As we start your CRM implementation project, our first priority is understanding your sales processes and knowing who owns the leads / contacts in your database and why. For example, are leads assigned based on purchase type? Based on territory? Based on other factors? We uncover this information from the very beginning because it will inform the remainder of the implementation process.

We also look at how new contacts are added to your database and work with you to outline a plan to automate data entry where possible and to optimize data entry efficiency when automation is not possible.

Our team will also work with you to define the stages of your sales pipeline(s) and setup any automation related to your sales funnel.

Step 1 is all questions, planning, and getting on the same page. Now onward to implementing!

Oftentimes, there are thousands and tens of thousands contact records that need to be collected from more than one system (and spreadsheets); scrubbed; and sorted into relevant lists that reflect your customers, current leads and prospects, vendors and partners, and other contact types.

We recognize that this overwhelming task is often what holds manufacturing teams back from taking the next step onto a better system. That's why we come alongside your teams to work through this undertaking together, in a manageable and proven way.

During this stage of your CRM implementation we will also define and create any custom contact, company, deal, and service properties so that your teams have all of the RIGHT information at their fingertips.

Earlier in step 1 we gained an understanding of your sales operations, deals management needs, and sales funnel automation needs. After importing your contact data and getting it organized we move on to setting up your sales pipeline.

During this stage our focus is on creating your sales pipeline(s) and customizing the deals stages for each pipeline. This includes mapping win probabilities to enable sales projection reporting as well as fine tuning the details of each deal record.

Now that the platform is setup, we start connecting the platform to your other business tools and setting up each individual user's permissions and functionality within the CRM.

Each user will have an individual account and we will coach them through

• configuring their Google or Outlook email inbox both to and from the CRM,
• setting up their personal "schedule a meeting" calendar
• creating sales email templates, sales documents, snippets, and sequences

While we do hands on work with team members at this juncture, we have more in-depth training we go through with everyone a bit later in step 6.

Once each user has been setup in the CRM we will setup the automations and rep notifications based on your team's sales operations and lead routing process as uncovered back in step 1. 

We will also setup custom contact record displays so your teams can see the right information at a glance. Custom reporting dashboards are setup to reflect the metrics that matter most to your team and decision makers.

As with any new CRM system that teams both large and small are transitioning to, there's going to be a learning curve. Our top priority is your success, so we will come alongside your team in group training sessions and individual training sessions to bring everyone up to speed. This last step is crucial because without team-wide adoption of the CRM, the value decision makers will get out of the tool will be greatly diminished.