While developing a CRM system in-house is not realistic for most community banks, there are a wide variety of options available in the marketplace, ranging from the simple to the intricate. Forming a strong partnership with the right outside vendor is essential to success with CRM, bankers and experts say. Roy Balkus, vice president of [...]

After a slump, the CRM software market stabilized in 2003 and began to turn around in 2004. "By some estimates, the potential market is still quite substantial," says Steve Butler, Senior Analyst at eMarketer and author of the CRM Software: Spending and Trends report. "That’s illustrated by Siebel Systems’ bold prediction that worldwide spending on [...]

CRM is about being able to access your customer information readily, and for the consultants at Rocket Builders who are out on the road talking to clients a good deal of the time, that means the ability to access customer relationship management information while away from the office. The Vancouver, B.C.-based marketing consulting company used [...]

A CRM purchase should always be preceded by a needs-assessment analysis. These are complex endeavors that map out a company’s pain points in its customer-service operations to determine what application or series of applications can address these problems. After a few years of declining sales, companies are beginning to step up purchases of customer relationship [...]

Whether you’re updating, upgrading, jump-starting, or restarting your CRM efforts, some basic steps will help keep you on the path to a positive ROI. Thinking about the potential ROI of your customer relationship management (CRM) project should start during the selection process. Before you write an RFP or start talking to vendors, you need to [...]

Not all CRM software packages are the same. They will greatly range in price and capabilities. A thorough evaluation should be done when comparing multiple CRM software packages. The first question you should ask yourself is do you want "hosted" or "on-premise" CRM? Traditional CRM software (on-premise) is becomming a thing of the past and [...]

Communication is critical to rollout success and CRM user adoption. Make sure to include customers in your communications for the parts of the project that will impact or be visible to them. Rolling out, or deploying, new procedures and the systems that support them always should be carefully planned. But when those procedures and systems [...]

It’s time to put your trusty CRM software to work; to let it earn its keep. You’re about to blast an email out to several thousand potential customers. First you run a search of people and companies you want to target. You soon realize something’s wrong when your list is far smaller than anticipated. A [...]

Exactly what is CRM? The idea itself is nothing new; its roots have been around since trading began. The principle of looking after your customers so that they come back regularly is, after all, merely the basis of good trading. In an increasingly competitive commercial world however, strong customer relationships take on an increasing importance. [...]

Despite the press that failures have received, CRM continues to emerge as the most intelligent and important way to model and run a business. CRM is the future. It’s happening. It’s being implemented successfully. But know this: planning and implementing CRM is a science. It is a methodology that begins with a sound strategy and [...]