Parents generally don’t just let their children wander around aimlessly. Kids require supervision, someone who’s always watching out for them, making sure their shoes are tied so they don’t trip over them, etc. For a CRM Manager, safety is first – and following closely in this role is education, guidance, (and, of course, picking up behind them!)
A CRM is often treated with the same disrespect as the bedroom of a teenager. No matter how much reminding, yelling or screaming goes on, the room is likely to remain in disarray. Now I’m not implying that all CRM users are like teenagers, but there are bound to be a few of them in your midst. The value of a CRM comes about when a team comes together and jointly works toward improved processes, procedures, efficiencies and methods for transacting business operations.
Without a CRM Manager to guide, lead, coax and sometimes pick up the pieces, the CRM system will run out of steam and become just like a teenager’s bedroom. The key is to empower a responsible person to oversee the CRM, making it his or her baby, so to speak. The position requires someone that can sort through all the issues and come up with a game plan for optimizing the operations.
Designating the right person for the role is critical. The responsible individual doesn’t necessarily need to have all of these skills, but many are desirable:
- Technical knowledge at an application/business use level
- Process-oriented in their thinking and problem solving
- Thorough understanding of the business and how it currently works
- Ability to spot areas for improvements in processes and efficiency
- Have some authority to make decisions (or report directly to someone who does)
- A marketing angle helps – since data is key to supporting the process of marketing
- Ability to learn quickly, and someone who can think in multi-dimensions, looking at the big picture
Without this role designated to a sharp, creative and process-oriented individual, the CRM software won’t deliver the necessary results. This is just a cold hard fact. When entering the land of CRM without a trained CRM Manager, it’s a certainty the business will end up needing a CRM Therapist.