This is an article about investing in sales automation and CRM technology. From our experience, the first step is to start with your sales process and make sure that it is correct for your business. The sales process is the series of steps salespeople follow to build customer relationships. Once this foundation is understood and documented, you want to build a sales plan around the selling process, so you can then automate this process. Understandably, if this sales process has holes, automating your sales process will not achieve the desired results.

Your selling process should include defensive strategies to protect established and important business accounts. This would include strategies for getting more referrals and maintaining your best customers. The selling process must also have offensive strategies that create and build trust, so prospects turn into customers. If you don't have a selling process, you must adopt one, so you can automate and implement a selling process. This may require working with a sales expert in your industry to help define your selling process.

Selecting the Right CRM System to Automate
One of the first factors to consider is protecting and storing of customer data. You must decide where the customer data will be located and who will have access to the information. This is where the first debate develops. Some people believe that storing the information on the web is the best solution while others disagree and prefer to have everything accessible on a local server to have full control.

From our viewpoint, the line is blurred between these two choices. At one time a web based solution may have experienced limited access to information on the web. However, trends indicate the web will become faster and more accessible around the world. Therefore, if your CRM system is web based, you might be virtually undeterred from access to the Internet. Additionally, mobile telephone functionality is improving so your blackberry, palm pilot or pocket PC could perform as your Internet communication device providing access to your system.

However, there are advantages for having full control of software and having it local and protected. There are many low cost ways for authorized personnel to gain secure remote access to local software. One application, "go to my pc", can provide the access required to create a remote, web access solution. Our conclusion is that a web based solution is neither an advantage nor a disadvantage.

Why Customization Increases Success
There is a clear advantage for customized applications over standardized selling systems. While some system claim to be automated, most of them are semi-automated and require excessive human interaction. They only serve to complicate the selling process. If we took the approach that every CRM selling system such as ACT, Goldmine, Outlook and the web based Salesforce, Landslide and others are ready out of the box, we would be making a mistake. Every system should be customized to maximize the impact of your investment.

We probably agree that every business is different and there are both subtle and dramatic differences between industries and companies large and small. For this reason, we recommend working with an expert for your CRM software or web application and customize your application. This may require experience you don't have which is another reason to seek the advice of a business consultant who understands your industry's selling process. We recommend that you look to your industry leaders and identify the most popular CRM applications. Place this at the top of your list. Then we also recommend that your search include sales expertise to help your decision making process. Here is a list of questions to ask about your business goals.

1. Where is your customer data currently stored and will it link or import into your automated selling system and CRM choice?
2. If your business is online, will you be able to use your selling system to send and monitor emails that market your business?
3. How much of the selling system is automated and easy to work with?
4. Does your selling system streamline your follow-up sales activities?
5. Is the system easily customized so you can modify the timing of events and sales actions?
6. What type of failure reports will the system provide you to help manage the selling process? Management reports are an important feature in sales.
7. Does the selling system follow your selling process and the best practices of sales? If not, is it flexible enough for you to modify the system?
8. Does the selling system match your budget and what is the return on your investment?

These are just a few of the questions you need to ask about your business and how the automated selling system will integrate with your business goals. We strongly recommend you work with companies or consultants that understand the selling process, can streamline and automate your automated selling system