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5-step CRM Software Selection Guide: A Pragmatist’s Guide to CRM Software Selections
is also known as :
Software Selection,
Software Selection Process,
Software Selecton Methodology,
Successful Software Selection,
Responsible Software Selection,
Business Software Selection,
Software Selection Guide,
Software Selection Tool,
Software Selection Website,
Maintenance Software Selection,
Software Selection Advice,
Software Vendor Selection,
Software Selection Checklist,
Software Selection Requirements,
Software Systems Selection,
Software Selection Information,
Powerful Software Selection,
Accounting Software Selection,
Successful Software Selection,
Software Selection Services,
Software Selection Criteria.
5 Step CRM Software Selection Guide: A Pragmatist’s Guide to CRM Software Selections
Selecting an enterprise CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software solution is a significant
undertaking that requires careful planning and managed execution. In this white paper we have distilled our
experience conducting selection projects for enterprise organizations into a Five-Step Guide to assist you in making
the right decision the first time. We begin with the process of analyzing and developing weighted requirements.
Second, we’ll help you incorporate these requirements into an overall request for proposal (RFP) that you can issue
to a qualified group of CRM software vendors. We provide practical methods to evaluate the RFP responses and
compare solutions as part of a structured software demonstration. Finally we address contract negotiation and
closing the deal as the final step in the process. Throughout the paper and in the associated appendices we have
included examples of actual tools we use during projects. Happy software hunting.
1. Requirements Definition: Requirements First – Software Second
Selecting a new CRM software solution is often much like remodeling your house - painful, untimely and
expensive - unless you carefully evaluate your requirements before you start. Done correctly, the process can be
relatively pain-free and will provide the expected results within a predictable time-frame and budget. It sounds
simple enough, ‘know what you want before you start’. Yet in business situations with competing resources and
limited time, and especially when selecting software solutions, the cart is all too often so far ahead of the horse that
the two barely know they’re part of a joint-solution to a common problem. Why is it so hard to clearly define business
requirements at the outset? There are many quite common, and equally misguided, responses to this age-old
question.
In our experiences, one of the most common and misguided frustration responses is “I don’t know what I don’t
know. Having never selected an enterprise CRM or SFA (sales force automation) software solution how can I tell what
I want when I have no idea what is available?”
The problem with this statement is that it is not what is available that should guide your thinking at this stage (yes
this comes later for those of you who enjoy reading ahead). The real question at this early point is ‘what do you need’
to accomplish your customer relationship management objectives? Approaching this question from the ”what’s
available” perspective will almost certainly lead to a myopic view of your actual requirements that is driven by the
capabilities of the first “cotton-candy-wonderland” (client quote) vendor that you meet. When software vendor tools
and capabilities lead well defined business requirements, users identify fathom or artificial business requirements
which displace meaningful user needs and detract from achieving truly strategic customer relationship and business
objectives. Do not let a software vendor tell you that that the tool you need is a hammer because that’s the tool they
have for sale.
Developing a list of weighted requirements to support prioritized business objectives can however be a
daunting task. Many project teams struggle to define what a “process” is for their business. This challenge is not
unusual and we have developed a guideline for clients to develop a meaningful requirements list. This example
serves as a foundation for developing a customized requirements list for your organization. The functionality-matrix
breaks the CRM software solution into its core modules: Sales Force Automation (SFA), Marketing Management and
Customer Support. Each core module is then broken down into the major sub-processes. For example, SFA breaks
down into Account Management, Contact Management, Activity Management, Opportunity Management and
Sales Forecasting.
| CALL SCRIPTS |
|---|
| Customizable call scripts permit user-defined questions, permissible answers and scoring |
| Ability to categorize call scripts by script type and sub-type |
| Ability to script openings, narratives, questions/ answers and closing remarks |
| Ability to limit answers to a list of values for selected questions |
| Ability to supplement each question with additional information in the event the prospect poses unexpected questions during the call |
| Ability to attach links or files to individual call script questions or comments |
| Call Result field to categorize each call's performance |
| Call duration field to capture elapsed time consumed for call |
| Narrative notes field to capture qualitative analysis for each call |
| Call script results are captured and integrated with each account's activity and history |
Figure 1 - A requirements example from the Marketing Management - Call Scripting section
There are also sections dealing with non-functional aspects of the selection (more about this in Section 3). An
additional example of a requirements list is provided in Appendix I.
Develop your requirements list by soliciting the participation of a broad representation of personnel across your
organization that will be affected by the CRM solution. This should include not only executive managers and
supervisors but line level staff that will actually use the application on a day-to-day basis. There are many ways to
facilitate an information gathering meeting of this kind. The method we have found to be most effective is to
distribute a matrix for review with a set of thought provoking questions. Some favorite questions include:
- What are the top three (3) failures of our current processes or solutions (negative provocation)
- If you were building a new solution from scratch what features would it include? (blue-sky/ divergent)
- In reviewing the “straw man” requirements list, identify the features that strike you as essential? (structured
unconstrained)
- In reviewing the “straw man” requirements list, what 10 features are most important to you? (structured
constrained)
- What makes our business unique? (open-ended convergent)
The above stimulus questions are simply examples. Depending on the group make-up and your organization’s
culture different approaches and questions will be most effective. The objective is to engage the group in
constructive, thought provoking conversation with the purpose of identifying the requirements that the
“cross-functional” group considers to be most important, unique or both. We consider the last question to be
particularly important and it is often one of the questions that will yield the most valuable results. Warning: not so
subtle sales plug follows: Often utilizing an external facilitator to conduct these workshops may be beneficial to avoid
getting waylaid by internal politics or simply compensate for a general lack of experience in developing weighted
requirements lists.
