A CRM Newbie

[daBizLife]

ok, can anyone tell where to start with this whole CRM thing? i have a product based ecommerce business and a service based business. i believe a crm will only me to make sure that the top 20% of my customers are taken cared. the issue i am having is with the sheer vast volume of information on the subject, so does anyone know where i should start or do i just have to deal with having a year's worth of reading!?

[brian.mark]

The best place to start is by listing all the needs and wants in a CRM. Then, prioritize them. After getting this list sorted, re-sort based upon the number of times this type of issue will come up. Compare the two to see what is truly a priority.

Now that you know what's truly important, start doing some searching and asking. There are quite a few good people on this forum for asking what is best for addressing X and Y and Z.

After we did some research, we determined that our biggest problem was email. Since none of the vendors do a good job of incorporating incoming emails, I ended up writing an email distribution system that utilizes IMAP on our Linux server, then passes the messages around based upon some rules into folders for each CSR. This, combined with Google Desktop Search has allowed us to become pretty efficient.

If you're looking for sales tools, CRM seems to be pretty well done no matter who you choose. If you want customer service with call centers and email response, the market is still pretty young. Hold the list of needs very close whenever talking to a solution provider, then ask about your wants. If they can't meet the needs but hit a lot of wants, it's time to move on.

Also, be sure you post your list here for the forum members to review and make suggestions for a product that fits your needs.

Brian.