Is Your CRM Performing Like A Rock Star or an Amateur?

Is Your CRM Performing Like A Rock Star or an

Amateur?

Best Practices and Strategies to Ensure

Your CRM Can SingEmily Meehan,Intelliworks

Michele Hamer,SUNY Oswego Division of Graduate Studies

Agenda Symptoms and Root Causes of an

“Under Realized” CRM SUNY Oswego Case Study Best Practices

DefinitionCommunicationAdoptionOptimization

Show of Hands, Please Currently

using a CRM? Consider the

project complete or live?

Think you are operating at full potential?

Sometimes even the greatest acts need a little help to the stage…

What We [Should] All Know About CRM

Yeah yeah, it’s about People, Process AND Technology!

Your Ability to:

Define goals and objectives

Receive data on recruiting effectiveness (inclusive of all recruitment initiatives)

Optimize tactics to

improve response to recruitment initiatives

• Increased enrollment

• Improved yield

• Ideally improved student retention rates which demonstrate quality and quantity of the match.

Should Result In:

But getting there is easier said than done….

How Pervasive is CRM Underutilization?

Survey of 1,700 worldwide companies indicated 83.9% are underutilizing the CRM tools they have in place

Dickie, J., 2009. 2009-Era sales needs 2009-Era CRM. Customer Relationship Manage

In-crease

d Rev-enue 16.10

%

System Underuti-

lized 83.90%

Ability to Demonstrate Increased Revenue

What are Some Symptoms of an

Underutilized CRM?

Inability to Define the Database Universe

No idea; 40%

Event leads; 15%

Purchased lists?; 20%

Applicants (but in what stage?); 25%

Who’s In There?

Inability to Efficiently Respond to Leads

After 30 Days After 60 Days After 90 Days0

20

40

60

80

100

120

First Fol-lowup; 30

First Fol-lowup; 60

First Fol-lowup; 70

Second Fol-lowup; 10

Second Fol-lowup; 20

Second Fol-lowup; 20No Followup;

60

No Followup; 20

No Followup; 10

Are prospective students waiting longer than they

need to?

Is it personalized? Is it targeted based on the specified program of interest?

Inconsistent Data Capture Across Users

Road Warrior Recruiter

Student Worker

The Confident Project Lead

Frustrated End-User

Partial Deployment of Functionality

Automated

Comms

Social Media

Event Manageme

nt

Email Marketi

ng

Online Inquiry Form

Online Applicati

on

No Roadmap

WHERE IS YOUR ROADMAP TO GET

THERE?

The End Game

CRM Rolled Out

More Applications

More Accepts

More Enrolled Students

CRM Rollout has an “End” Date

What Causes CRM Underutilization?

Discovery

Listening

Engaging

Reinforcing

Poorly Defined Strategic Goals

? Growth

Quality

Intelligence

Efficiency

Lack of Executive Level Support and Sponsorship

Limited Time, Resources, Budget

User Adoption Challenges

(Source: Intelliworks; ProSci, Best Practices in Change Management; DemandEngine; AMR Research, Gartner)

No Buy-In Configuration

Does Not Meet Needs

Lack of Training Lack of Support

CASE STUDY: SUNY OSWEGO

About SUNY Oswego Four schools with 30 graduate degree

programs and 5 approved non-degree certificate programsSchool of Education;

School of Business,

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences,

Communication Media and the Arts Total enrollment: 9000; 1000 graduate full

time, part time and non-degree

Where We GigSUNY Oswego Program

We are where they want to hear us play!Main Campus in Oswego NYBranch Campus in Syracuse NYFinger Lakes area, North Country and various

venues in Oswego CountyOnline, hybrid and traditional f2f

No song is the sameApplication requirements vary by program/area

of study -Marketing is not all rock’n roll--blues, rap,

country…

Operational, Marketing and Growth Pains

High growth expectations from President and Provost for enrollment and applications;

No capability to track and/or qualify prospects/inquiries or communicate

CRM system elements needed to be integrated into strategic marketing plan to demonstrate value and get buy in at the executive level.

Objectives Identified

Objective Initiative

GrowthDrive effective recruiting practices leveraging people, processes, current business practices and technology

Efficiency Move applications online and improve application process management workflow.