With a relevant and hopefully complete custom requirements list in hand (yes – it takes at least a few iterations
to get it right) the requirements must then be weighted and prioritized. Although the exact scales used for an
exercise like this will vary, the objective is the same - to identify “What do you need” –v- “What you want” –v- “What
would you like”. The first group of “needs” are the items that you cannot work without. If these functions are not part
of a potential CRM software solution then the solution should be eliminated from further consideration. “Wants” are
requirements that are important to your business but if push came to shove then you could live without them as you
would find a workaround or would forego the information systems requirement altogether. Finally, “likes” are items
that if available you’d like but are not so influential as to steer the decision making process. In the past we have seen
requirements lists broken down into further sub-groups. Either way the objective at this stage is the same – identifying
and gaining consensus as to what’s important and what’s not.
Now with some semblance of a prioritized requirements list in hand, it’s time to begin the high-level marketing
review to identify your qualified “vendor universe”. There are many research sources open to you in identifying
potential software vendors. We have provided a brief summary of the major players for your convenience in
Appendix II. We have also included some of the more popular web-site links for reputable CRM community portals.
2. Solicitation: Prepare a Request For Proposal (RFP)
Preparing an RFP does not mean you need to abide by the Federal Acquisition Requirements (not fun – trust
me). It simply means creating a structured communication of your requirements that forms a reference point for
vendors to respond and a yard-stick (is it a metre stick in Europe?) against which to objectively compare the many
product offerings you will initially consider.
The content of your RFP will vary depending on your situation and in many cases any corporate or legal
procurement constraints that you may be subject to. We have provided an outline for a typical RFP as Appendix III.
There are several options in how you chose to conduct your RFP process. Larger organizations that have
software vendors salivating at the very thought of their business will almost always receive more timely and far more
aggressive response than smaller organizations seeking to engage vendors in an RFP exercise. One golden rule
prevails though, if you don’t get good service in pre-sales, you’re never going to get good service in post sales - aka
“ Red flag #1”. For an interesting CRM buyer experience, refer to Appendix IV - CRMGuru Article on How Well Do
CRM Vendors Sell – as an all too common anecdotal experience that is incredibly indicative of continued
after-the-sale CRM vendor performance. The quality of any RFP response is indicative of the quality and esteem in
which the software vendor holds your business.
It is a good idea to provide the vendors with advanced notice that the RFP will be distributed on a date certain.
This will allow vendors to prepare by assembling or allocating resources to thoroughly review your document and put
together an appropriate and hopefully thoughtful response. You must ensure that you allow vendors an adequate period in order to provide a high-quality response. Typically a period of 3-4 weeks is normal depending on the scope
of the requirements list. We are strong advocates of dictating the format of the RFP response and advising vendors
not to veer from this format. This provides you with the opportunity to easily consolidate and then evaluate the
responses quickly and effectively. Experienced vendors are conditioned to responding to RFPs in this manner and will
not have any objections. A complaining vendor is definitely a tell-tale sign for Red flag #2.
You may choose to include a “go/ no-go” requirements list. This is a list of the “absolute-gotta-have-em-ain’t
-no-question-about-it-couldn’t-do-it-without-em” functions. It is basically a polite way of saying to your vendor
universe, “if you can’t do these then let’s not waste each other’s time”. Use a little caution here and ensure you don’t
limit your market too soon. Requirements like “Integrates to our in-house APGOL5.56 V2R Accounts Receivable
System” will at best give you confused vendor responses and at worst no responses at all.
It is critical at this stage of the selection process to avoid ambiguity in the vendors’ responses. Responses such
as the classic “it’s in the next release” or “let me show you this beta version” should be avoided. Ask the vendors to
respond to a structured capabilities scale for each of the requirements you have identified. You must provide the
vendors with a scale for their responses with a clear definition of what each response means. We recommend the
following scale as an example:
| RESPONSE |
DEFINITION |
| OBB/ Demonstrate |
3.This feature exists in the ”out-of-the-box” solution and can be demonstrated upon request |
| Configurable |
2.This feature exists in the “out-of-the-box” solution, but can NOT be demonstrated without prior configuration |
| 3rd Party Product |
1.This feature can be fully completed via an integrated third party product |
| Custom |
0.Requires custom programming to achieve this requirement |
This simple scale forces all vendors to provide a consistent response and will hold vendors accountable for their
responses to the RFP should they have the opportunity to present as a demonstration finalist. Red flag #3 - Exercise
caution with responses indicating requirements fulfillment with “Third Party Products”. Whether with the client/server
software vendors or the newer software as a service (SaaS) solutions, third party products have been a frequently
cited frustration source when it comes to implementation difficulties and production support. Seldom do the
integration and coordination of third party products match their marketing hype.
Using the requirements matrix format developed earlier it should be relatively easy to score the vendor’s
responses and identify an initial fit. A scoring example is shown in the diagram on the previous page.
By applying the weighted scoring to each of the vendor-declared capabilities you can objectively determine
an initial weighted fit to your prioritized business requirements. This will form the foundation of your next step – vendor
software demonstrations.
3. Demonstration: Exceptions, Not Rules, Make For Good Demos
Like so many things in business, the key to good software demonstrations is preparation. This means preparation
by you and the vendors that are demonstrating their wares. The most effective method for conducting a software
demonstration is to provide the vendors with relevant scripts. Although scripts can be prepared at different levels of
detail, the script outlines business use cases or examples of common processes or actions that take place in your
organization. For example, you might have a process to review “neglected accounts”. You describe the scenario
and the business problem you are trying to solve. The vendor responds by providing a demo of how their solution will
solve this problem or meet the objective. If you choose to prepare a more specific script you may actually detail
specific fields and values for transactions you would like to see executed. In general, we recommend avoiding these
highly specific scripts as they tend to limit the ability of the vendor to demonstrate their full software potential.
