As companies use the new year to set new standards for the relationships between customers and service professionals, another interesting thread has emerged in the mainstream media. What if the customer's not always right? What if the customer's wrong?
Books like Jeff Martin's The Customer Is Always Wrong and websites like NotAlwaysRight.com chronicle some of the more disastrous interactions between customers and service professionals. Meanwhile, sites like TheConsumerist.com track some of the more bizarre exchanges between customers and vendors.
Customer complaints pose problems for any manager. If the customer is telling the truth about receiving poor service, managers have to make hard decisions about staffing and development. However, if the customer is lying, a manager must weigh the consequences of caving in to demands for refunds or free services. Caving in to rude or angry customers can also cause front line professionals to feel unsupported by their supervisors, making relationships even more complex.
When used properly, CRM software helps managers track the long term relationships between customers and companies. In many call centers, audio recordings of conversations can now be attached to customer records within CRM software databases. In retail environments, cashiers can use club membership cards to track purchase histories. Some stores even allow front line service personnel the ability to attach notes to transactions, flagging questionable behavior or potential miscommunications.
The more information you have in your CRM software about a customer, the better a decision you can make when faced with a service recovery issue.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
Can CRM Software Uncover Your Ideal Customer?
In Andrew Boyd's year-end recap for CRM Buyer, one of his top three tips for 2009 is to "profile both successes and failures." Digging a little deeper, he's really writing about understanding how to better identify the right customers for your team to be working with. And, by extension, he's challenging readers to think about their worst customers ever.
If you know what a bad customer looks like, you're more likely to avoid them the next time you see one. It can be tempting to use CRM software to start a customer profiling system that automatically alerts your sales team to cease working with potentially unprofitable prospects. Best Buy discovered this the hard way in early 2004 when it started labeling customers as "angels" and "demons" in an effort to weed out bargain hunters and return-prone shoppers. In 2008, leaked documents revealed a softer strategy that still used personas to identify good and bad customers.
Filtering customers after they're already customers often leads to challenging situations. Leaders at Best Buy found themselves explaining to both customers and the press a set of personas that some customers found condescending or oversimplified. For service providers, this process often means "firing a client," causing stress for team members and potentially damaging a company's reputation.
Instead, experts recommend using CRM systems to filter prospects before they can become customers. Web-based signup forms act as a filter to discourage "tire kickers" who may not want to be called upon by sales professionals. CRM software can interface with credit reports, partner profiles, or other databases to qualify prospects.
This strategy inherently works better for businesses that rely on agent-customer relationships, such as banks, mortgage companies, or service providers. In retail environments CRM systems are often more effective at inviting the best customers back, rather than trying to weed customers out.
If you know what a bad customer looks like, you're more likely to avoid them the next time you see one. It can be tempting to use CRM software to start a customer profiling system that automatically alerts your sales team to cease working with potentially unprofitable prospects. Best Buy discovered this the hard way in early 2004 when it started labeling customers as "angels" and "demons" in an effort to weed out bargain hunters and return-prone shoppers. In 2008, leaked documents revealed a softer strategy that still used personas to identify good and bad customers.
Filtering customers after they're already customers often leads to challenging situations. Leaders at Best Buy found themselves explaining to both customers and the press a set of personas that some customers found condescending or oversimplified. For service providers, this process often means "firing a client," causing stress for team members and potentially damaging a company's reputation.
Instead, experts recommend using CRM systems to filter prospects before they can become customers. Web-based signup forms act as a filter to discourage "tire kickers" who may not want to be called upon by sales professionals. CRM software can interface with credit reports, partner profiles, or other databases to qualify prospects.
This strategy inherently works better for businesses that rely on agent-customer relationships, such as banks, mortgage companies, or service providers. In retail environments CRM systems are often more effective at inviting the best customers back, rather than trying to weed customers out.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Will CRM Software Identify Your Next Great Idea?
In the world of CRM, knowledge is power. When Starbucks launched what appeared to be a social networking site in early 2008, critics blasted the idea as a transparent PR gimmick designed to give the company the appearance of listening to its customers. While some hard-core detractors of Seattle's coffee giant are upset that their ideas haven't been picked up over the last year, the My Starbucks Idea is a very public version of the method many marketers use to tweak product offerings using CRM software.
By measuring customer satisfaction on a more frequent basis, marketers can easily spot trends ranging from problems in an individual store to the need to open new locations. However, many product development specialists have realized that carefully targeted surveys, over time, can help track suggestions that bubble up into viable, new products.
