migrating your data takes a lot of precision. Everything needs to be workable for the launch to the business. Having worked on your data beforehand should mean that redundancies and data integrity are maintained. Still, you must test this against the original to remove any discrepancies and rectify any errors.

6 - Training and Adoption

People hate change, especially a tool they use every single day. Introducing the new CRM to your team requires proper training and change management. Before you roll out your key employees should be familiar with the new interface, features and functionalities. Creating champions within each team or business unit who can help their colleagues with any difficulties they might face from the changes is a great idea.

It is worth it.

Migrating a CRM system is a transformative journey. It demands meticulous planning and a tremendous amount of resources to execute properly. But your work directly impacts your internal processes and gives you a stronger foundation to improve your customer engagement.

CRM migration moves beyond technology. It is a journey of emotion that, if done correctly, will empower your business and help foster a culture of innovation and growth. The change in CRM strengthens your business and allows you to be more prepared for your future.