The key in preparing a demo script is to focus the demonstration on objectives, requirements and issues that are
both important and unique to your organization. Spending time in a software demonstration by requesting the CRM
vendor to show the entry of phone numbers or addresses is a waste of time. Every CRM solution can store phone
numbers and addresses. Now, if your requirement is to “validate manually entered addresses as correct” or “relate
organizations to other organizations in the CRM using a user defined hierarchy of relationships that are automatically
managed and reciprocated through the solution”… well then there are very few vendors that can do this (we know
of only two). So if, for example, this is important to your organization, spend time understanding exactly how the
vendor supports this and take their word for the fact that they can store a contact’s address and phone number (we
know 108 solutions that do this!). In a nutshell – focus your vendor demonstration time on your most unique and
important requirements. The final script should be provided to the vendors approximately 2-3 weeks prior to the
conduct of the demonstration. This will allow the vendors adequate time to prepare and maximize your time
together.
Red flag #4 special notice: There are a few vendors who notoriously refuse to follow demonstration scripts if they
feel they can get away with it. They either ignore the script or only incorporate those script items which they
accommodate well. The demonstration time is then consumed by showing power point slides of the CEO and
providing the completely useless dog and pony demo show. Vendors must understand that failing to respond to all
of your business requirements in the requested manner prevents the ability to understand the solution in your
particular workplace and will remove their solutions from further consideration.
4. Evaluation
First, what’s the right number of software demonstrations to review? Most experienced consultants will say two
or three. If two vendors rise to the top of the RFP requirements fit, you are well advantaged to limit the demo’s to those
two vendors. If there is no clear break among RFP vendor responses you may have to perform three demo’s. There is
near universal agreement that four demonstrations is counter-productive.
Second, let’s address who should be participating in the demonstration and hence evaluating the solutions. The
audience should include a broad representation of actual CRM system users. The participation of senior
management is also important from the perspective of providing visible support for the project but they will rarely use
the system at a transactional level. We would recommend that senior management attend the “kick-off” for the
demonstration restating the organization’s commitment to finding the optimal solution and indicating why it is
important that the project team make an informed recommendation. During the conduct of the demonstration
itself, keep detailed notes on the functionality of the solutions demonstrated. It is also a good idea to ask the vendor
to provide screen-shots of key screens from the demonstration – as after you have seen two or three demonstrations
the solutions will start to blur together. Ensure that any follow up items are clearly documented and agreed with the
vendor prior to their departure. It is also a good idea to ask all demonstration participants to record their feedback
on the solution immediately after the demonstration finishes. This can be accomplished in many ways but again using
a structured approach typically provides benefits in terms of easily comparing solutions after all demonstrations are
completed. We recommend using a grid similar to the one shown on the following page.
| Functional Area |
Fit/ Compatibility |
Consistency to RFP |
Final Rating |
| SFA - Account and Contact Management |
1 |
2 |
3 |
-1 |
-2 |
-3 |
|
| SFA - Activity Management |
1 |
2 |
3 |
-1 |
-2 |
-3 |
|
| SFA - Opportunity Management |
1 |
2 |
3 |
-1 |
-2 |
-3 |
|
| SFA - Product Management and Pricing |
1 |
2 |
3 |
-1 |
-2 |
-3 |
|
| Marketing Management |
1 |
2 |
3 |
-1 |
-2 |
-3 |
|
| Customer Support |
1 |
2 |
3 |
-1 |
-2 |
-3 |
|
| Resource Management |
1 |
2 |
3 |
-1 |
-2 |
-3 |
|
| Competitive Intelligence |
1 |
2 |
3 |
-1 |
-2 |
-3 |
|
| PIM Synchronization |
1 |
2 |
3 |
-1 |
-2 |
-3 |
|
| Reporting |
1 |
2 |
3 |
-1 |
-2 |
-3 |
|
| Import / Export |
1 |
2 |
3 |
-1 |
-2 |
-3 |
|
| Dashboard / Analytics |
1 |
2 |
3 |
-1 |
-2 |
-3 |
|
| Module Name |
1 |
2 |
3 |
-1 |
-2 |
-3 |
|
Scale:
Fit / Compatibility:
- Limited perceived fit and compatibility
- Partial fit and compatibility
- High perceived fit and compatibility
Consistency to RFP:
- -1 - Response appears inconsistent with RFP response
- 0 - Response appears broadly consistent with RFP response
- +1- RFP responses substantiated
Final Rating:
The overall rating is computed as the sum of the Fit / Compatibility score and the Consistency to
RFP score. This mechanism will penalize vendors who ‘overstate’ their capabilities in their RFP
response and are unable to substantiate it during the demo.
We’ve spent time thus far in this paper talking about the functionality of the solutions and ensuring that we know
what to evaluate and how to evaluate in a structured manner. Beyond the software there are a number of other
factors that also need to be considered. Some of the most important considerations are outlined on the following
page.
Alternative Software Deployment Models
Over the last 5 years the business application software industry has gone through a transition (some claim
“transformation”) moving toward new delivery models based on “software as a service”. A little history may help
here. A traditional or on-premise software deployment involved the purchase of software licenses from the vendor
and usually an associated software maintenance plan. At this stage you would ask your IT department to provision or
acquire appropriate hardware, make any necessary network connections, ensure the security, availability and
disaster recovery requirements were in place and then begin the process of configuring the software for production
use. Under this model the purchaser acquires a “perpetual” license to use the software.
The introduction of software-as-a-service (SaaS) approximately 6 years ago fundamentally changed this
model. In essence, instead of buying the software and running it on your own hardware, the SaaS vendors provide
the software as a subscription service running on their hardware typically in state-of-the-art data centers. Under this
model there is no need to buy hardware or deal with the network connectivity, security and redundancy issues. In
many cases, the SaaS solutions can be implemented without the involvement of the IT department – a paradigm shift
indeed.
