Just Enough CRM
Excerpted with permission from "Just Enough CRM," by Francoise Tourniaire, Copyright 2003. Published by FT Works, ISBN 0131010174. For more information about this book, please visit FT Works.
Chapter 6: Shopping for CRM Systems
Shopping with a Purpose
Once your requirements list is complete, it's time to go shopping. As mentioned
earlier, don't start shopping seriously for CRM software until you have a fairly good
idea of your requirements so you don't waste time evaluating unsuitable
vendors on the one hand and you don't ignore potential good fits on the
other.
It's useful to organize the shopping process into four stages:
Creating a long list. There are hundreds of vendors that claim to be
CRM vendors so it makes no sense to attempt to evaluate them all. The
first step in the process is therefore to create a so-called long list of
likely candidates by performing an abbreviated evaluation of vendors'
capabilities against the requirements list.
Evaluating the candidates against the requirements. Through a structured
process, you perform a more thorough evaluation of the candidates
on the long list against the checklist, rating them as you go.
Creating a short list. Using the results from the evaluations, you narrow
down the list of vendors to the two or three best candidates. Creating the
short list is usually fairly simple, as leaders emerge rather naturally.
Negotiating the best deal. After the evaluation is complete, you need
to check references and negotiate the best possible agreement.
This chapter covers creating the long list, evaluating candidates, and creating
the short list. Checking references and negotiating the best deal will be
covered in the next chapter.
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