Chapter 9. A Blueprint for Effective Customer Relationship Management

Despite the many benefits of CRM, recent polls have suggested that CRM remains a “mystery” to most corporate executives. Why? Because most executives do not understand the processes involved in CRM and are somewhat intimidated by the technological issues associated with automation.

Given the potentially large impact of CRM, it is well worth investing the necessary time and resources required to ensure that the automation process succeeds. ISM has developed a 10-step approach for the successful implementation of CRM systems.

Our experience over the past 17 years suggests that the implementation of the following 10 steps improves the chances of success for your CRM system, but does not guarantee it. Our experience also suggests that failure to implement any of these steps greatly increases the likelihood that the automation process will become bogged down, fail outright, or become a dinosaur soon after implementation.