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How housebuilders can rescue their failed CRM projects

In our last post in this special Audit and Review blog series, we focus on the proven method housebuilders can follow to make sure their CRM adoption and implementation processes are geared towards achieving one thing – success.

But what happens if your project’s on the other end of the spectrum? What happens then? Is it possible to turn the situation around? And, if so, what steps should housebuilders take?

CRM reportedly became a $40+ billion industry last year (Forbes) and, according to Pardot, 79% of leads fail to convert without it. Other benefits of CRM include improved productivity, increased revenue and reduced marketing spend.

But for all the widespread benefits, there’s a very large CRM graveyard out there and the cost of failure is widespread, with underutilised investment and unmet business objectives often being among the consequences of not getting things right. Granted – CRM isn’t a magic wand, but that shouldn’t mean that all implementations should result (or remain) in failure either.

As with all crises, some form of rescue plan is undoubtedly required to salvage the situation and get your system (and results) back on track again as soon as possible.

It’s important to note here that failure doesn’t have to mean just that. With the right insight, resources and know-how, it is possible to turn around CRM implementations that have both fully or partially failed.

One of the main challenges lies in identifying the root cause, which can range from systems becoming fragmented, meaning they’re no longer efficient, effective, or both. The finger of blame can also lie with legacy systems being in need of an upgrade or total replacement and lack of customer empathy because, let’s not forget, game-changing technologies won’t provide a long-term business advantage unless customer empathy is at the core of the strategy.

Whatever the crux of the issue, our team of specialists are trained to find it. As well as help housebuilders identify the areas in which their adoption processes and applications need improving, we also appreciate that, sometimes, situations can deteriorate beyond this stage. Perhaps it’s because there’s a lack of expertise or resources to monitor and flag problems before they occur, or maybe it’s because companies haven’t tapped into external review processes that are specifically designed to detect the warning signs, like our Adoption Review sessions.

But the aim of this post isn’t to dwell on CRM failures. It’s to show you how you can turn them around, and it’s all thanks to our Project Rescue Reviews.

These reviews are designed to look at your entire project management process, the technical environment and, more importantly, why your project(s) have failed. This involves identifying, among many other things, the systems that have been implemented, the people involved in the implementation, the outputs that are required to ‘rescue’ the project(s) and the deliverables that are needed to make this happen.

Most investments involve some degree of trial and error and CRM is no exception. However, it’s how you react to the errors and turn them around that can make all the difference between your implementations being a bump in the road and another tombstone in the CRM graveyard. We know which option we prefer and can help you achieve…

For more information or to schedule a Project Rescue Review with us, contact us on 01675 466 477 or (insert email address). For more best practice advice on getting the best results from your CRM, read the third and final blog in our Audit and Review series, ‘The secret to CRM ROI success for housebuilders – revealed.’