A long-running problem in market research has been that customers with an axe to grind can find ways to skew survey results. When I worked in radio, we often joked that a call from an unhappy listener reflected the silence of seven totally satisfied listeners. And that's just at a small-town radio station. Imagine how many customers rarely take the time to call or write with stories about how much they like your product, or what they would like to see next.
At Starbucks, some customers complained vocally about how they didn't like the idea of breakfast sandwiches. However, after looking at sales data and feedback from survey respondents, CEO Howard Schultz decided to refine the morning meals instead of scrapping them. Too many customers voted with their wallets, despite the chorus of informal protest.
Whether or not to make the process of idea generation public is a matter for marketers to decide. While some long-time customers dislike the ideas bouncing around on Starbucks' social network, the website is credited with generating or justifying recent modest successes. More importantly, the effort indicates a willingness among large brands to use CRM systems to weed out squeaky wheels from more influential, regular purchasers.
Has anything tangible come from MyStarbucksIdea.com? I'll report back soon.
By measuring customer satisfaction on a more frequent basis, marketers can easily spot trends ranging from problems in an individual store to the need to open new locations. However, many product development specialists have realized that carefully targeted surveys, over time, can help track suggestions that bubble up into viable, new products.
A long-running problem in market research has been that customers with an axe to grind can find ways to skew survey results. When I worked in radio, we often joked that a call from an unhappy listener reflected the silence of seven totally satisfied listeners. And that's just at a small-town radio station. Imagine how many customers rarely take the time to call or write with stories about how much they like your product, or what they would like to see next.
At Starbucks, some customers complained vocally about how they didn't like the idea of breakfast sandwiches. However, after looking at sales data and feedback from survey respondents, CEO Howard Schultz decided to refine the morning meals instead of scrapping them. Too many customers voted with their wallets, despite the chorus of informal protest.
Whether or not to make the process of idea generation public is a matter for marketers to decide. While some long-time customers dislike the ideas bouncing around on Starbucks' social network, the website is credited with generating or justifying recent modest successes. More importantly, the effort indicates a willingness among large brands to use CRM systems to weed out squeaky wheels from more influential, regular purchasers.
Has anything tangible come from MyStarbucksIdea.com? I'll report back soon.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Quick CRM Software Case Studies
If you're mapping out your marketing and IT budgets for next year, here are two quick CRM software case studies to show you how some large companies are making CRM software work for them...
Kimberly-Clark, the folks behind the popular Kleenex brand, want to grow their presence in Asia. According to a recent press release, they expect to expand rapidly by mobilizing a large field operation. And, like any growing company, they want the flexibility to work from the road and from the office, even if the office location moves from time to time. A hosted CRM application from Microsoft is at the heart of their strategy, allowing the company to view customer orders and fulfillment processes in real time. Dashboard tools will allow local sales managers to change strategies quickly, while brand managers chart overall progress.
Meanwhile, in the UK, one vacation company hopes CRM software can help them keep holiday makers booking trips despite a global recession. Sales managers at Thomson have gathered crucial data about vacationers into their CRM applications, in order to generate highly personalized, stylized brochures and marketing collateral. By using their tools to make the right recommendations to customers who are most likely to book trips next year, managers hope to avoid deep discounting while improving customer service.
Kimberly-Clark, the folks behind the popular Kleenex brand, want to grow their presence in Asia. According to a recent press release, they expect to expand rapidly by mobilizing a large field operation. And, like any growing company, they want the flexibility to work from the road and from the office, even if the office location moves from time to time. A hosted CRM application from Microsoft is at the heart of their strategy, allowing the company to view customer orders and fulfillment processes in real time. Dashboard tools will allow local sales managers to change strategies quickly, while brand managers chart overall progress.
Meanwhile, in the UK, one vacation company hopes CRM software can help them keep holiday makers booking trips despite a global recession. Sales managers at Thomson have gathered crucial data about vacationers into their CRM applications, in order to generate highly personalized, stylized brochures and marketing collateral. By using their tools to make the right recommendations to customers who are most likely to book trips next year, managers hope to avoid deep discounting while improving customer service.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Hosted CRM Helps Charities Ride Out Recession
Yesterday, I dipped into my past experience in public radio and television to show you how CRM software plays an important role in keeping PBS and NPR on the air. Today, I want to look at the methods non-profits from all walks of life are using hosted CRM to support their missions.
