Choosing a CRM: the 7 red flags and 7 green flags to look out for

When selecting a CRM, knowing what to look for – and what mistakes to avoid – can make or break your project. Your CRM needs to have a clear purpose and to align with your business needs, scale, and strategy.

Choose the wrong customer relationship management tool, or implement it badly, and you’ll lose time, energy and money. Get it right and you’ll boost your efficiency, enhance the customer experience, and improve your sales. It’s a win for you, your teams, and your customers.

Select a CRM with confidence

We’ve compiled some of the pitfalls and principles to consider when you’re choosing and implementing a CRM for your business. Bear these guidelines in mind to ensure smoother implementation and a better long-term fit.

The 7 warning signs

Let’s start by looking at seven common mistakes – the red flags – that can derail CRM projects. After that, we’ll explore the seven principles of success, or green flags.

1. Your CRM requirements aren’t clearly defined

Implementing a CRM can be an opportunity to challenge your systems and question established habits. You need to take a step back from the processes you have in place and not try to reproduce them in your new solution. However, if you turn everything upside down, you run the risk that your CRM project will never materialize. So: understand what you want from your CRM and why – and choose a vendor who can demonstrate how their solution fits your business goals.

Why it’s a red flag: If the CRM doesn’t align with your needs, it will create more problems than it solves.

2. You don’t have the right CRM project team

Your CRM project group has three essential components: a sponsor, members of the IT team, and representatives of the business areas that will be using the CRM, like sales, marketing, customer service, reporting managers, etc. The mix of profiles will depend on the size of the project.

• The project sponsor has the power of decision and incentive. They can take charge and get things moving.
• The business teams need to be involved from the outset. They’re there to prevent rejection of the solution when it’s deployed and ensure their colleagues are on board with the CRM you choose. As your business evolves, your CRM should fit the needs of all your users.

Why it’s a red flag: Having the wrong people involved in the CRM selection process makes the eventual change management process much harder.

3. You want to launch everything at once

Beware of the big bang effect! It’s better to start by putting in place a minimum viable product for the version of CRM that allows you to obtain maximum user feedback, then add to it step by step. These new additions could be:

• subsidiaries
• groups of users
• modules
• interfaces
• processes
• countries
• languages

Why it’s a red flag: The risk of trying to implement everything from the outset is that you lose focus, burn out and never get anywhere with your CRM project.

4. Your change management process is weak

Change management is the keystone of the project. Failing to prepare your employees can result in resistance to adopting the CRM tool you choose. On the other hand, involving people at an early stage means they feel connected and that the tool is theirs, to make their day-to-day lives easier. User training needs to be addressed early and seriously – but don’t rush into this phase, because a large part of the project’s success depends on it.

Why it’s a red flag: CRM is nothing without its users. If they’re not on board, the solution won’t be used to its full effect.

5. The quality of your data is poor

A CRM contains a wide range of data from multiple sources relating to customers, sales, prospects, interactions, communication history, activity logs, account details, etc. It’s essential for:

• managing relationships
• personalizing services
• optimizing sales and marketing efforts
• tracking leads and convergence
• monitoring performance
• market analysis

A CRM that contains data that’s incorrect, incomplete, or out of date won’t be used properly by your teams and it won’t benefit your efficiency or growth. Address this in the long term by appointing someone to be responsible for data quality. If no one is responsible, quality becomes a secondary issue for everyone.

Why it’s a red flag: A CRM solution is only as good as the data it contains. With poor data, you’re not getting value from your system.

6. Your CRM system isn’t well integrated

To deliver maximum value, a CRM should be well integrated with the other components of your company’s IT systems.

• Integrating CRM with your ERP software is a classic example, as it provides access to Office 365 applications (e-mail, calendar), financial tools and inventory management.
• Another example is the integration of telephony: click-to-call enables a call to be made by simply clicking a phone number.

Why it’s a red flag: Your CRM shouldn’t exist in a vacuum. If it’s not integrated with other aspects of the business, you’re missing out on the benefits, and so are your customers.

7. You don’t plan updates to your CRM system

The organization evolves, the business evolves, techniques and technologies evolve, and your CRM solution must evolve too. Appoint someone to monitor these evolutions, gather user requests for change and pass them on. They can be responsible for leading a community of users to ensure the CRM continues to meet their needs.

Why it’s a red flag: A CRM that doesn’t evolve as the business and technology context does is a wasted investment. Listen to the experiences of the people who use it day to day.

Avoid these seven mistakes and your chances of successfully introducing a CRM increase considerably. A well-implemented CRM transforms how a business works. Good planning, choosing the right people, and managing change effectively are crucial to getting the most out of your investment.

The 7 steps to success

What about the positive steps that will help your project succeed? These are our seven green flags.

1. Your CRM requirements are clear

Define your goals and who the system will be used by. Do you want to:

• streamline contacts?
• improve customer follow-up?
• automate communication?
• make smarter, data-driven decisions?

Choose a system that addresses your pain points, processes, scale, and outcomes – not just the features.

2. You have a balanced, cross-functional team

Involve users, IT specialists, leadership, and change agents early in the process to increase the chances of adoption. The system you choose needs to work for your teams and they need to feel they’re part of the process.

3. You have a phased CRM rollout strategy

Don’t rush into implementation. Start small, with the essentials, then add to it step by step. This means you’ll deliver value fast, without crashing and burning.

4. Your change management plan is well thought-out

Include training, champions, and communication from day one. Ensure your teams feel part of the CRM selection process and support them to use it. Listen to their feedback and implement their suggestions where appropriate.

5. Your data is clean, well-managed and usable

Prepare your data as carefully as you select your CRM platform, and appoint someone to oversee it. To be effective, your data needs to be accurate. Make sure you get it right.

6. You’ve set up workflow-driven integrations

Ensure the CRM fits your tech stack and supports your flow of work. It needs to be a core part of your business ecosystem. That means integration with:

• emails
• calendars
• telephony
• finance
• inventory

7. You have a roadmap for continuous improvement of your CRM

You’ve chosen a CRM that meets your needs and aligns with your business goals. Your teams are on board. But deploying it on the work floor isn’t the final step; in fact it’s just the beginning. Have a plan in place to adapt and improve your CRM as your business and industry change.

We are here to help

Following these simple dos and don’ts will help you make a confident CRM selection and get the most out of your investment. Bear them in mind when choosing your system and avoid the most common mistakes. The right choice will streamline your operations, enhance business performance, and improve the customer experience. Are you ready to make the right choice? 

Our sales team are here to help