The SaaS model is not without its own set of unique factors that need to be carefully considered:
- Cost: Typically the service is provided based on a monthly per user cost. This pricing model provides a flat
rate, predictable cost for the solution. While the non-SaaS software vendors often respond to the SaaS
alternatives with FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) and alleged higher total cost of ownership (TCO) over
a longer haul, well cited research provided by Sheryl Kingstone of the Yankee Group convincingly
illustrates that hosted solutions continue to show lower TCO over a five year period. Reference Appendix
V for publicly distributed Yankee group figures or contact the Yankee Group for more detailed
information. We highly recommend preparing your own Total Cost of Ownership analysis if you are trying
to evaluate the relative costs of hosted and non-hosted solutions.
- Reliability: With a SaaS solution, the provision of an adequate infrastructure is the responsibility of the
software vendor. This means that as part of your due diligence you must ensure the vendor’s data center
operation is reliable and secure. The best way of understanding the reliability of the vendor’s data center
is simply to ask for a log of all recorded interruptions, outages or downtime over the last 24 months. This
objective measure will provide a real world indicator of the reliability of the vendor’s data center and
ability to deliver SaaS CRM solutions without user interruption.
- Security: Security was initially a big concern when the SaaS model was first introduced. Security however,
is integral to the SaaS value proposition and the leading SasS providers such as Salesforce.com, NetSuite
and Aplicor provide security infrastructures that generally exceed the capabilities of most of their clients.
Vendor Viability
Having validated the functionality of the solution and determined the preferred deployment model, it is important
to ensure that the selected vendor will be around for the long term. As even the largest companies like Enron,
WorldCom and Andersen collapse, size or even the reliance on public company status gives us little comfort. We
suggest therefore that you focus on the fundamentals: How long has the company been in existence? Is the company
profitable? Does the company have a litigious history? Does the company have any litigation pending? Asking
for detailed financial information is generally not a particularly revealing question as many privately held companies
will not make this information available and for the public companies it may be difficult to understand how your
targeted solution fits into their overall financial picture. Perhaps instead asking for certain metrics might yield a better
result. Consider for example, customer churn. This metric represents the number of customers that renew
service/maintenance agreements over time or for the SaaS vendors how many “subscribers” continue to renew their
subscriptions annually.
Vendor References
In our opinion vendor reference are always worth asking for but rarely provide any significant value. Typically
when you request references from a vendor they will provide some of their most successful and happiest clients.
Although vendor reference visits are still of value they should always be considered in light of this fact. Your own
evaluation and due diligence should always take precedence over the results of any reference call or site visit. The
visits may however surface some issues that require follow up or further information from the vendor. Our favorite
reference question: “What surprised you?”
Implementation Approach and Resources
After you purchase the software or sign a SaaS subscription agreement, your next step is to actually implement
the solution. Depending on the level of complexity you may choose to do this on your own or, more likely, with the
help of an implementation team from the vendor or one of their approved business partners. It will be almost
impossible for the vendor to provide you with a reliable implementation plan as part of an RFP response. There is
simply not enough information available to the vendor without significant discovery – and there is rarely time for this
discovery during the RFP phase. At a future stage when you are closer to a final selection this may be a more viable
option. As a surrogate for a detailed project plan for your own project, you can ask for a project plan for a prior
comparable project or possibly a template that will be used to build your project plan. Reviewing this project plan
will give you a good indication of the vendor’s ability to support you in implementing the product. Most vendors will
have qualified, or certified, partners that can provide resources for this purpose. Our general preference when
working with vendors is to use their own professional services team if available. This provides the benefit of a single
point of accountability. We have also found that the vendor’s own in-house resources have much better access to
the support and development staff as well as accurate information on future product releases.
One of the most critical aspects of implementation is the actual project team that will be assigned to your
project. Don’t be fooled by the “big-wigs” and “industry-leaders” that you’ll meet during the sales cycle – they will
not be on your project team and in all likelihood you will never hear from them again after the sale. Ensure that the
post-sale assigned resources have significant experience implementing the solution. A team of “green-beans” (new
consultants with limited experience) will not be able to guide you through the sometimes complex process with
predictable success. In addition to experience with the software solution you are going to implement, ensure the
assigned consultants are seasoned professionals that have been involved in enterprise systems projects. They should
have experience with subjects such as business process analysis, project management and change management.
5. Negotiation: Closing the Deal
After evaluating RFP results, onsite demonstrations and careful consideration of qualitative aspects you should
be ready to make a vendor selection decision and negotiate a software contract. At this stage, you are generally
advised to designate a preferred vendor solution and leave a back-up in the wings. It is wise to keep two vendors
engaged as it is possible that during the contractual review that a substantive issue may arise that cannot be
resolved to your satisfaction. In this situation having your standby vendor still engaged will ensure that your project is
not unnecessarily delayed. In addition, you may be able to leverage the standby vendor as a sounding board or
comparison reference as you negotiate specific terms and conditions with your preferred vendor.
One of the first elements of the negotiation will be reaching a fair price. There is very little universal advice here
as each vendor prices their solution differently. Almost all of the most popular CRM vendors price their solutions based
on the number of “named” users. In this situation each user that has a need to use the system receives a user name
and is charged a license fee accordingly. Alternatively a few vendors price their solution based on “concurrent
users”. In this situation you purchase a number of licenses adequate to cope with the largest number of users you
think will be using the solution at any point in time (i.e., concurrently). Typically concurrent user licenses are more
expensive than named user licenses. These are just a few examples and software companies have become very
creative at pricing their wares. We’ve seen pricing models that fluctuate according to your organization’s annual
revenues, different user types, selected hardware platform and the number of server processors. There is some
simplicity in the SaaS market place where almost all vendors charge a monthly fee on a named subscriber basis. In
this market as well though there can be a nearly endless list of “nickel and dime” surcharges for version upgrades, use
of additional modules, price premiums for needed support levels, fees for third party solutions and in some cases
excess charges for data storage. So the only universal advice is to conduct a thorough total cost analysis of your
selected solution and ensure you have understood all of the charges that your vendor is likely to levy.