When I worked in public radio, CRM software was relatively expensive to purchase and required lots of regular database maintenance. We could justify the cost by looking at the additional revenue we generated by using the tools. However, when I consulted or sat on the boards of smaller non-profits, many of them couldn't even think about raising the kind of money required to manage a sophisticated CRM software solution.
Thanks to today's wave of hosted CRM applications, that's changing. Now, a very small broadcaster can stage an efficient fund drive by using web-based pledge forms. While audience members at home can donate directly through a station's website, operators at a studio can use backend web tools to transfer member information directly into a CRM database. Instead of ramping up staff to handle data entry and paper shredding, volunteers can use borrowed or rented computers to process a pledge online, in real time.
Hosted CRM applications allow charities to ramp up gradually as they grow. A small charity can acquire a single seat license for most hosted CRM tools inexpensively, while gaining the same kind of fundraising power that large organizations enjoy.
Utilizing hosted CRM allows organizations to unify their relationships with donors. In the past, donors would complain of fatigue when receiving newsletters from one branch of an organization, fundraising letters from another, and solicitation calls from a third. Today, hosted CRM tools let multiple departments get a full view of their relationship with a donor. By coordinating outreach efforts and factoring in a donor's history, fundraisers can save money while improving their renewal and conversion rates.
Finally, hosted CRM allows non-profits to tap into their most lucrative resource: the brain power of distributed volunteers. Since most hosted CRM systems can be accessed from any secure web browser, fundraising managers can open access to volunteers around the world for help with data maintenance or donor service. No longer tethered to a home office, non-profits can enable telecommuting volunteers to help provide mission-based services or to manage targeted campaigns. Because local contacts help national charities fundraise more effectively, hosted CRM tools have become a hit with organizations that stage charity events or neighborhood canvassing projects.
Thanks to vendor sponsorships and private donations, sophisticated CRM systems are within reach of most charities, churches, and community organizations. Using these tools effectively still takes effort, but the potential results dwarf the possibilities that existed just a decade ago.
When I worked in public radio, CRM software was relatively expensive to purchase and required lots of regular database maintenance. We could justify the cost by looking at the additional revenue we generated by using the tools. However, when I consulted or sat on the boards of smaller non-profits, many of them couldn't even think about raising the kind of money required to manage a sophisticated CRM software solution.
Thanks to today's wave of hosted CRM applications, that's changing. Now, a very small broadcaster can stage an efficient fund drive by using web-based pledge forms. While audience members at home can donate directly through a station's website, operators at a studio can use backend web tools to transfer member information directly into a CRM database. Instead of ramping up staff to handle data entry and paper shredding, volunteers can use borrowed or rented computers to process a pledge online, in real time.
Hosted CRM applications allow charities to ramp up gradually as they grow. A small charity can acquire a single seat license for most hosted CRM tools inexpensively, while gaining the same kind of fundraising power that large organizations enjoy.
Utilizing hosted CRM allows organizations to unify their relationships with donors. In the past, donors would complain of fatigue when receiving newsletters from one branch of an organization, fundraising letters from another, and solicitation calls from a third. Today, hosted CRM tools let multiple departments get a full view of their relationship with a donor. By coordinating outreach efforts and factoring in a donor's history, fundraisers can save money while improving their renewal and conversion rates.
Finally, hosted CRM allows non-profits to tap into their most lucrative resource: the brain power of distributed volunteers. Since most hosted CRM systems can be accessed from any secure web browser, fundraising managers can open access to volunteers around the world for help with data maintenance or donor service. No longer tethered to a home office, non-profits can enable telecommuting volunteers to help provide mission-based services or to manage targeted campaigns. Because local contacts help national charities fundraise more effectively, hosted CRM tools have become a hit with organizations that stage charity events or neighborhood canvassing projects.
Thanks to vendor sponsorships and private donations, sophisticated CRM systems are within reach of most charities, churches, and community organizations. Using these tools effectively still takes effort, but the potential results dwarf the possibilities that existed just a decade ago.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
CRM Applications Vital to Non-Profit Fundraising
Sophisticated charity organizations have used CRM applications for years. Public radio and television stations were among the first non-profits to spearhead technological innovations for donor relationship management. By tightly coordinating follow-up fundraising campaigns using donor databases, development directors converted one-time pledges into long term memberships.
Remember when pledge drives used to look like this?
