Blog
‘You need a CRM. All good businesses have one’
So you are told.
The first thing you do is going to Google, search for ‘Business CRM’ and you get over 25 million results.
The next step you are thinking “ok that is not going to work.” So let’s ask on Facebook or LinkedIn and see what other people are using.
You get 48 comments all telling you what they use and why it is the best.
How do you choose your mind shouts? Either at this point, you find yourself picking this project up and putting it in the ‘too hard basket’, or you lose yourself playing with different CRM’s. You do not really know what is possible but you know a couple of your deal breakers.
A CRM is like getting into a relationship. You think you know what you want, but you know that whatever relationship you get into you will find some hidden surprises and some baggage!
So, how do you find the CRM that is just going to do it for your business? The one that is going to take all the pain away, or make you more efficient, increase sales conversion and make your business run like clockwork?
The answer is not Tinder!
Over the years, our team has worked with hundreds of businesses to find the right CRM and over that time it has helped us learn a few things that I would like to share below. I hope that it will put you on the right path.
Looks & Personality Count
When I first started out with my first CRM ten years ago, I found myself attracted to many of them. The slender lines, the easy to use interface and those little-added extras the developers threw in to make the experience great.
However, over time, using my first CRM or two, I realised I had not taken the time at the start to work out what I really wanted.
What was really going to be the difference maker in my business? Having something was better than nothing, right? Wrong.
The wrong CRM can cost you thousands of hours of mental stress. It can slow down processes, frustrate your staff and make you lose business.
Getting into a relationship with a pretty CRM that does not have the personality to keep up with your business is a recipe for disaster.
It leads to pain and if not to a heartache, definitely to a headache.
Take the time to sit down and look at all the aspects of your business. Think about the people who will actually be using it every day.
Work out what your deal breakers are but also what they will be like in the future. Imagine getting two years into the project and finding out your CRM does not want to have children, but you do.
Awkward, to say the least.
Prepare to commit once you have finished dating.
Once you have done the initial legwork by yourself or with an expert, you need to be willing to commit.
Getting six months in and then moving on will cause you more pain. The grass, at some point or another, will seem greener on the other side. It happens.
One time, we swapped CRM four times in a year and I can tell you it was painful. Although, at the time it seemed like the best thing to do.
If you do the work upfront, stick with your decision. It is why the first step is so important to make sure you know what you want.
The importance of the whole family (your team) loving the CRM is also priceless. Buy in is the hardest part of the software. You need to make your team feel involved in the process.
Many of us have been in a business where a new piece of software was pushed on to us. I am sure you remember how well that went.
Get an extroverted CRM not an introverted one
When IT first started, you had much of what I would call introverted CRM’s. They were offline, did not like to talk to other software and were hard to upgrade.
In the last ten years, we have seen the shift to extroverted CRM’s. These CRM’s have the following characteristics:
- Cloud based – Allowing access from anywhere in the world with ease.
- Constant New Features –The best CRM’s are ever evolving and should evolve quickly with the times. These features usually cost you little to nothing if you pick the right provider.
- Integrated – Many CRM’s have built-in integrations to software like Xero or MailChimp to make moving data easier. Keep an eye out for CRM’s with Zapier integrations. They are my favourite and allow for amazing flexibility and additional external features.
- Monthly Licensing –This has been around for a while but nowadays you will be paying a software user licence each month as opposed to a large upfront. Keep an eye out for the yearly prices. Sometimes, you get a couple of months free when you pay in advance.
- Mobile – A CRM that likes to get out and about is key. The app they provide should be seamless and feel easy to use. It is how a large percentage of your team will interact with it. The mobile revolution is here; make sure your new CRM is up for the task.
Just be careful whom you get into bed with. Remember this is for the long term.
Don’t do it alone
In the early days, you used to spend $50,000 on a piece of software developed for your company. In some cases, this is still a good option.
However, for many people, the idea of a $50 a month licence makes grabbing a CRM off the shelf a breeze.
What they do not realise is that not knowing the questions to ask can hurt. Like that first date. If you do not know what to ask, you may not know who you are actually dating until you are in too deep!
Invest in a consultant. Whether you pick us or not, it does not matter. However, pick someone who knows more than you do.
It is like grabbing Xero and thinking you are now an accountant. An accountant can work with Xero to get you the best results from it. Sometimes it will save you $1,000’s in tax (legally) which you would have missed doing it alone.
The same is true with a CRM. A feature that may not make sense to you with a few clicks could save you hours a day in reporting or on other tasks.
If you are on the path to getting a CRM, book a call with us. Press the button below and lock in a 30-minute call with one of our Software Architects. It could be the most valuable 30 minutes you spend this year.
Blog
How to stay on budget, on time and actually get people to use the software!
Are you thinking about developing a custom piece of software? Where do you start? Will it ever finish? What will it look like when it is done?
The story we hear all the time from companies who have gone down the software development path is that it ran over budget, took six months too long and then, when it came about, it was like trying to feed a child cod liver oil to get them to embrace it!
Sadly, this story covers the majority not the minority of projects.
As a business recognises a clear problem or roadblock in their business that could be solved by a piece of custom or licensable software, they go through tried and true processes that seem to give the same result.
A poor one.
In this article, I want to:
- Dispel the myths that this is the only way to develop software.
- Suggest tips on how to mitigate these problems.
- Get your team to take on the software as if they had developed it themselves.