The second element of the negotiation will be the more legally oriented software license review. The software
license (or Service Agreement for SaaS solutions) primarily tries to limit liability and protect the intellectual property of
the software provider. These documents can be riddled with exceptions and nuances that require careful analysis
based on your specific situation. We do not claim to be lawyers and we do not provide legal advice so we recommend
this review to in-house or professional legal counsel. You may find the analysis at www.online-crm.com useful
for this exercise.
Just when you think the negotiating is over, it’s time to negotiate internally. We use the term negotiation here
loosely but it is extremely advisable to build a solid business case that you can sell to management and measure the
progress and success of the project over time. This may seem like an unnecessary step but it will yield long term
dividends in terms of ensuring on-going management support and focusing the efforts of the project to meeting the
agreed upon objectives. The internal business case can be based on a required Return on Investment or ROI. This is
typically projected on a comparison of revenue enhancement and cost reductions attributable to the project net of
the actual project costs. In many cases it may be difficult to estimate or specifically attribute revenue enhancement
and cost reductions directly to the project. In these situations a “financial” model or estimate may be the best way
to develop the attributable ROI.
Summary
Selecting a new enterprise CRM solution is a significant undertaking that requires careful planning and
managed execution. There are a number of common mistakes that organization’s make. Failing to execute the
process in an objective and structured fashion can be an expensive financial and reputational mistake. We hope
that the preceding tips prove helpful in your CRM selection process.
Appendix I: Requirements Extract – Marketing Management
The example below is intended to share a structure and content sample for the requirements matrix development.
MARKETING MANAGEMENT
Campaign Management
- User-defined Campaign type and sub-type values
- Campaign profile information such as Campaign Owner, dates and user-defined fields for unique campaign info
- Ability to create date sensitive alert notifications for each Campaign
- Projected or forecasted Campaign benchmarks such as response rate, CPM, revenue and ROI goals
- Identification of lists used for each campaign (to measure list effectiveness)
- Narrative fields to capture campaign descriptions, campaign objectives and campaign results
- Campaign target lists which track each recipient for every campaign
- Ability to generate campaign target lists with simple but flexible query creation
- Ability to track both number of companies and contacts targeted and whom responded
- Ability to define specific target markets for each campaign (e.g. by size and/or industry)
- Ability to define specific target positions for each campaign (e.g. CEO, CFO, VP of Sales, etc.)
- Campaign project plans which detail the tasks and activities to fulfill a campaign
- Ability to copy campaign project plans from templates
- Ability to maintain multiple project plans, and multiple revisions, for each campaign
- Ability to keep a running log of notes specifically related to each campaign project plan
- Complete audit trail showing the user, date and time changes were made to project plans
- Ability to create campaign budgets
- Ability to copy campaign budgets from budget templates
- Central viewing page for all campaign activities, notes, tasks, attachments and more
- Ability to track all campaign account activity and history in a single location by date and user
- Ability to schedule a campaign task reminder for one or more people, to be delivered at the same or different times
- Ability to deliver reminders to each users Tasks/ Activities list, as a notification pop-up window and/ or via e-mail
- Ability to upload documents or other electronic files related to each campaign
- Display campaign effectiveness for each campaign which includes account response rates, contact response rates, opportunity
conversion rates, forecast conversion rates, realized CPM and hard dollar values for realized sale opportunities, realized forecasted
opportunities and revenues generated
- Ability to drill-down on the campaign effectiveness figures to see the actual companies that comprise the figures
- Display campaign financial results, including gross margin, net contribution and ROI figures
- Display campaign financial results in Profit and Loss format; including budgeted performance, actual performance, variance and
variance analysis notes
- Campaign efforts automatically update each targeted company for complete company history
- Standard library of campaign management and analysis reports
- Campaign data warehouse with OLAP for slicing and dicing campaign performance across multiple measures and multiple dimensions
Campaign Distribution
- Ability to create custom targeted distribution lists for e-mail distribution
- Ability to create custom distribution lists for electronic fax distribution
- Ability to create custom distribution lists for hardcopy letter production
- Ability to create multiple types of standard or custom mailing labels
Call Scripts
- Customizable call scripts for use by telesales, telemarketing or sales staff
- Ability to categorize call scripts by script type and sub-type
- Ability to script openings, narratives, questions and answers and closing remarks
- Ability to limit answers to a list of permissible values for selected questions
- Ability to supplement each question with additional data in the event the specific or detailed questions are posed during the call
- Ability to attach links or files to individual call script questions or comments
- Call Result field to categorize each call's performance and result
- Call duration field to capture elapsed time consumed for call
- Narrative notes field to capture qualitative analysis for each call
- Call script results are captured and integrated with each account's activity and history
Marketing Media Library
- Centralized knowledge repository for sharing electronic files and documents (e.g. brochures, marketing collaterals, case studies,powerpoints, etc.) with user-defined multiple-level hierarchy structure
- User-defined security permissions for each user-defined folder and document
- Check-in / check-out version control and document management
- Complete historical audit trail of document usage
- Marketing collaterals segmented by user-defined categories and types
- Marketing collaterals identified by piece number