Pledge drives were inherently inefficient, usually relying on station staff or community members to beg for funds. Today's pledge drives look very different:
Borrowing a strategy from professional marketers, public media programmers launched stunt programming with merchandise tie-ins that attracted first-time donors to their stations. Though tight on margins, pledge premiums like CDs, books, and DVDs helped development teams grow their databases. However, the practice has resulted in what some critics call "pledge drive fatigue." Many of the fundraising specials created for PBS have little or no connection to stations' regular programming. Analysts wonder if, during a recession, the same impulse shoppers that purchase self-help CD packs will still help public media make their annual budgets.
Therefore, CRM applications have become even more crucial to organizations that must rely on existing donors. By using donor management tools to track a member's history and response rate, smart development officers can craft exactly the right message in the right medium to maintain or grow giving levels. This practice prevents donors from hearing the same message too many times, which can cause burnout.
Some organizations have integrated CRM systems into their online services, allowing members to enjoy deeper access to special programming or to order tickets to member-only events. Integration with the CRM systems of corporate underwriters also allows donors to receive targeted, third-party marketing messages on an opt-in basis. All of these strategies help increase the amount of funds that actually go toward supporting a station's mission.
Tomorrow, I'll show you how non-profits from other sectors are using similar strategies, along with some of the ways that clever not-for-profit organizations get their CRM applications for free or for cheap.
Remember when pledge drives used to look like this?
Pledge drives were inherently inefficient, usually relying on station staff or community members to beg for funds. Today's pledge drives look very different:
Borrowing a strategy from professional marketers, public media programmers launched stunt programming with merchandise tie-ins that attracted first-time donors to their stations. Though tight on margins, pledge premiums like CDs, books, and DVDs helped development teams grow their databases. However, the practice has resulted in what some critics call "pledge drive fatigue." Many of the fundraising specials created for PBS have little or no connection to stations' regular programming. Analysts wonder if, during a recession, the same impulse shoppers that purchase self-help CD packs will still help public media make their annual budgets.
Therefore, CRM applications have become even more crucial to organizations that must rely on existing donors. By using donor management tools to track a member's history and response rate, smart development officers can craft exactly the right message in the right medium to maintain or grow giving levels. This practice prevents donors from hearing the same message too many times, which can cause burnout.
Some organizations have integrated CRM systems into their online services, allowing members to enjoy deeper access to special programming or to order tickets to member-only events. Integration with the CRM systems of corporate underwriters also allows donors to receive targeted, third-party marketing messages on an opt-in basis. All of these strategies help increase the amount of funds that actually go toward supporting a station's mission.
Tomorrow, I'll show you how non-profits from other sectors are using similar strategies, along with some of the ways that clever not-for-profit organizations get their CRM applications for free or for cheap.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
As Entellium Leaders Take Plea Deals, Can CRM Software Vendors Make It Through 2009?
Last month, I offered some tips to determine whether your CRM software vendor deserves your business. This month, the Seattle technology community is buzzing with news about the plea deals and imminent sentencing for Entellium's former CEO and CFO.
* Paul Johnston, the former Chief Executive, has plead guilty to a single count of wire fraud. Attorneys estimate that he pocketed $1.4 million from customers and investors while inflating the company's profit statements.
* Parrish Jones, the company's former CFO, deposited about $865,000 of Entellium funds into his own account over his four years there. By managing a second set of books, Jones helped lure high profile investors and clients.
And the bad news doesn't end there. A hosted CRM provider that offered credit card transaction processing for youth sports teams and other not-for-profit organizations appears to have misplaced about a million dollars' of its customers' money. Coaches and development directors from around the country hope to recoup donations while executives at Count Me In claim to be restructuring their organization.
Fortunately, these cases offer examples of the extreme exceptions in the hosted CRM industry. Most CRM software vendors are doing well, even if they aren't all generating Google-style profits. Yet, these stories may scare off prospective hosted CRM customers. Therefore, I'll add another question to my previous list.
* Are they processing funds on your behalf? Many hosted CRM providers for small businesses and for charity groups also offer credit card processing services. Because merchant accounts can be especially hard to set up for non-profits, services like Count Me In attracted customers by promising quick setup and seamless payments in exchange for service fees. Experts recommend using an independent merchant account to prevent vendors from spending your funds during a "float" period. Failing that, vendors with shorter float periods pose less risk than vendors that sit on income for more than 30 days.
* Paul Johnston, the former Chief Executive, has plead guilty to a single count of wire fraud. Attorneys estimate that he pocketed $1.4 million from customers and investors while inflating the company's profit statements.
