OK, but does it pay for itself?

5 Jan 2009

There has been a lot of talk in the Business and IT press, over the years, about ROI (Return on Investment), and more importantly how you gauge your return on any CRM project spend?

Up here in Yorkshire we try not to get too tied up with ‘fancy titles’ for things that should be plain common sense, but this is one area that some further exploration might be helpful.

If you plan what you are wanting to achieve with your CRM project, from the beginning, then the return will be obvious and much easier to quantify. I appreciate that it is not always easy to put a cost on the tangible components

of a project, never mind the intangible areas. But a good yardstick is to look at any current areas of pain, and then decide if you are trying to streamline and become more efficient, reduce costs (perhaps not employ that additional person), increase your sales potential (deal with more people in a shorter and slicker manner, respond to enquiries quicker) or just sound more intelligent and focussed when you speak to your suspects, prospects and clients.

 

Once you have an overview of what problems you are trying to resolve, it becomes much easier to agree any savings that might be possible. This should be a part of the normal decision cycle that drives your ‘scope of requirements’, which would form the basis of your CRM implementation planning. If you know what you want to achieve, then its easier for everyone to work towards this goal.

Speaking as a software vendor, we often get potential clients who have a mismatch between what they would like to achieve and the costs of delivery to achieve these goals, equally, we get clients who are so reasonable about their requirements, that OpenCRM does not get fully utilised, these are easier to assist, as their expectations are always being exceeded. Recently we had a client who wanted to invest (well actually grudgingly) less than £1000 and openly admitted that if we delivered what he required (which was all based on ‘out of the box’ features) would save 2 new members of staff, a saving (in his own words) of over £42,000 a year.

ROI is of great importance to our customers, but equally important to us, as we love to deliver projects that really work, for everyone (we are only human!), as the satisfaction of a successful project will always help build a long-lasting relationship.

So, if we take a little longer than you might expect discussing your needs and dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s, its all good!

Sales Pitch : If you are looking at a CRM project for your business, why not take a closer look at what OpenCRM can do for you (http://opencrm.co.uk).