- Marketing collaterals identified by author, date created and date modified
- Marketing collaterals identified by user-defined fields and custom labels
- Sophisticated search capabilities for querying marketing collaterals
Ease of Customization
- Campaign screen views can be easily customized by each user to view desired information
- New list views can be created on the fly and used individually or shared among groups
- Record views can be sized, sequenced and custom labeled to model company nomenclature
- Dropdown windows and menus can be edited to alter user navigation or remove functions not used
- Menu navigation can be appended to launch other applications or Web sites within the CRM portal
- Ability to insert your own company logo for use throughout the system
- Ability to assign customizable welcome page or splash page for each user, role or group
- Full server log and activity tracking to monitor usage and manage customization
- System administrators "toolbox" to manage user accounts and roles
Ease of Use and Navigation
- One-click access to any campaign
- No long scrolling pages to view lengthy campaign information
- User-defined menu navigation
- One window accesses all campaign information (no need to drill-down several pages and then drill back up)
- Online help engine with page level and individual field level help throughout the system
- Flash or video based online training tutorials
Reporting, Data Warehousing and OLAP
- System delivered with library of packaged marketing reports
- Each report allows unlimited user-defined simple or complex queries
- Reports can be viewed online, printed or converted to PDF
- System includes marketing data warehouses for real-time online analytical processing (OLAP)
- OLAP reports can be edited, appended or created from scratch for recurring use
Appendix II: CRM Players and Portals
| Name |
Role |
Web Site |
| Aplicor |
Provider of hosted front office CRM and back office ERP and accounting solutions |
www.aplicor.com |
| Beagle Research Group |
SaaS/ASP industry specialist and leading CRM analyst group |
www.beagleresearch.com |
| CRMGuru |
CRM web portal run by some of the industry’s most experienced practitioners |
www.crmguru.com |
| NetSuite |
Provider of hosted CRM and integrated accounting solutions |
www.netsuite.com |
| Oracle |
Provider of on-premise and hosted enterprise systems |
www.oracle.com |
| Salesforce.com |
Provider of hosted CRM software solutions |
www.salesforce.com |
| SAP |
Provider of on premise ERP systems and hosted CRM systems |
www.sap.com |
| Yankee Group |
SaaS industry specialist and leading CRM analyst group |
www.yankeegroup.com |
Appendix III: RFP Outline
1. Introduction and Purpose
- RFP purpose
- Timeline
- Sequence of events
2. Company Background
- Vision and Mission
- Markets and Customers
- Sales, Marketing and Customer Support organization, objectives and processes
3. RFP Evaluation
- Go / No-Go Criteria (optional)
- Functionality Requirements Matrix & Response Scale
- Operational Analysis
- Maintenance & Support
- Vendor Financial Analysis
- Implementation Approach
- References
4. Pricing / Cost Proposal
5. Procurement & Legal Provisions
- No Obligation
- No Financial Reimbursement
- Rights of Vendors
Appendix 1: Receipt Acknowledgement Form
Appendix 2: RFP Checklist & Transmittal
Appendix IV: CRM Guru Tell-Tale
Have CRM Vendors Ever Heard of Customer-Centricity?
(What I Learned When Buying CRM Software)
If vendors are looking for the Holy Grail to increased sales, all they have to do is put themselves in the shoes
of a prospective buyer. They might be surprised at what we have to wade through to try to purchase software.
For starters, you can't speak directly with a sales representative, you can't get a straight answer on pricing and
you have to put up with hearing all sorts of horror stories about the competition.
As an operations and marketing member of a start-up organization, I was recently tasked with lining up the
technology to help us attain our goals of customer satisfaction in a real-time environment through an enterprise
resource planning structure. I spent a few weeks narrowing down the selection field through Internet research
and inquiries to both hosted and on-site vendors. I ended up with only six vendors who could handle all our
requirements (because we wanted to duplicate-house our data on site).
Report card: How well did they sell?
Aplicor A+
Notes
- The technology did not fit our needs, and the salesperson was kind enough to direct me to
another CRM vendor that would be more fitting.
NetSuite C
Notes
- Sales rep was very argumentative. When we asked for accounting "bucketing" (combining elements based on weight and size), we were told it "cannot be done."
- We have to provide them with tax tables and customized quote form.
Oncontact B
Notes
- System navigation console looked good at first glance (functionality was not available for good RT usage), low price
- There were lots of extra pricing tack-ons, such as the fact that each user who accesses the
system in a mobile capacity must purchase Sybase SQL Anywhere or the client version of Microsoft SQL Server.
RightNow A-
Notes
- Sales representative offered very consistent contact without being "pushy" or high pressure.
- Feedback I gave the salesman after the first demo led to an adjustment in the graphical user interface.
- It was our final choice for the CRM system that is still to be implemented.
- The salesman has since left the company.
SalesLogix (Datex Corp.) C
Notes
- Third-party vendor offered comfortable sales pitch, without being pushy and without pressure
(though I wasn't thrilled with the product)
- Feedback I gave the salesman after the first demo led to an adjustment in the graphical user interface.
- Went with Datex Corporations WMS solution.
Oracle (Siebel) D+
Notes
- Salesman is friendly but got a bit pushier as the process went on.
- Salesman has since left the company.
- Sales manager belittled us for our minimal IT department, saying the $90,000 price tag wasn't
- worth the company's time to configure an on-site-hosted data pipeline.
Yet, from there, it took me another two to three months to arrive at my final vendor selection. What struck me
was not so much the difference between the actual CRM applications on offer (although some applications
definitely stood out as more of a "fit" for our needs), as much as the un-customer-centric way the majority of them
approached the initial sales process.
They say that forewarned is forearmed, so what follows is a brief description of what I had to go through in the
hope that, if you're a buyer, you might avoid some of the usual grief involved in a CRM purchase or if you're a
vendor, you might be inspired to change the way your company does business.
