Article

Your Microsoft CRM Project: Why You’ll Get Better Results By Biting Off More Chewable Chunks

by David Lee
President & Founder, Vertical Marketing, Inc.,

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Likiewise, a CRM project should be taken one byte at a time.

One of the great strengths of Microsoft CRM is that it is more configurable (without customization or programming) than any of the other major CRM systems.

The downside is that easier configurability tempts executives to try to do too much, too soon-leading not only to escalating costs, but to a heightened risk of failure.

We're in an industry where somewhere between 50% and 80% of projects fail. The typical growing company has had two or three CRM failures before it reaches puberty. We have actually trained our users in the proper method of handling a CRM initiative: Stick your head in the sand and it will eventually go away.

What's the problem? Actually, there are several problems:

  • One large complex projects is always more difficult to deploy than several smaller, simpler projects. Implementing a few small simple tasks enables you to spread your costs over several phases, so you can make sure you are getting a sufficient return on your investment for each phase. Less expensive and safer than a single big roll of the dice.
  • Smaller simpler projects also give you a chance to see if you are comfortable with your VAR. If not, you can find a new one for the next phase.
  • Moreover, you deploy faster, and start enjoying benefits sooner. This applies not only to the time of development, but also the training time for your staff. And by letting them start with a simple system and incrementally adding functionality, you increase the chances members of your team will actually use the system (the ...

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About David Lee
Dr. David Lee is president and founder of Vertical Marketing, Inc., a CRM sales and consulting practice incorporated in 1987 with 5 offices world wide. Through VMI he has been involved in more than 1,000 CRM projects ranging in size from single users to thousands of users.
He has experience in all phases of the CRM life cycle including CRM baseline measurement and ROI analysis, sales process design, RFP development, system selection, system design and configuration, custom programming, Data cleaning and import, system integration, training and train-the-trainer, ongoing support, and rescuing faltering CRM projects.
Dr. Lee holds scores of CRM awards and certifications from customers, vendors and training organizations. He is personally certified on 7 CRM systems with separate certifications for specific modules and versions in many cases. He holds additional certifications and awards for countless third party applications. He is a Certified Sales Process Consultant and Certified Trainer.
Dr. Lee is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Northern Virginia and is working with the staff to develop a CRM course as a part of the MBA program. He is author of Microsoft CRM for Dummies as well as scores of articles and white papers on CRM subjects. He speaks on various CRM topics.
Prior to launching VMI, Dr. Lee held positions as a programmer/analyst, a US Army officer and as VP of Marketing for a Legal Time and Billing software company.
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