Quality Develop prospect qualification process and response mechanisms to assist candidates through decision cycle

Intelligence

Set KPIs to track the above objectives once user adoption is complete and data is readily available

What Could Go Wrong?

Built Business Case for CRM

Selected Vendor to Meet Technical and Business Requirements

Implementation Road Map

Configuration Moves Ahead…

7 Months Later…System fully configured BUT….

Email marketing conducted via 2 systems Stalled plans to implement recruitment processes

and procedures across departments due to end-user resistance

Lack of documentation and training on recruitment process

No inquiry follow-up beyond auto email or process to move prospects from inquiry to subsequent stages

Overburdened small staff with little time to train and optimize recruitment process

WHAT HAPPENED?

Lack of Executive Sponsorship

Project started and executive sponsors stepped back

Project manager’s role not communicated

No plan or executive support to enforce migration away from legacy systems and/or processes

End-User Adoption

Confusion on system configuration, fear and trust of new system

Lack of time to train No identified “new” process for

moving inquiries to the next stage Business cycle timing: Project

interruptions and new deadlines caused conflicts

We Needed Help with Process

Technology was implemented, but new recruitment processes were not.

Inquiries generated from other systems not being entered into CRM.

System not being used to engage prospects at each stage in the enrollment cycle.

Inconsistent capture of interactions with prospect across end-users.

How We Are Moving Forward

Process planning End-users participation in process

configuration Vendor Setting Expectations for

Steering Committee Technology updates and

configuration to meet our needs

Identifying Objectives to Meet Goals

Assigning Task Owners

Establishing a Timeline

Status Check

Realizing what was truly achievable in the timeframe set

Implementing many new initiatives among staff of 3 was overwhelming

Maintaining attention and support from Executive Sponsors was challenging – one slipped deadline = loss of project confidence

Where We Are Today…

Training Guides and Workflows

Process in Place to Capture and Qualify Inquiries Across 4 Schools

Personalized Targeted Campaigns

30% View Rate for Event Campaign

Analyzing Data, Optimizing and Communicating Results!

Analyzing data to optimize outreach strategies

Automated communication plan to engage inquiries

Reports and results distributed to executive sponsors

Best Practices for Leveraging the Most Out of Your CRM

•Definition•Communication•Adoption•Optimization

Let’s step back to the beginning…

Rule #1: Define Goals, Roadmap, Metrics

Define…A. The business case for a CRMB. Business and technical

requirementsC. An implementation plan with

defined ownersD. Goals and metrics to be measured

over the long term

A. Define The Business Case

Diagnose current Relationship Mgmt needs

ID key DM’s / Influencers & impact on them

Picture the “Shining City on the Hill”

Define path to get there

Create wins for all related parties

B. Define Technical and Business Requirements Before Selecting a Vendor

C. Define Implementation Roadmap

Define Configure Verify Rollout

Month 2 Month 6Month 5Month 4Month 3Month 1 Month 4

Grad Fairs

On Campus Events

Applications Go Online

New Program Launch

Registration Begins

Managing the Change to Get There Involves a Lot of Effort

Change Manage-

ment; 70%

Software; 30%

CRM Effort

AMR Research senior analyst Louis Columbus says that if you broke out a pie chart for the average CRM effort, you’d see that at least 70% is spent on change management and 30% is spent on software.

And the Best Laid Schemes of Mice and Men…



Grad Fairs

On Campus Events


New Program Launch

Registration Begins

Often Go Awry



Grad Fairs

On Campus Events


New Program Launch

Registration Begins

Project Manager Leaves

New student workers on

board New Program Launches

New Executive Level Projects

Mediating Conflicts on Process

A Few Words of Advice

Account for unknowns in your plan Success is not defined by meeting

a deadline Have a co-pilot or “back-up”

project support

D. Define Goals and Metrics for the Long-Term

Growth

Quality

Intelligence

Efficiency

•Increase Y-o-Y inquiries by 15%

• Grow enrollments in X program by 25%

• Generate 500 more attendees to info sessions

• Reduce by 25% the time it takes to complete a campaign

• Maintain inquiry response time under 4 hours

• Automate assignment of leads to counselors

• Reduce abandonment rates by 20%

• Reduce by 45% number of clicks to complete application

• Improve satisfaction rates to >85% at 4-5.