- Step 1 - Try to speak with a sales representative
With research dispensed with, the first step in the CRM shopping process is speaking to someone at a CRM
organization about the product. Don’t expect to do so immediately, or you will be sorely disappointed. Once
you have inquired about a product, either through an online form or email or with a phone call, you must first
deal with the "call screener." This means spending five to 10 minutes explaining what exactly your company
does, who you are, how to contact you and what you wish to accomplish with the selected CRM product.
- Step 2 - Repeat Step 1
Only after the call screener has deemed your inquiry acceptable will a salesperson who knows something
about the CRM application call you back. Don't get too excited. You will have to spend another five to 10
minutes reiterating everything you told the call screener.
- Step 3 - Try to find out the price
Finding out what CRM technology will cost you is a lot like buying your first car. That end price is pretty much
up to you, based on your ability to shop around at various dealers, gauge whether you are being overpriced
and haggle for a "discounted" deal. What I discovered is, with the exception of some hosted CRM vendors,
who actually list the cost-per-user breakdown on their web sites (though, the more robust the solution, the less
likely it is that a hosted solution will divulge the price), the first cost quotes you receive are not actually the
"true" price of the CRM application. You have to do your homework and haggle ... a lot to find out how much
the vendor is willing to sell you the product for. For customized solutions or integration, the vendors generally
charge $250 an hour, which can add up to be several thousands of dollars on top of other CRM application
costs, and that does not include the cost of standard "training" fees.
It boils down to the fact that consumers have to be in a "buyer beware" mode when dealing with a CRM
vendor. Isn't this the opposite of customer-focused?
- Step 4 - Try to find out the value
If you look closely enough, you will notice that all of the CRM vendors seem to banter around various "reports"
and "white papers" that skew the end number statistics in their product's favor. Just pop on over to any of the
CRM vendor web sites and take your pick of a report. They all tout theirs as the best product, with the best
satisfaction levels, the longest client retention and so on. I even had one CRM vendor give me a "hush-hush"
report (including a non-disclosure agreement) on another vendor. That second vendor used the same tactic
(minus the NDA) with a different report against the first vendor.
- Step 5 - Take a deep breath and hold your nose
These types of tactics do not instill a great deal of trust in a vendor. It left me feeling that the vendor didn't
consider me intelligent enough to make an informed decision. It also made me feel that the vendor was not
confident in the merits of its product alone.
Eventually, I chose Rightnow to provide us with a CRM solution that we will implement later in the year.
However, just so you know, although we have selected them, since we are at the seed-funding stage, our
actual purchase and implementation won't happen until later this year, hopefully, in July or August. I made all of
the calls and reviewed all of the vendors while I was doing my budget forecasting due diligence. This way we
would have a fair and reasonable expectation as to what the actual cost of the applications would turn out to be
later and I could make sure the budget numbers were as accurate as possible.
Rightnow, is who I selected to go with for our CRM product. Though I admit, it worries me that the sales person
I originally worked with is no longer with the company. Also, as I stated before, we selected Datexcorp to provide
us with our WMS solution, so really, they were not too bad during the sales process, they just had to show a piece
of junk product.
It ends up being just like a car dealership, you end up picking the deal that leaves you with the least bad
taste in your mouth. Even though you know they shouldn't, they still all end-up tasting bad to one degree or
another.
The bottom line? If you provide a CRM product sold under the high-flying banner (not to mention the high
price tag) aimed at addressing customer relationships, you should do a quick check to find out if you, too, are
failing to remain true to the main tenets of your market.
As the saying goes, "If it quacks like a duck, has feathers and waddles ..." Well, you know the rest.
Bonnie L. Buchanan
Bonnie L. Buchanan is operations and marketing member of Independence2, LLC, an
Ohio-based start-up door hardware company. Over the past decade, she has been
involved with three start-up companies in the fields of Internet advertising, RTM computer
software and medical management. She has utilized knowledge garnered from years of
experience in marketing, sales, business development, customer service, operations and
facility management within the health care, financial, manufacturing and state tourism
industries. Buchanan attended DeVry Institute of Technology and majored in computer
science with a minor in business administration.
