63% of small businesses buy CRMs and marketing automation software for the wrong reasons.
That’s probably why 63% of CRM implementations fail, as measured by the Merkel Group in 2013.
“But Wes, that report is old. Surely things have gotten better.”
You’d think, wouldn’t you?
In fact, Gartner Group conducted one of the first well-publicized studies back in 2001 and discovered a CRM implementation failure rate of 50%.
By 2009 Forrester found a failure rate of 47%.
Then VentureBeat reported at end of 2014 that only 4.1% of businesses were using marketing technology at all, let alone CRMs and marketing automation.
In 2017, CIO magazine reported that one-third of all CRM projects fail. Edinger Consulting Group founder and Harvard Business Review blogger Scott Edinger, on the other hand, found that the failure rate for customer relationship management (CRM) implementation may actually be as high as 90%. He found that most companies don’t know how to use these systems, so they are unable to maximize their CRM software for profit. (Commence)
Small Business CRM Implementation Lies
Follow the money.
There is big money in the CRM / SaaS space, which means there will be unscrupulous salespeople attracted to the industry who are just there to make a buck.
And by “unscrupulous,” I mean CRM salespeople will lie to you either outright or through omission just to make a buck.
Some of the more common tall tales you’ll hear include:
(CRM Support Sidebar: After nearly two decades of working with CRMs, I’ve found HubSpot to offer the best support of any CRM, marketing automation, or inbound marketing SaaS provider. They offer 24/7 phone support, fast email support, a vibrant online community, and a robust partner community to help you get the most out of your CRM. I’m proud to be a customer and partner of theirs since 2014.)
Why CRM Implementations Continue To Fail
Having personally worked with databases and CRMs in Corporate America since 1997 and as a CRM implementation specialist since 2007, I can tell you these numbers are accurate and not improving.
The reasons CRM implementations fail are bountiful, but here are the big reasons why your small business CRM implementation will fail and what you can do about it:
For most companies, their CRMs turn into little more than expensive…
Google will give you a free calendar, address book, and email templates.
MailChimp will let you send email blasts to 2,500 contacts for free.
You do a CRM implementation to bring everything together under one roof. To integrate them. To automate them. To dominate your niche.
But doing this well doesn’t come naturally or easily…but it does for me.
Allow me to help you choose the best small business CRM for your goals and help you implement it quickly and properly so you can sell more, faster, at higher margins, with less stress, and more fun.
If you need more help growing your sales, check out the following resources scattered around this site and a few others I operate, such as:
This content was originally published here.