* Parrish Jones, the company's former CFO, deposited about $865,000 of Entellium funds into his own account over his four years there. By managing a second set of books, Jones helped lure high profile investors and clients.
And the bad news doesn't end there. A hosted CRM provider that offered credit card transaction processing for youth sports teams and other not-for-profit organizations appears to have misplaced about a million dollars' of its customers' money. Coaches and development directors from around the country hope to recoup donations while executives at Count Me In claim to be restructuring their organization.
Fortunately, these cases offer examples of the extreme exceptions in the hosted CRM industry. Most CRM software vendors are doing well, even if they aren't all generating Google-style profits. Yet, these stories may scare off prospective hosted CRM customers. Therefore, I'll add another question to my previous list.
* Are they processing funds on your behalf? Many hosted CRM providers for small businesses and for charity groups also offer credit card processing services. Because merchant accounts can be especially hard to set up for non-profits, services like Count Me In attracted customers by promising quick setup and seamless payments in exchange for service fees. Experts recommend using an independent merchant account to prevent vendors from spending your funds during a "float" period. Failing that, vendors with shorter float periods pose less risk than vendors that sit on income for more than 30 days.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Can CRM Applications Revive the Old Fashioned Letter?
As marketing directors across the country look for line items to slash from their budgets, is anyone seriously considering spending money on postage stamps in 2009?
Actually, yes.
Thanks to CRM applications, sales and marketing professionals can target prospects by mail more effectively, while enjoying the benefits of both short-term and long-term tracking for mail pieces.
For companies that have loaded their existing CRM systems with deep customer information, snail mail campaigns offer an opportunity to connect physically with customers who have tuned out e-mail newsletters or mass media advertising.
Traditional mail marketers often get excited when response rates top half a percent. Some of the most successful mail campaigns of all time enjoyed response rates of over three percent. However, to justify the cost of printing and postage, marketers often push themselves to achieve even higher percentage goals.
- use CRM applications to generate unique offer codes for each customer and each offer.
- run any new captured data through a de-dupe filter -- existing customers may have moved, or may be trying to game the system.
- utilize CRM systems to measure differences in response rates, tracked along with a "control group" responding to a previously-successful offer
Every successful campaign should generate enough information about your customers to help you refine a future campaign. With incremental improvements each time, your marketing outreach efforts should continue to become more effective.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Counting Pennies with Small Business CRM Tools
The phrase, "in an economy like this one" has already become so overused in the mainstream media that it's reached cliche status. Still, hearing about the global economic crisis on a seemingly endless loop has made some small business owners nervous about implementing CRM software. After all, large companies are putting off spending on new software implementations, so why shouldn't small business owners redirect some of their budgets someplace else?
In reality, a strong small business CRM system may be exactly the investment that your company needs to make. Firms that have experienced layoffs in the past few months need tools to help remaining staff increase workload. Strong CRM software tools can automate tasks like reporting and compliance tracking, allowing staff to focus more attention on growing sales. And connecting a CRM system to a lead generating website can shorten the gap between first contact and final contract.
Hosted CRM systems really shine in troubling economic times. CRM software platforms that allow companies to pay per-seat license fees offer fiscally sound alternatives to flat-fee systems that require dedicated hardware or hosting. Zoho, an upstart provider of low-cost small business CRM, has even made this one of their strongest selling points. By allowing small companies to host their first three users for free, marketers at Zoho hope to attract growing companies that will evolve into paying clients. Meanwhile, the company encourages its users to utilize its CRM software to filter leads more effectively and to prioritize sales calls.
In reality, a strong small business CRM system may be exactly the investment that your company needs to make. Firms that have experienced layoffs in the past few months need tools to help remaining staff increase workload. Strong CRM software tools can automate tasks like reporting and compliance tracking, allowing staff to focus more attention on growing sales. And connecting a CRM system to a lead generating website can shorten the gap between first contact and final contract.
Hosted CRM systems really shine in troubling economic times. CRM software platforms that allow companies to pay per-seat license fees offer fiscally sound alternatives to flat-fee systems that require dedicated hardware or hosting. Zoho, an upstart provider of low-cost small business CRM, has even made this one of their strongest selling points. By allowing small companies to host their first three users for free, marketers at Zoho hope to attract growing companies that will evolve into paying clients. Meanwhile, the company encourages its users to utilize its CRM software to filter leads more effectively and to prioritize sales calls.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
How App Engine Connectivity Enhances CRM Software, Part 2
Yesterday, I offered a brief introduction to the cloud computing services offered by two household names: Google and Amazon.
