9 ways CRM vendors can improve their RFP responses...

As I’ve been writing ‘10 tips…’ type lists, and as I’ve been slogging through RFP responses for several days I thought I would compile a ‘9 ways CRM vendors can improve their RFP responses and make my life a bit easier (and ultimately increase their sales)’ list, so here goes:

1. Develop a coherent structure to the document – In virtually every other field of communication there are accepted structural norms, but for some reason these go out the window with RFP responses, with different sections often randomly sequenced together. Ultimately a RFP response is meant to be a persuasive selling document; few are.

2. Differentiate – I figure most marketing managers don’t get to see the RFP’s that get sent out, but they should - and I suspect they wouldn’t be happy. The fundamentals of marketing are differentiate or sell on price. Few CRM vendors succeed in differentiating themselves. Terms such as easy to use, fast to deploy, scalable, 360 degree view, any time anywhere access are used by everyone. It strikes me there’s plenty of potential to differentiate, but it generally doesn’t happen.

3. Just because you have it don’t feel you need to tell me about it – I see whole swathes of text written about features functions and attributes that are of entirely no relevance to my client. I’m sure it’s wizzy technology but if it’s not relevent I’m not really interested.

4. Customers don’t care about you – sorry, they just care about them. You may have the best help desk in the world or project managers second to none but if the client doesn’t understand if and how these are going to be beneficial to them, it’s meaningless.

5. Which means that… – Clients in the main don’t want technology so much as business solutions. Few RFP responses contain much reference to benefits. If in doubt apply the words ‘which means that…..’ after every feature.

6. Be open about the hidden costs – vendors tend to see the world in terms of their costs not the costs of a project as a whole. Implementations will generally require investment in hardware, database software, administrative resource, reporting software, project team time etc etc. Don’t con the customer and pretend these costs don’t exist – they are going to find out sometime. And before a software as a service (SAAS) vendor pipes up that these costs don’t apply to them, I’ll add a postscript and say and if you are a SAAS vendor don’t pretend that you aren’t going to need implementation services.

7. If it’s going to take 20 man weeks to develop a capability it’s not ‘fully compliant’ – applying the most lateral interpretation of a question in order to indicate compliance is not being open and honest, and as buyers will buy from people they trust, it’s not doing you any favours.

8. Answer the question – questions are posed in RFP’s for a purpose. Answering a different question to the question asked, but one you like better, is not answering the question.

9. I want to read one document – I don’t want to slog through 47 different attachments or yomp through a 500 page technical addendum to find the answer to the questions asked. If you’ve got good relevent material makes sure it’s in the main document where it’s going to get read.

CRM and the cataclysmic event…

A couple of posts ago I mentioned a site visit I attended with a client. One of the interesting aspects of this site was that they had installed the CRM system as the response to a near death experience. They were a long established organisation, a recognised brand, and comfortably making ends meet. Then a cataclysmic event occurred, that effectively dried up their revenues. It wasn’t an event of their own making, and it wasn’t foreseeable, but ultimately they only just survived. Rattled by a close shave they embarked on a full review of the business and launched a series of initiatives to improve operational efficiencies, one of which was the CRM project.

Waiting for the cataclysmic event as a cue for change is a dangerous strategy because survival can’t be guaranteed. Organisations can enjoy a dangerous level of success where despite not being optimally efficient, the business still makes healthy profits, and there is no compelling reason for change. However the lead times to create efficient systems are often such that implementing technology as a means to address sudden change is often unsuccessful.

This is a point I’ve made to many firms over the years, sometimes the successfully and sometimes not. However the point becomes increasingly relevent over time. The speed of technologically, environmental, social, economic, and competitive change ever increases. While there’s no antidote for either the cataclysmic event or rapid dislocating change, optimising efficiency at all points in time is a critical necessity. CRM alongside many other technologies has a key role to play because ultimately they create the infrastructure that generates both the efficiencies and the ability to respond and hopefully benefit from change.

