Why So Many Businesses Are Orphaned from CRM Vendor

As we discussed in "5 Ways to Avoid the Pains of Being Orphaned..." post, there are several ways to avoid being orphaned by your CRM provider. But it’s important to know why this even happens in the first place on the side of the software vendor or implementing partner.

Four key reasons

From our years of experience, we have found four common reasons why vendors have dropped the ball and been unable to support their client-partners resulting in them being orphaned. 

• Disconnect between sales and implementation.

  There is little or no transfer of information gathered by the sales person during the selling process. As a result, there isn’t any information to be passed that was passed on to the implementation team. This is often a result of a vendor lacking defined procedures and workflow, which is a recipe for poor communication between these departments. When a sales person is focused on closing a sale and moving on to the next prospect, they can forget about what implementation needs to get the client started off properly.

  And on the other end, implementation is tasked with getting the information they need, and in some case just move forward with limited information. At the end, it’s the client that suffers the most when their CRM system implementation is mishandled, their support is unavailable, and solutions are not readily available.

• Lack of communication between the client and the implementation team.

  A disconnect occurred between the client and the project implementation person, the CRM buyer. This usually happens because expectations were not set forth on how and when the two parties would communicate throughout the process. And in cases where expectations were set, one or both parties did not uphold them. Lack of communication obviously breeds misunderstandings, lack of ownership, and can ultimately result in a complete breakdown that negatively impacts your business and experience.

• The Vendor is spread too thin.

  It’s not uncommon that a vender sells other CRM systems besides the one that a client invests in. This would be fine except they don’t always have the dedicated resources to support their products. So, either resources are not available at all, or they are severely diluted. In the end, being spread so thin, doesn’t afford the client the type of professional support services they expect and need.

• The CRM partner lacks expertise. 

  This is a big one. This is the one reason that as a paying client, you hope to not have to face. People sell things they don’t understand and can’t support all too often. Unfortunately, that is also the case with CRM systems. It’s not that a vendor doesn’t have any expertise; it’s just that they may not have expertise in the areas your business needs help and guidance with.

In the blog 5 ways to avoid the pains of being orphaned we share our suggestions and if utilized, these types of issues can be addressed early on or avoided all together. Finding a vendor-partner can be tricky, but it’s important to find one that will not only be able to meet your expectations but also has a desire to develop a partnership with a system in place to support it.  Our clients believe we provide this passion and value. 

Related Resources:

5 Ways to Avoid the Pains of Being Orphaned

Trusted Advisor and Partner Versus CRM Vendor

Achieving a Long-Term Triple Win with a CRM Guide

8 Ways to Make Your CRM Sticky and Well-Used