Want to have successful CRM? Here are the five basic rules to ensure that yours is a winning implementation:

• Rule #1. Successful CRM always helps the sales rep to sell. A CRM system must be more than just a way to make fancy reports for top management. Insofar as the system is a reporting mechanism, those reports should help the rest of the company align itself with the requirements of the sales efforts, rather than turn sales reps into data entry clerks. It’s a matter of focus. The system should make it easier for sales reps – not top management – to find the information they need to get their job done.
• Rule #2. Successful CRM always motivates the team to sell more. Consider how your CRM solution will fit into your organization as a whole. Before you try to get everyone to use it, consider what value it will add to the sales reps’ day-to-day activities. For instance, will sales reps now be able to see more information about a lead that will help them follow up more efficiently – like what products and services the lead looked at on the company Website? Will they know where they stand on commissions or actual sales closed vs. quota? Will they know what products are in stock for delivery to promise to a customer? If it makes their job easier, they’ll be motivated to use the system, and use it to sell more.
• Rule #3. Successful CRM always reflects your actual selling needs. Don’t buy or upgrade a CRM capability because you heard it was a good idea. Instead, do a thorough investigation to confirm that any technology you introduce into your selling environment really fits your needs. You want your CRM system to get your sales team “hooked” on CRM, so it should be implemented such that it “pulls” the reps in, rather than leave them feeling as if management is “pushing” it down their throats. The best way to implement or upgrade a CRM system is to think through the issues, gradually introduce usage requirements, and then, when the system comes up, hold regular training sessions.
• Rule #4. Successful CRM never requires coercion to achieve compliance. Sales reps will only want to use a CRM system if it saves them time and helps them make more money. If the sales teams can’t easily see what’s in it for them, then the CRM initiative will fail. Therefore, any attempt to force CRM down the throats of the sales staff is simply a colossal waste of energy. You can have an ultra-fancy CRM system that reflects all the wonderful methodologies and business processes that management loves, but if you make the CRM system too difficult, too cumbersome, and unfriendly to the sales reps, you will end up spending a lot of money for a system that nobody will ever use.
• Rule #5. Successful CRM always simplifies; it never complicates. With CRM, the goal is to manage the complex business of selling by making it simpler. Think of CRM like an automobile. When you turn the key in your new car, you do not care that there are umpteen silicon chips controlling every aspect of your car’s handling and performance. You just care that it starts and gets you where you are going. A well-implemented CRM system makes sales processes simple and hides complexity. Building in simplicity, though expensive, will in the long run cost less than simply applying a quick fix and hoping for the best. When done right, your investment in simplicity will be recovered many times over.