You’re looking to automate and better manage your marketing and sales operations.  So its natural that you’ll be looking closely at the features that will get you there.  Plus the fact that your prior experience with software vendors of all stripes has probably taught you to keep your expectations pretty low regarding help desk or support services provided.

The SaaS CRM and web based contact management marketplaces are full of companies making it seem as easy as possible to get started.  If you believe the demos, you just sign up, logon and suddenly your sales process is automated and dashboards start showering you with insightful metrics.

In fact, most online CRM providers simply email your logon credentials as soon as you put in your credit card and point you to various online training options and you are on your own.

You’re expected to import data, customize fields, lists, processes and reports.  And by the way, you’re a sales person.  Odds are figuring out how to configure software and databases is not one of your strengths.

This is why there are so many CRM consultants running around.  ACT! Certified Consultants, Salesforce.com VARs, etc.  They’re all in business because you’re not likely to get the help you need from the CRM software provider.

So once you sign up, you find yourself struggling to get things working the way the sales person told you they would and meanwhile you’re spending time on the computer and not in front of customers hitting your sales quota.

And here’s the kicker – when after hours of frustration, you reach out to the software company for help, you spend hours on hold or wait days for a response.  If that’s not fast enough for you, you’ll learn that you can get faster service if you’re willing to pay for it.

Premium support will cost your $150 to $300 additional per year per user.  Here’s an example – Salesforce.com commits to respond to your request for support within 2 days.  If you need it faster, you’ve got to pay for their Premier support.  Here’s a link to the particulars on the Salesforce.com site - https://www.salesforce.com/services-training/customer-support/

You’ll need to factor in these costs or allot much more time to configure things and get users trained.

The biggest challenge in implementing a CRM is getting the sales team trained and using the system consistently.  Ask yourself – is your typical sales person going to take the time to figure things out on their own?  when they have questions, is waiting two days for an answer going to work for them?

Here are a few things to check into before you sign on the dotted line:

• Data import – who will do it and how much of my data will make the transition?  Notes, reminders, information that’s unique to your business…
• Customization – who’s going to do it and how much time will it require?
• Training – how will you teach the sales team how to do the specific things that you want done in this new system?
• Response time – when you need help, how long should you expect to wait for it?

The good news is that there are some exceptions!  In fact, at least one online CRM company publishes their typical support response times on their website for you to review before you buy – http://www.salesnexus.com/support.php

Related posts:

1. Number 1 Mistake Online Advertisers Make
2. The Operative Word in “Customer Service”
3. Unpleasant Surprises – not a way to start a relationship

You know the feeling.  We’ve all been there.  On hold, wading through phone menus, wasting time.  The most frustrating thing is when you tell your story to one rep, then they decide they need to hand you off to a different department, and so on.

Well I must give credit where credit is due.  Yesterday I had two truley surprising customer service experiences.  In a GOOD way!

First the webcam on my Dell notebook wouldn’t work.  I went to their site and noticed a “chat with a technician” button and went for it.  The technician responded quickly, asked the right questions, diagnosed the problem and posted a link to a download, then used GotoAssist to install and configure it for me.  I was back in business in 30 minutes. 

The best part was that during the entire chat, my cell phone was ringing off the hook and I was able to take every call and take care of business while the Dell rep was taking care of my computer.  It was as painless as it could have been.

Then the same evening I had a rare opportunity to pick a pay-per-view movie of my choice and relax.  The kids were having a sleep-over and my wife was out with her family.  But, the Comcast Movies On Demand service was giving me an error.

This time I just called the number on the screen and started wading through the phone system, and got disconnected, twice.

So I hit their website and noticed the Chat button again.  I tried it again and within 10 minutes, my movie was on.  Again, the best part was that I wasn’t chained to a phone.  The pizza guy came while I was chatting with the Comcast technician, I let the dog out, a phone call came in, life continued uninterrupted.

One note – I asked both the Dell and Comcast reps where the actually were and they were both here in Texas.  I think that makes a difference.

SalesNexus has been using Chat for support users of our online, hosted contact management system for a couple of years and its definitely been a win-win.  Its more efficient for us and our customers find it quick, easy and convenient.

I have to give Comcast and Dell Customer Service Grades of A+ for the way they leveraged chat to do an excellent job taking care of me.

The great news is that its also easy to set up in any business, even the smallest of businesses.  If your business has a website, you can set up a chat button within a day, or less.  Boldchat and LivePerson are two that we’ve used and have been pleased with.

No matter what business you’re in, chat can be a real win for you.  There are always going to be times when you’re team is tied up on the phone and the next customer ends up on voice mail or on hold.  Chat can be another answer.

Now, imagine that you have a Chat button on your site AND you have a good contact management database available to the Chat attendant.  A client initiates a chat by entering their name or email, your attendant looks them up in the contact management system and sees the history of their relationship with your company and now your client is really getting treated like a king!

I know I’m going to be finding new ways to leverage chat.  You should too.

BTW – I watched “I Am Legend” with Will Smith.  Pretty darned good.

Related posts:

1. Getting to Smile and Dial mode
2. Getting Contact Management Implementation Right Takes a Bit of Time
3. Worth reading – sales and marketing sites around the web