Ten ways to implement CRM on a tight budget…

With the economic environment getting tougher, the need for effective CRM systems increases, but with budgets often getting tighter, the scope to introduce much needed technology decreases. I often work with companies who are looking to implement CRM technology on tight budgets, so in this post I’ll set out ten ways to implement CRM technology more cost effectively:

1. Get your requirements carefully mapped out first – The more detailed a specification of your requirements that you can generate, the better positioned vendors are to provide firm pricing. Firm pricing let’s you identify the most competitive offerings, and helps you identify which capabilities you can do without if you a struggling to hit budget. Many organisations rush to select a vendor with an ill defined set of requirements in the expectation that the vendor will develop the final specification. As it’s in the vendor’s interest to maximise the commercial value of the project, and at this point you are pretty much locked in, you can expect to pay around 50% more by adopting this approach.

2. You don’t need to go for premium brands – While the temptation may be to go for well known CRM brand, they may not be the most cost effective option. A tight requirements specification will help you identify the functionality that you do and don’t need, and you may well find that lower cost options can comfortably meet your needs. Even some of the free open source and low cost commercial open source offerings can represent a viable route forward if your needs are not too sophisticated. It’s advisable to undertake careful due diligence however to give assurance the vendor you’ve selected is likely to remain trading in tougher market conditions.

3. SAAS is not by definition cheaper – Despite what the software as a service (SAAS) vendors may suggest, hosted software may or may not be cheaper than ‘on premise’ alternatives, even when just measuring the year one costs. Unless there’s a compelling need to deploy technology in a certain way, it’s wise to keep an open mind between hosted and on premise options.

4. Shop around – Organisations often pay too much because they unnecessarily limit choice. As a case in point, we recently issued a RFP for a fairly straightforward system, and included several resellers for the same CRM technology. Pricing estimates from those resellers ranged from £30,000 - £150,000. Had we had a more limited distribution we might have ended paying substantially more than we needed, or discounted a potentially attractive technology.

5. Negotiate well – While your budgets may be tighter in a down economy the vendors are likely to be feeling the pinch too, so there’s generally plenty of scope to negotiate. While software costs and day rates tend to be the key target for negotiation, it’s also worth looking the number of service days the vendor is proposing to determine if they are appropriate for the project. If in doubt speak to an independent CRM consultant, they can often add a lot of value in this area for modest outlay.

6. Don’t overload on software – There are already billions of pounds worth of unused software out there sat on shelves gathering dust; don’t add to it. There can be a tendency to buy software for a much wider group than will actually use it. Few CRM vendors penalise you for buying software incrementally, so it often pays to start off small and add licences as you need them. You may well find you need a lot less software than you originally thought.

7. Keep it simple to start – It’s generally best to phase projects. Just implementing the basics can often add a lot of value, and further capabilities can easily be added over time. This reduces the amount of costs up front, and as organisations often only see the realistic potential of technology after they have been using it for a while, it often avoids the development of expensive white elephants.

8. Take on more yourself – There’s little point in paying vendors to perform tasks that you can easily perform yourself. With many of todays CRM technologies being highly user configurable there is plenty of scope for organisations to do the basics themselves and let the vendors handle the more technically demanding parts.

9. Rent a developer - Some of the most cost effective deployments we’ve worked on came when we paid for a developer by the day; got them on site where we could keep an eye on them, asked them to turn off their mobile phone, and told them what we wanted written. It requires a good understanding of the business and functional requirements and knowledge of the technology you’re deploying, and isn’t advisable in all circumstances, but we’ve implemented systems at under 20% of the originally quoted costs by operating this way as opposed to letting the vendor do the initial design work.

10. Use third parties – You don’t have to use the vendor for everything. You can often find capable, well qualified third parties and independent contractors to involve on a project without having to pay a vendor premium. Sites such as Rent A Coder can also expand your options by giving you access to cost effective developers located across the globe. You may have suck it and see a few times before you find people that have the right skills and that you can work with, but as the rates are so competitive you can afford a few false starts.

By using your imagination and defying a few of the conventions of CRM implementation, it’s amazing how cost effectively CRM systems can be deployed. Perhaps sometimes budget constraints can be beneficial; necessity is after all the mother of invention.