Although customer relationship management software is finding a strong foothold among small industries the incidences of project failure is also alarmingly high. In many occasions SMBs struggle to generate enough ROI on their CRM project to keep their IT overhead from piling. Small businesses typically work on limited available fund. Therefore, it is more important for them to make the right choice so that they dont run into the risk of upsetting their budget. However, they often make some very common mistakes, which can however be easily avoided to make CRM application more economically and commercially viable for SMBs. Even the best system chosen with the best interest can be unsuccessful if one isnt careful about avoiding the pitfalls during CRM implementation. Below we have listed the mistakes committed during planning, implementation and even through the adoption phase.

• The planning process is very crucial for small businesses before the project implementation starts. For large enterprises its easier to absorb the losses if the implementation process goes astray. But for small firms it may mean abandoning the project altogether. This can have an impact on their performance and may cause them lose their edge over their competitors. Small organizations are often fund strapped and therefore they need to have distinctive goals in sight before embarking on the path of CRM implementation. No clarity over project objective is one of the most common challenges faced by small industries.
  
  Understand your immediate and long term business goals to identify your requirements from CRM software solution. It will also help you in narrowing down your options since the market is now inundated with small business sales force automation software of every kind.



• Select a vendor who can promise you of a software solution that can grow with your business requirements. Since cost plays a very crucial role for small businesses in choosing CRM software many CRM customization companies pitch their product on that line alone. Dont fall prey to vendors sweet-talk. A small business needs to select software that is both features rich and easy on pocket. SaaS CRM solutions have resolved this dilemma for small businesses to some extent.
  
  Online contact management tools are offered as software-as-a-service by service providers; hosted on cloud and available over the internet. These applications are custom designed to meet customer service, sales force automation and marketing automation requirements of small businesses. Moreover, web based CRM solutions are designed to offer solutions to data storage and backup issues as well. With a SaaS application the user is no longer required to worry about taking manual backup of their data.



• Ignoring people, who are likely to use the application the most can cost you in the long run. Often the decision regarding CRM solution is considered to be a management decision. It ignores the sales team or the customer service department who will be at the forefront of gleaning, processing and using CRM data. Identifying and involving the core members of your organization is essential to ensure success of the customer management system.



• Small businesses often make the mistake of alienating their team when they make the transit from being a small firm to grow to become a mid-level organization. But this often affects user adoption. Since the objective of implementing CRM is to make your sales process more effective you need to identify the needs of your sales team from the lead management system. This will give you clarity on how to negotiate your CRM requirements with your vendor.



• Not updating the CRM consulting company on your business operation is another obstacle to consider. In order to offer the best solution the service provider must have a clear understanding of your business process. This can be achieved by allowing the consultant to interact freely with your core group.



• When you decide about introducing CRM to your business it means that you are ready to welcome changes. Therefore, resisting the changes that the contact management system brings along will result in suboptimal performance. Recreating the existing setup in the new platform will make it ineffective. You must prepare yourself for the changes bring forth by the lead management system.



• Select the best partner who can deliver you the best value of your investment. Keep in mind that it is a beginning of a long term relationship so youd need to look beyond your immediate advantages. Forging a bond with a service provider with the soundest crisis management and technical support system will help you relieve most of your worries.