Companies that like the idea of hosted CRM systems but hate the idea of losing control of their code have started to investigate cloud computing. The recent announcement that Force.com has opened a version of its platform to users of Google App Engine has already started CRM software developers thinking about ways to leverage partnerships with two of the most trusted names in technology.
Developers using the Force.com platform have the ability to build applications that reach far beyond the CRM systems commonly associated with its parent, Salesforce.com. However, the appeal of using the platform lies in its tight connection to customer sales, tracking, and communication tools. The development platform allows companies the luxury of spending only a fraction of previous technology budgets on higher quality sales and service applications.
Meanwhile, the foundation offered by Google App Engine lets companies test new CRM applications and other tools without buying or leasing additional hardware. Best of all, as applications grow and mature over time, the cloud computing platform expands seamlessly to meet demand. Instead of frustrating users with slow server times, applications simply access more processing power on the fly. A taxi-like meter keeps track of the processing units expended by the software, meaning that companies no longer have to waste money on unused resources.
Over on the Amazon cloud, developers enjoy more flexibility to deploy CRM applications in their favorite operating environments. Virtualizing servers gives administrators the flexibility to host a single instance of a tool like SugarCRM, or multiple user desktops connected to a shared ACT database. Expect to hear lots more about CRM systems and cloud computing as we head into 2009.
Monday, December 8, 2008
How App Engine Connectivity Enhances CRM Software, Part 1
The announcement that Force.com has developed a version of its platform for Google App Engine sounds, to most of the sales professionals I know, like tech-speak for "you got chocolate in my peanut butter." Before you can understand how this innovation could impact your business, let's understand exactly what an app engine does, and why you won't find it under the hood of a Dodge.
Google App Engine and Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud are two of the fastest "cloud computing" platforms available for professional developers. Google allows developers to build standalone applications in Python that can be executed by the search company's massive server network. Amazon takes a different approach, offering subscribers the ability to create virtual server images on the e-commerce giant's extensive hardware collection.
In the early days of the web, running CRM software or other sensitive systems required a dedicated server, connected to a pretty hefty Internet backbone. I recall, looking at some old files, that a leased setup like this cost one of my clients about $14,000 per year back in 1999. And the processor in that server was not quite as powerful as the one in my current phone.
Over the years, servers have become smaller, cheaper, more powerful, and more reliable. Yet, when companies lease or buy servers for their CRM applications, they often open themselves up to security and maintenance issues. If the server is located in the office, who gets up at 3am to reboot it if it fails? What happens if someone breaks in and steals it?
Hosted CRM systems solve many of these problems for their subscribers. However, some companies that require full control over their software still need the ability to manage every element of their CRM applications. For these kinds of companies, cloud computing offers the best of both worlds: the convenience of hosted CRM with the precision of custom solutions.
Tomorrow, I'll show you how this combination can extend the reach of corporate CRM systems...
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Why Write CRM Software from Scratch?
A quick scan of CRM-related tweets on Twitter usually reveals something like this:
Even with so many options for quality CRM software, some companies and developers still feel like they can get more bang for their buck by assigning internal staff to work on a totally original CRM system instead of hiring experienced vendors.
From my own experience, most of the companies that want custom CRM systems feel like existing software just "isn't them." (I once declined an RFP from a prospective client that absolutely refused to deal with any customer that had more than 22 characters in their address field, because it would blow up all of their mailing templates.)
In most cases, the drive for homebrew CRM software usually stems from staff members who want the benefits of customer relationship management tools, but can't afford them or won't budget them.
A few years ago, "build or buy CRM" was a legitimate question for most CIOs. Today, thanks to open source CRM suites and open-platform, pay as you go CRM solutions, companies don't have to reinvent the wheel to get what they need. Most CRM solutions now offer a great degree of customization, from special fields to unique style sheets. SaaS CRM systems let companies start out with minimal investment, allowing them to expand after a proof of concept. Companies determined to craft their own ultimate solution can still use open source code as a platform, shaving months from development time.
Instead of shooting for the "perfect" CRM and getting stuck in development for months or years, consider teaming up with an experienced vendor that can meet you halfway (if not more). The benefits of developing stronger relationships with customers far outweigh the frustration of dealing with that 23rd letter.
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