zoho implementation partner working with a client to implement a new CRM.

Zoho Implementation Partner

You’ve made the decision to move ahead with a CRM. You’re not migrating from another CRM system, but starting from scratch. Whether you’re on the search for a Zoho implementation partner or an Act! implementation partner—you’re in a very good place and poised to get off on the right foot. This is a great place to be because you’re not hindered with an old clunky CRM to influence how you move forward.

At this stage, you can and should approach implementing a CRM with caution. We encourage you to leverage the knowledge of a consultant to avoid common pitfalls. If you haven’t been implementing CRMs for 15 years then you’ll definitely want to take advantage of that experience. Whether or not it’s with us.

The first step is identifying your needs and goals. Once we’ve done that we can find a CRM that achieves those goals. From there it’s a matter of customizing the system, importing or migrating any data you have, and then training your users. Of course, there are some checks and balances along the way but this is the basic outline.

Migration and Importing

Whether you have a pre-existing CRM, Excel spreadsheets, or just an Outlook address book – migrating data is often a big piece of a CRM implementation. It seems simple, just get your data into Excel and then imported into the CRM. But there are some common mistakes that can be made during this step. Mistakes you might not find until it’s too late.

The most common issue with importing are duplicate records. When a user looks up a customer and finds two records how do they know which one to use? In our experience, they don’t know. They just pick one record and go for it. This means both records end up with valuable data. Avoiding duplicates in the first place should be your first step. Training users how to deal with them is the second step.

Another common issue with importing into a new CRM is messy data. This can be especially tragic if your CRM is brand new. Getting off on the right foot means having a nice clean database. As they say garbage in garbage out. There are three key aspects we examine during this phase of implementation.

  • Organization
  • Relevance
  • Field Density

Let’s examine each in more detail.

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