Where do I Go From Here?

Metrics can be overwhelming because there are so many choices, but you can do well with a reasonably small effort as long as you adhere to the following four steps:

Define measurable objectives both for the project and for running the business long- term , starting at the implementation kickoff meeting. Limit yourself to a handful of the most meaningful metrics, preferably outcome- related metrics.
Make sure that the tool will track the data required to create the metrics you need. To ensure that the data is indeed logged, make it very easy for the users to log the information as part of their daily work, without requiring special efforts.
Invest in "slice and dice" or babushka reports so that each manager has immediately useful data at his or her disposal from the start. This is more important than creating fancy or pretty reports, and even creating as many reports as you would like.

Keep working on metrics. As long as you are tracking the right data, you can always make improvements to the reports to fit the changing needs of the business.

Chapter 11. Rescuing a Failing CRM Project

Express Version

Project Failures

Step 1: Assess

Step 2: Restructure

Step 3: Restart

Express Version

Whether you have inherited a failing CRM project or it's your own project that's failing, start by conducting a candid assessment of the situation to determine if the project is worth saving. The assessment process is similar to a post-mortem for a completed project. Carefully evaluate the three P's (people, process, and politics) that are usually the causes of project problems, as well as the tool, which is almost always blamed but is only infrequently the root cause of the problem.
To be salvageable, a project needs a credible and engaged executive sponsor, even more so than other CRM projects, and a tool with a reasonable fit. Everything else can be overcome , but don't bother with a salvage effort if you don't have those two prerequisites.
Make changes in people, processes, and politics as required and define a new project plan and budget for the project, simplifying the project as much as you can. When you gain approval for the new plan and budget, restart the project at a logical starting point following the same implementation process you would use for any other CRM process.
With a salvaged project, pay particular attention to morale and communication within the project team and with the users, as well as careful project management.

Project Failures

Although the techniques described in this book should yield reasonably smooth and successful projects, you may be reading it specifically because you have been handed a failing project and the responsibility to fix it. This chapter is for you.

This chapter is also for you if you suspect that your project is failing, although no one, not even yourself perhaps, has openly admitted yet. Generally speaking, if the project manager or a business owner thinks that the project is failing, even if other project team members deny it, then the project is indeed failing. Team members may refuse to accept that the project is not going well because they have so much invested in it.

The fact is that it's usually pretty clear when a project is failing, at least from an outsider's point of view: users have lost interest, the project team is struggling, the business requirements have changed drastically, or serious technical issues have been encountered . Frequently the project faces not just one but a combination of problems. And we are talking big problems, serious problems that the team is unable to address or sometimes even to face.

This is not to suggest that CRM projects fail in spectacular ways. More often it's a matter of losing momentum over time as problems pile up, unaddressed, until the project comes to an unceremonious halt. By then, it's usually too late to do anything, so always be thankful that you are intervening before the project slips from failing to failed status.

If you are faced with a failing project, use a three-step recovery process: assess the situation, restructure the project, and restart it.

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