Indeed, users who are far from IT often cannot formulate their requirements and behave rather strangely with developers. Therefore, we decided to write an article that is accessible to everyone: it will help ordinary users and non-tech businesses to easily formulate requirements, but for us, IT specialists, we cannot discuss and share our experience.
User avoids liability for claims
If you look at the requests that people write about CRM on social networks or in specialized communities, there is something to be surprised. A lot of outraged posts about the fact that you cannot find a CRM for long-term sales, distribution of engine oil, outdoor advertising agency, etc. And if a person is engaged in the wholesale of hay, then they are looking for the CRM Seno version and nothing else. But in the process of communicating with the vendor, such requests somehow immediately disappear, because the person choosing CRM plunges into the topic and understands that modern CRM systems are able to solve the problems of almost any business - the point is not in the industry version, but in the settings and individual modifications.
So where does the inadequate requirement come from?
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There are other reasons as well, but these three come by a wide margin. It is rather difficult to work with such clients, since they already have a formed image of an ideal CRM in their opinion and they often wait for an answer to their question like: “No, will you give me a CRM for the sale of refrigerated trade equipment of the Sever brand or call me to Germany and order SAP? " At the same time, the budget for the implementation of CRM will only be enough for a call to this very Germany. It sounds a little evil, but in reality, going with an ultimatum to CRM developers is much less productive than discussing requirements and listening to experienced implementers.
How to formulate requirements?
Functional requirements
Determine what you need to improve in the company - this will be your key requirement for a CRM system . There are four most common tasks for which companies are thinking about buying a CRM.
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As a rule, requirements are formulated not for one of the listed tasks, but for several. This is true: since modern CRM has long become CRM ++, why not use its capabilities not only for the sales department, but for the entire company at once. For example, all employees of the company can use the calendar, telephony, schedulers, customer records and business processes. As a result, the whole team is collected in one interface. The optimal way, especially now, in the conditions of remote and partially remote work.
By listing the functions that you need and trying them on to the real processes in the company, you formulate the functional requirements for CRM. The matter is not limited to them.
Additional requirements for CRM
A small business today is in such a situation that these very additional requirements are of paramount importance, because CRM will not work immediately, but you need to pay here and now, you need to integrate work services right away, train employees immediately. In general, it all comes down to costs.
How to estimate the cost of CRM?
We had a long article about how much CRM costs , but it outlines a universal approach that can be applied both for an individual entrepreneur for 3 people and for a telecom operator for 1500 employees. For small businesses, the situation looks a little different - and even more so we urge you to look at it differently in the current crisis.
So, you need CRM and you have 10 employees in your company, each of whom you want to connect to a single information resource of the company - even to RegionSoft CRM Professional (we have no right to consider other people's solutions).
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We have made this calculation not only for the sake of advertising. If you come to a vendor, it is worthwhile to correctly formulate your pricing requirements.
- Do not ask for the free version - you will in fact sell it to yourself (because it is free) and you will be hooked on the marketing hook: in the end you will buy it anyway, but you will get a little bored with communication, and then you will get bored with limited functionality.
- If you are not ready to pay for a year of rent or the entire cost of an on-premise solution, discuss the possibility of installments and discrete payments.
- Never order revision right away if you are not sure that the function will be needed right now and it is not in CRM. It is better to start using a CRM system and gradually formulate what you need to improve and how this improvement will be used in the company.
- Check with the vendor what additional costs are required: someone has a paid external mail client, a mandatory connection to a single IP-telephony operator, a technical support package, etc. These costs can come as a sudden and unpleasant surprise.
- Find out the cost of implementation and training - in 90% of cases, these are justified costs that pay off due to the quick and correct start of work in the CRM system.
And remember: money shouldn't be the only requirement! If you focus only on the cost of the program, then most likely you simply will not be able to choose the solution that your business needs.
So, we have dealt with the two most important requirements: the functionality of the CRM system and the money that will have to be paid for it.
What other requirements can there be for CRM?
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Choose only what you really need and with which you can work. Because we can design an ekranoplan for you at a certain level of payment, but a) it will be expensive; b) why do you need it? In general, choose a CRM system for a normal working life, and not for admiring a set of modules and capabilities - it may simply not pay off.
- Include fantasies and desires in the requirements. Indicate in the requirements what you really want to do in business and will use; tasks set in a vacuum and out of touch with reality will cause harm: you will kill time to discuss them and not get the result.
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A well-planned collection of requirements is the key to success in choosing a CRM system. If you equate the requirements for “Wishlist” and “Advice of a Friend”, you will get a CRM system that is poorly adapted for your business , which will drain resources and will not bring tangible benefits. Each implementation project is labor costs and resources on both sides, so it is better to be honest with the implementers so as not to ruin the whole project at the very beginning. Your great friend is a CRM developer who, by the way, is not profitable to offer his software for any requirement. It is important for him that you work successfully in the system, and not just buy it. In any case, this is important for us. Let's be friends!
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