In a clear, engaging style, Michael Gentle stresses a back-to-basics approach that favours tactical rather than strategic CRM. He identifies the common stumbling blocks that threaten all CRM projects, regardless of vendor, product or technology, and proposes practical solutions to get round them. He identifies critical success factors and risk factors, and features a range of case studies (both successes and failures) and a 40-question risk analysis.

Subjects covered include:

• whether you should even be launching a project;
• building a realistic foundation for CRM;
• establishing a realistic budget;
• ensuring commitment from both management and users;
• coping with organizational change and company politics;
• managing international CRM projects while recognizing local realities.

The CRM Project Management Handbook is essential reading for anyone dealing with CRM in the real world, whether you are a CRM project manager, a sales or marketing director or a CRM consultant.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations

Introduction

Part I - Building a realistic foundation for CRM
1. Overhyped, overpriced and over here
   Every which way but easy; Into the trough; Why CRM has failed so alarmingly to date; Are vendors and consultants to blame?; Due diligence: is it the client's fault?; Impossibly high stakes; B-to-B, or back to basics; Breaking the bank; Spend first, think later!; BPR - back to the future; CASE and CRM - a fundamental analogy; Chapter summary

2. CRM 101 - just the basics please
   The customer life cycle; Processes across the customer life cycle; Process metrics; CRM from a company perspective; CRM from a customer perspective; CRM from a systems perspective; Chapter summary

   Part II - Critical success factors for CRM

3. Organizational readiness for CRM
   Should you even be looking at CRM?; Customer maturity; Process maturity; Systems maturity; People and motivational maturity; Debunking the start-up myth; The organizational readiness rating; Chapter summary

4. A valid business case, with measurable benefits
   The business case; Measuring benefits for ROI; Chapter summary

5. A credible and active executive sponsor
   Involvement or commitment; Will the real executive sponsor please stand up?; Why the CEO should not be the executive sponsor; A representative steering committee; Chapter summary

6. A realistic project scope
   CRM as a journey, not a destination; How to define a phased approach; Chapter summary

7. A realistic budget
   Why most CRM projects are underfunded; Annual or life cycle budget?; Capex vs opex; What to budget for; Who should own the budget, IT or the business?; Have separate budgets for IT and the roll-out; No mega-licence deals before a successful pilot; What final numbers to expect; Chapter summary

8. Successfully managing international CRM projects
   Why international projects are inherently risky; Do international CRM projects make sense?; Why do companies launch international CRM projects?; Critical success factors for international projects; Chapter summary

9. A pilot for proof-of-concept and buy-in
   Why a pilot is an absolute prerequisite; Why a pilot is essential for the sales force; How long should a pilot run?; Keep it small enough for failure to be 'acceptable'; Keep scope and objectives basic to ensure rapid results; Leave integration out of a pilot; Be flexible about whether to do UAT; How to choose a pilot group, site or country; Limit an international pilot to a single country; Chapter summary

10. Buy-in from sales managers
    Why sales manager buy-in is essential; How sales managers can make or break a project; How to achieve buy-in from sales managers; Chapter summary

    Part III - Risk factors for CRM

11. Risk factors
    Organizational change and company politics; Too many consultants, too few in-house staff; IT resistance to organizational change; Using the waterfall approach; An RFP-based package selection process; The complexities of offline usage with synchronization; Chapter summary

    Part IV - CRM risk analysis

12. Risk analysis
    What is covered in this risk analysis?; How to use this risk analysis; How to interpret the results

    Part V - Case studies

13. Case studies
    Case study 1 - Pharmaceuticals (successful project); Case study 2 - Telecommunications (failed project); Case study 3 - Telecommunications: international project (successful project)