We keep hearing horror stories. We keep seeing the fallout. And it’s time we spoke up.
Worried about CRM implementation costs? You don’t need to blow the budget to implement a great CRM, that helps you work your business with the least amount of effort possible. Unless you’re a large corporation, with multiple members of staff, it most definitely should not cost you in excess of $10,000 to set up, and implement a working CRM in your business.
We work hard to let our clients know that business 101 means having a great system set up to help you manage your business from start to finish. Leads and prospects, clients and contacts, accounts, marketing, reporting. All in the one place for you to manage and see the overall picture. This is especially important if you want to scale and grow your business to be able to bring in additional staff members, or contractors.
Unfortunately we are coming across more and more people who have been charged (or quoted) what we consider to be astronomical figures to set up and implement systems that don’t necessarily fit your business.
When we work with clients to come up with a system, we look for a system that works for the business, rather than making the business work within the system. There are always wants and needs, and concessions need to be made on what’s most important (in all the systems we have worked across, we are yet to find one that ticks ALL the boxes, and is the magical answer to everything). The most important part of our process is working with the client to truly understand HOW their business works, and, it could be argued most importantly, how THEY like to work.
If you’re a business that is going to have less than 15 users on your CRM, you should NOT be spending in excess of $10,000 to set up a system. Especially if you’re being sold a system, rather than working with someone to find the RIGHT system. CRM’s can be quite personal. What works for business A, isn’t necessarily going to work for business B. If someone tells you a system is perfect for marketing, that’s great, but what about all the other aspects of your business? It could work perfectly for accounting and reports, but again, what about the marketing side? Perhaps you’ve been recommended a generic system, when in reality there is an industry specific system that would suit your business far better (and vice versa).
If you’re going to invest in a system, make sure it’s the right one, and that way you can be sure that the money your spending is actually an investment, and not just a wasted expense that you will need to upgrade or change in 2 years time.
