Many professionals still tend to think that a CRM is meant only for the sales team. So would sales be the only decision-maker for this project that will revolutionise your company’s customer relationship management? Of course not. As you know, the marketing department must also have a say.
As a marketing director, you are fully involved in this CRM software project because, now more than ever, marketing and sales are closely linked. They need each other to be effective.
You therefore need to be the driving force behind the thinking for this CRM project. To help you carry out your role successfully, we recommend following a few key rules.
First, be methodical! Map out the roles of your team members, clearly identify their needs and yours, define the essential segmentation criteria, the reports to generate, and so on (you can find all the key points in our summary checklists for B2B CRM projects).
Secondly, be prudent with costs! No, we are not going to ask you to slash your budget just to finance the CRM project... Simply put, there is no point keeping some of your existing tools if the same features are available in the CRM. You should therefore do an inventory to clarify the situation and see which integrations will be needed, and which licensing costs you can save.
Third, look ahead! We may be exaggerating a little, but it is important to identify the changes that are likely to affect your department in the coming years. Anticipating these needs is the best way to turn the CRM (and your integrator) into a long-term partner.
If you would like to go further and get more detailed advice, do take a look at our E-book on how to succeed with your B2B CRM project!
