Many companies jump into CRM too quickly, trying to do too much too soon. While it can be tempting to get it all done at once, this makes it more likely to fail.

My advice: Start slow and grow.

I often talk about the importance of having a dedicated point person in place — the CEO for CRM — from the planning stages to post-launch. Without this key role, the project can quickly go off the rails. However, following a defined roadmap that breaks goals into manageable chunks is equally as crucial.

Taking a phased approach prevents your team from feeling overwhelmed and allows for better resource management and greater adoption.

Audit first, plan second

When businesses reach out to me, whether for a new CRM implementation or a second attempt after a failed launch, one of the first things I recommend is a detailed audit.

This audit takes an in-depth look at the people, processes and technologies currently in place then identifies performance gaps within the sales process. The output from this audit is the engine that drives everything forward.

Once we identify the areas of improvement we wish to tackle, we can develop a well-documented roadmap that includes a logical phased-in approach for complete and easy adoption.

How to prioritize phases based on CRM audit

Let’s look at how we would prioritize focus areas through what I call the CRM Priority Matrix:

• Focus: Area of improvement or inefficiency.
• Departments needed: Which departments are involved?
• Value proposition: What is the value proposition for focusing on this particular gap?
• Obstacles: What are the obstacles to improving your process in this area?
• Difficulty: How difficult will improving this be? Select high, medium or low.
• Impact: What is the overall effect of improving this area? Select high, medium or low.
• Internal champion: Who will be the internal champion responsible for this improvement?
• Major action items: What are the major actions that will need to occur to move forward on this initiative? List what needs to happen first, second and so on.
• Changes in CRM system: This can apply whether you have a CRM now or not. List the major functionality you will need in a CRM system to do this.

Anxiety is already high during change management events, such as CRM, even more so if it’s a CRM reboot. Setting, training and managing expectations throughout the process reduces the risk and fear commonly associated with CRM.

You can keep track of these focus areas in a simple spreadsheet. After documenting gaps, you can sort them by difficulty and impact. For example:

1. LH (low difficulty, high impact)
2. LM (low difficulty, medium impact)
3. MH (medium difficulty, high impact)

There’s no need to tackle every gap or inefficiency at once. If you do, there’s a good chance that the improvements you want to achieve in your sales processes will get lost in the mix. Instead, I recommend each phase of your CRM project include no more than five areas of focus, which I call the one-hand rule.

The one-hand rule is a manageable action plan focusing on five (or fewer) key areas where a CRM can provide the most value. Once you tackle those focus areas in phase one, you return to your CRM Audit results and apply the one-hand rule to identify your next focus areas, and so on.

Why phases?

Adopting new software is risky.

Anxiety is already high during change management events, such as CRM, even more so if it’s a CRM reboot. Setting, training and managing expectations throughout the process reduces the risk and fear commonly associated with CRM.

Sales managers, outside and inside sales, stakeholders and marketing managers are all affected by a software change, and their insights should be considered throughout the journey.

The easier it is for them to perform their jobs, the more likely they are to use CRM.

A phased approach to implementing CRM can ease implementation and adoption. People can adjust naturally to the change, and it gives you the opportunity to see what works and doesn’t work. Armed with that knowledge, it’s easier to course correct before moving on to the next phase.

I like to think of CRM as a marathon rather than a sprint because like anything in business, there’s a need for continuous improvement. As you move through each phase and account for feedback and performance, your CRM will become more aligned with your goals and become the team solution it’s meant to be.

Give your CRM a fighting chance to make the positive changes your business needs.