Appendix V: Total Cost of Ownership Comparison
5 Year Year Total Cost of Ownership Projection for Premise-base Solution
Source: Sheryl Kingstone, Yankee Group IDT CRM Conference Materials
Assumptions: 30 Users - Sales; Marketing and Customer Support CRM Implementation
HOSTED
| Cost Category |
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
Year 3 |
Year 4 |
Year 5 |
5Yr TCO |
| User License |
60,000 |
60,000 |
60,000 |
60,000 |
60,000 |
300,000 |
| License Support |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| Profesional Services |
|
15,000 |
15,000 |
15,000 |
15,000 |
105,000 |
| Hardware Infrastructure |
9,000 |
- |
- |
9,000 |
- |
18,000 |
| Networking Operations |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| End User Support |
45,000 |
45,000 |
45,000 |
45,000 |
45,000 |
225,000 |
| Customization Costs |
- |
15,000 |
15,000 |
15,000 |
15,000 |
60,000 |
| Training |
15,000 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
15,000 |
| TOTAL |
174,000 |
135,000 |
135,000 |
144,000 |
135,000 |
723,000 |
ON PREMISE LICENSE
| Cost Category |
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
Year 3 |
Year 4 |
Year 5 |
5Yr TCO |
| User License |
50,000 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
50,000 |
| License Support |
9,000 |
9,000 |
9,000 |
9,000 |
9,000 |
45,000 |
| Profesional Services |
75,000 |
17,500 |
75,000 |
17,500 |
17,500 |
202,500 |
| Hardware Infrastructure |
30,000 |
- |
30,000 |
- |
- |
60,000 |
| Networking Operations |
67,500 |
12,500 |
12,500 |
12,500 |
12,500 |
117,500 |
| End User Support |
120,000 |
120,000 |
120,000 |
120,000 |
120,000 |
600,000 |
| Customization Costs |
- |
17,500 |
17,500 |
17,500 |
17,500 |
70,000 |
| Training
|
15,000 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
15,000 |
| TOTAL |
366,500 |
176,500 |
264,000 |
176,500 |
176,500 |
1,160,000 |
ON PREMISE LICENSE
| 5 Year Total Cost of Ownership Analysis: Hosted vs. On-Premise Software |
| On-Premise Assumptions |
Number of Users |
35 |
| On-Premise software license cost per user |
$795 |
| Software Maintenance/ Support as % of On-Premise License |
22% |
| Cost of Server to Support On-Premise Software |
$9,000 |
| Hardware Maintenance/ Support as % of On-Premise License |
12% |
| Cost of IT Full Time Equivalent for Organization (Including Benefits) |
90,000 |
| Allocation of IT FTE to Support On-Premise Software (Ops/ DBA/ Support) |
25% |
| Cost of Firewall |
$2,500 |
| Cost of Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) |
$1,200 |
| Cost of OS/ RDBMS for Server |
$6,500 |
| Hosted Assumptions |
Hosted Cost Per User/ Per Month |
$70 |
| Dashboard Summary |
| Cost of On-Premise Software
|
$207,278 |
| Cost of Hosted Software |
$147,000 |
| Difference Hosted-In-Premise |
$60,278 |
| Cost Component |
Rationale/ Need |
Amount |
| Year 1 |
Year 2 |
Year 3 |
Year 4 |
Year 5 |
Total |
| On-Premise Software |
With an On-Premise License you buy the version that is the current at the time and begin using it. As major functional enhancements are made, new versions will be released. Updates to the version you purchase
are typically included under the maintenance plan. Releases of new versions are rarely covered as part of the maintenance plan. Check with the vendor during negotiations. |
9,275 |
9,275 |
9,275 |
|
|
27,825 |
| On-Premise Annual Maintenance Plan |
On-Premise Provides a variety of support/ maintenance options. Typically these agreements are annual and expressed as a % of the original license fee. |
2,041 |
2,041 |
2,041 |
2,041 |
2,041 |
10,203 |
| Primary Server to Run On-Premise Deprecation Charge |
On-Premise Requires a central computer/ server to store customer data, The same server runs both On-Premise for the web (as a web server) and the database that serves normal On-Premise users while in
the office. The server can be quite basic, but needs to have data backup capability and sufficient processing to handle the predicted number of user accounts. This price assumes a single processor with
2MB memory, 100GB hard drive; network card; remote management card; RAID level 3 drive capable. The cost is calculated based on three straight line deprecation. |
3,000 |
3,000 |
3,000 |
0 |
0 |
9,000 |
| Primary Server Hardware Support Contract |
The hardware manufacturer will charge an annual fee to provide support for the server that includes on site service calls with guaranteed response times and replacement of failed or defective parts. These are generally priced at a % of the annual hardware cost. |
1,080 |
1,080 |
1,080 |
1,080 |
1,080 |
5,400 |
| Backup Server to Run On-Premise Depreciation Change |
This server is a hot backup that can support your system if the primary system fails. It is a duplicate of the
primary server. This provides the equivalent redundancy that will be provided by a hosted vendor. |
3,000 |
3,000 |
3,000 |
0 |
0 |
9,000 |
| Software for Primary and Back Up Server |
This is the cost for the operating system software and relational database application to run the software.
Most enterprise solutions will use Oracle or MS SQL as their database. The cost is double as the same
software is required on the back up server. The software is depreciated over three years. |
4,333 |
4,333 |
4,333 |
|
|
13,000 |
| Backup Server Hardware Support Contract |
The hardware manufacturer will charge an annual fee to provide support for the server that includes on site
service calls with guaranteed response times and replacement of failed or defective parts. These are
generally priced at % of the annual hardware cost. |
1,080 |
1,080 |
1,080 |
1,080 |
1,080 |
5,240 |
| Network Firewall/ Router for Internet Connectivity - Expensed Asset |
To secure your On-Premise data from unauthorized access and to isolate the On-Premise system from the
rest of your internal systems and network, you will need a firewall/ router that keeps On-Premise seperate. |
2,500 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2,500 |
| Backup Power Supply - Expensed Asset |
To avoid system crashes, which can cause major disruption to the On-Premise Database, you need to
maintain constant power. This is for an uniterruptible power supply system that can run On-Premise Servers
for two hours. Price also includes remote management cards to enable monitoring and remote
management of the (UPS) Universal Power Supply. |
1,200 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1,200 |
| Installation IT Support (Assume 50% During Initial Set Up Period of Three Months) |
Installing the On-Premise software is relatively simple; however, building the server and the network
connectivity will require a dedicated IT professional for three weeks. |
11,250 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
11,250 |
| Ongoing IT Support |
Owning your servers required that you have an IT support professional to monitor and manage your servers.
Duties include applying patches to the operating system and applications; restarting services as needed
when they fail; managing backup of data files; assuring adequate disk space, etc. Assume eight hours per
week for support on the two On-Premise for the Web servers and related software and hardware. |
22,250 |
22,250 |
22,250 |
22,250 |
22,250 |
112,500 |
| Total Cost On-Premise Software |
61,259 |
46,309 |
46,309 |
26,701 |
26,701 |
207,278 |
| Cost of Hosted Software |
29,400 |
29,400 |
29,400 |
29,400 |
29,400 |
147,000 |
| Difference Hosted-On-Premise |
-31,859 |
-16,909 |
-16,909 |
2,700 |
2,700 |
-60,278 |