Putting the C back into CRM

There is a high degree of disenchantment with CRM systems within many law firms, but it is possible to get measurable return on investment from your firm’s initiatives in this space, writes Trish Carroll.

Anywhere from one in five to more than two-thirds of all client relationship management (CRM) efforts have either failed to meet expectations or flopped outright, according to studies conducted over the past 10 years by Gartner and Forrester research. They are damning results from the two respected, independent technology and market research companies.

Yet this trend was bucked in a 2013 LexisNexis survey that provided an insight into the state of CRM in law firms. The research found that 50 per cent of respondents “strongly agree” or “agree” that their law firm is seeing measurable return on investment from their CRM initiatives. My reaction? It must be the other 50 per cent who like to share their unsatisfactory experiences with me.

I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of managing partners who sing the praises of their CRM systems. I do not have enough fingers and toes to count all the business development or marketing managers who, after campaigning long and hard to get the funds to implement a CRM system, throw their hands up in frustration as they relaunch CRM initiatives for the umpteenth time in an effort to get people engaged.

Many of the CRM failures are linked to the use of technology to enable CRM. Historically, CRM was used for salesforce management and was seen by sales staff as something akin to Big Brother. For some people, information is power and CRM systems can be quite threatening to people who think like that.

Failing to fulfil potential
In many cases, CRM systems fail to realise their potential because partners, in particular, and lawyers more generally are not prepared to share or maintain all the information needed for a CRM system to be truly useful. From the client side – and let us face it, CRM is supposed to be about clients – the technology should be fairly invisible unless it is there to positively enhance the client experience.

What clients want from CRM is for their relationships to be managed in ways that show that their law firm knows them. What do I mean by that? I mean that at the very least you are not sending marketing material that is irrelevant to them and that you are not emailing people who have left or, worse still, died (true story). At their very best, your knowledge of clients enables you to engage with them in ways that only a firm using its collective knowledge in a collaborative way can.

CRM is about every touch point the client has with your firm; from how quickly the phone is answered (and the helpfulness they experience when it is picked up), to the tone and style of your advice being aligned with their preferences and everything in between. CRM is an ongoing effort to focus the firm on its clients and their needs for mutual benefit.

Technology is only one part of CRM, but it does have the potential to make it easier for everyone to engage with clients in a more helpful way. It also enables the type of analytics that are needed to help focus your client-engagement and business-development activities in a more targeted and positive way. What I have noticed with CRM initiatives is that the causes of failure are predictable. To avoid failure or to kick-start your CRM effort, here is a list of some of the common attributes that are typically in place with successful CRM initiatives.
1. Clear strategy
Everything flows from your firm’s strategy. Your firm has thoroughly embraced the need to have a client-centric focus – one that permeates your culture, your processes, your reward systems and your information systems so that it becomes part of your DNA because your firm has recognised that this focus, consistently displayed, is what delivers competitive advantage.

2. Transparent goals for CRM
What CRM problems are you trying to eliminate? What CRM initiatives do you want to implement? These projects need clear, unambiguous goals that are time-bound and measurable. They also need to be goals that get people enthusiastic about being involved because these projects require virtually everyone in your firm to do quite a lot of things quite differently.

3. Right level of commitment from all stakeholders
Implementing CRM systems requires top-down and bottom-up commitment, and do not forget the ‘C’ in CRM – clients need to feature up front and centre in the stakeholder group so that you understand what good CRM looks and feels like for them; then you shape the experience/system to meet client needs.

4. Affordability
Be realistic about the cost, budget properly for it and double whatever you thought you would need to spend on training. These projects are not sporadic; they need funding year on year. Taking a phased approach may be what is needed to make it affordable. But never, and I mean never, think the job is over and reduce funding to zero. It is almost better not to begin unless you decide to invest for a minimum of three years; the return can be slow because behavioural change takes time, but for those who persevere their patience will be rewarded.

5. Choose the right system: make it useful and make it easy
Do everything humanly possible to find the right vendor. Many CRM software vendors and consultants now include risk-sharing provisions as part of their delivery. The software as a service (SaaS) CRM solutions provide a new level of partnering; explore these arrangements early in the selection process. CRM systems are supposed to make things easier for people – if they are not easy to use, then your people will not use them. Get as many people involved as makes sense from the perspective of user-needs and being able to champion the benefits. Once you have implemented your system, everyone needs to use it, and use it properly. Build in measures to your performance-review processes to reinforce the importance of CRM.

6. Think through other implications
Successful CRM implementations involve changing client-facing business processes. These need to be thought through as they represent fantastic opportunities to improve how you are relating to your clients. Managing the change associated with people, processes and systems is a big job and needs to be properly resourced and funded.

7. Be realistic
Do not over-promise. Do not introduce too many changes at once. Instead, identify the changes that are fundamental to making things easier for staff and clients and get those well and truly embedded first and then build on that success.

8. Different views for different needs
Your CRM system needs to help different people in different ways. For example, if you want your staff to be able to show your clients that they ‘know’ them, then they need to be able to access the information quickly and easily. The information a client relationship partner wants is different to the information a receptionist needs – different views for different needs help make the system a business-critical tool for everyone.

9. You can never communicate enough
You are doing something worthwhile and amazing; understand this and communicate, communicate, communicate. Use every forum, channel and opportunity to get people enthusiastic about CRM and their role in it.

Data management is pretty dull and often that is part of the resistance people show towards CRM activities. But CRM is not just a data process; it is about managing and enhancing client relationships by capturing and sharing information about that relationship.
If you keep the client firmly in the centre of your CRM efforts, stay focused, remain positive and realistic, then I am confident you will be among the 50 per cent who strongly agree they are getting measurable return on investment from their CRM initiatives.

Trish Carroll is the founder of Galt Advisory, an advisory firm focused on helping firms and individuals devise successful business strategies. Trish can be contacted at trish@galtadvisory.com.au.