Some of these tips are not rocket science; others may alter your perspective (which is a good thing). You may even notice that you already know some. As a developer, I do like order so I have broken them down into smaller digestible chunks below.
Enjoy.
Start with conversations, not instructions.
‘New Software Roll Out: June 17, computers will be down for two hours’ the subject line reads. James read as he got into work on Monday.
He was first hearing about a new piece of technology that was supposed to make his life better… for the first time.
The instructions read ‘A training session will be held on June 20th to go over how to use the software’
As he read, scepticism came over him. This was the third rollout of software in the last year and the last two had been disasters. He felt that he and his colleagues were being spoken to like children in a dictatorship.
Now you may feel my words are harsh or they do not apply to you. But they do. When trying to do something helpful for a business, it is easy to forget about the people at the bottom. The ones that actually will be using the tool.
You think that a little bit of user acceptance testing here and there covers this off…. However, it does not.
Software these days is a way of life, something that makes or breaks your work life. It can make staff more productive or send them into a spiral of confusion.
Companies I have seen doing software well, know that it is important to bring staff in at the Why stage.
Explain early what you want to achieve, ask for feedback before you even write the development brief.
Getting staff involved early on means that, when the software is launched, they feel like they were part of the development and the introduction. They put their money on the table and buy in.
It does not have to be hard. It involves a few internal communication emails, a feedback survey and actually responding to them.
It involves effort.
Speaking with a software project manager they said ‘I love developing software’ but when it comes to getting people to use it, it is like pulling hen’s teeth. People are naturally averse to change. When change is thrown on them and demanded, they rebel. Getting the involvement stage wrong can lead to expensive projects being thrown away.
So what can you do differently? What are you going to commit to on your next project?
Whether you are a team of five or a hundred forget the little guy at your own peril.
Software is a journey, not an end goal.
You would have heard a similar thing about websites. How Google likes to see ‘living websites’ not static pages. It loves blog posts, new information and the journey of your website.
The same is true in software. In the early years in Auckland, developers would sit down with a client, write a 40-page brief document covering every risk, problem and pain, and then sit down for a month and start developing.
Every minor adjustment would be out of scope. You would get another invoice and the timeline would get pushed.
Software development was static.
By the time the project actually rolled out, it may have even been obsolete or in need of more work to get it useable. It was frustrating.
Currently, the idea of an agile process has really come on.
Especially for smaller companies in the sub-hundred staff sector.
Here is the way we do it. You will be able to take what you want to use in your software process.
- Start with a vision
What is the problem you are trying to solve? What does it look like? What result does it need to give you? Where do you see it going in five years in a perfect world? Get very clear on the vision of your brief and do not be scared to dream. List every feature you can think of. I find that post-it are great for this. This is also a great time to involve your staff in the process.
- Choose a platform
The cloud has changed how developers and companies should operate. We have never had so much integration and cloud-based starting points. Finding a platform that is malleable for your software is key. Picking one that is growing all the time and adding features is a starting point that will keep your budget down, speed up development and allow you to move quicker.
- Create broad stages
Look at your vision and break it down into stages. Group together features that give a specific result. You are better to release a smaller stage one then be stuck waiting for the perfection of an end-to-end software solution that is never delivered. It allows you to break your costs into stages as well as to make it a much more budget conscious build that works with your cash flow.
- Get visible
A good developer or development house should have a project management tool that allows you to track what is happening, gives feedback as it happens and works closely with you delivering the features you require. The old way used to lead to a delivered software that may not have even worked. Sometimes in practice, a software just does not work. Being involved in a feature-by-feature development means that you know what you are getting and you have helped to guide the project actively.
- Set an ongoing budget
As your project is delivered, changes will be constant. Improvements and other things you didn’t even know to think about can only be learned while operating. If you are setup correctly, these changes can be swift and agile. We usually suggest a set monthly budget for changes. Once working, the system can constantly be refined and improved to meet your changing needs. Remember it is alive, not static.
Now I could write about this all day long. However, I do not want to bore you too much! Let’s finish off with a case study.
A client of ours came to us with a muddle of spreadsheets, forms and documents. They had been getting by for years on them in various forms. Then they realised that it was getting harder and harder the busier they got.
They were in the in-store tasting business – helping take great food and drink brands and getting them into the mouths of consumers in supermarkets (and the like).
The key users were clients (the product owners), admin (the ones keeping the machine moving) and staff (the people who did the tastings).
We sat down and did a whiteboard session on what this system could look like. The big 5-year vision, all the way down to individual features that it could have. It was a long list.
We then took it a step back and asked what would be the first step that could make a measurable difference.
They had one key spreadsheet that each client had that ran a big chunk of the business.
We mapped it out on what it would look like, what each user type would see and made the call that this was stage one of the custom software development.
We picked a piece of software that would create a flexible and scalable system and we were off.
Loading all the stages into our project management system, being clear on the key features and allowing for live feedback from our client was key.
Within six weeks the first stage was live and being tested by the team (which had been part of the development from the start). They loved it!
What a game changer even at this stage.
Were there bugs? Always.
Could things be better? No doubt.
Had new features been dreamed up? You bet.
We had a workable solution able to be tested live. For the next three months, we used the monthly budget to make improvements, refinements and additions.
Every week the system improved. It was a fun experience, which did not break the bank and was delivered on time to the expectations set at the beginning.
That is how software should be in our opinion.
I hope this has given you some insight into how to start developing your own business software. When working it will save you hours, add a tangible asset to your company and make your staff smile.
To your success.