Rule #2: Communicate…

CRM Team Captain

End-Users

To prevent mutiny on the CRM!

Heard on the Street… “As much as we prepared people on how to

functionally deal with the technology, we hadn’t dealt with how their style of working with inquiries would need to change with the implementation. If we had to do it over, I would begin to work with counselors about how they were going to need to work differently.”

Jane Raley, Director of Enrollment and CRM Project Manager at Lesley University Graduate and Undergraduate Programs

What to Communicate During Implementation

Project What, When, and Why

Change in Roles or Job Functions

Management Expectations

What to Communicate Over the Long-Term

Product changes and impacts to existing process

New approaches and best practices shared from one group to another

Positive Results – to peers, upper management, across divisions

Simmons College: Communication Management Example

Simmons: • Undergraduate and Graduate Education• ~60 end-users across grad and undergrad

schools

Weekly internal meetings with functional leads

Global emails and scheduled meetings in advance of new product releases

Master rollout schedule for new deployments Executive level reporting and oversight

Rule #3: Drive Adoption

Dr. BJ Fogg studies how to harness technology and human psychology to influence human behavior.

Prospective students are not the only customers you have….

3 Essential Elements for End-User Adoption

Motivation

Simplicity(Keep It Simple

Stupid)

Behavior Trigger

What You Don’t Want

Mmm yeah, not much buy-in going on here…

Heard On the Street…

“If they don’t like it, then we can’t use it. It’s that simple.”

--Director of Marketing for Online Programs, Quinnipiac University

Quinnipiac University: Best Practice for Driving Adoption

System piloted with end-users early on Forms to enforce data capture and mark

milestones Step-by-Step training guides, and workflows

with detailed time-based milestones Weekly 1 on 1 meetings with supervisor to

ensure reps meets goals.

Quinnipiac University: • Online Graduate Programs • 10 Recruiters

Heard on the Street…

Generate excitement and anticipationRewards-based system Use incentives to encourage

participation and best practice sharing

“We do ‘cram jams’ and Bagel Fridays to encourage attendance at our trainings. We also offer prizes such as discounted movie tickets, and T-shirts.”

--Jane Raley, Lesley University

Lesley University: Best Practices for Driving Adoption

8 trainings per month for various groups Project lead and supervisor presence Campus-based in-person workshops Webinar trainings for off site recruiters

for large and small groupsREMOTE trainer presents!!

Lesley University: • Graduate and Undergraduate Programs • 60 End-Users , many across the US

Make it Achievable

Less is more! Take a phased approach Set achievable short-term goals Get periodic temperature reads and

refine as needed Build foundation before introducing

new functionality

Make It Actionable Executive reporting and oversight to

encourage and enforce behavior

Use alerts and tasks to prompt action

Configure to deliver mission-critical information

Heard on the Street…

“After training, the end-users are fully accountable to complete tasks and get their projects complete. Most want to make it work and are willing to do it – they are accountable to high people.”

Business Analysis/Solutions Consulting and Project Manager for CRM for Simmons College Graduate Schools

Rule #4: There is No Project “End Date”! Observe

Executive support/oversightReporting to benchmark resultsInclude a model and placeholders for

summary of observations/findings and recommendations.

Refine Change outreach strategy to improve

campaign effectivenessCommunicate results to Executive Support

and get buy-in to optimize or change gears

Build A Scorecard To Track Progress

It’s a Continuous Process

Communicate

Enable

EvolveExpectations

Changes and updates

Needs and concerns

Make it easy. Motivate, use triggers,

Observe, Refine, Optimize

Summary of Key Success Factors Executive sponsorship to endorse and

support project goals Buy-in from front line managers and system

users Functional leads informing the process and

configuration Continuous and targeted internal

communication Timing points of rollout with business cycles Bandwidth to observe findings and optimize

THANK YOU!

Michele HamerState University of New YorkOswego Division of Graduate [email protected]

Emily [email protected]