The more and more I sit in on demonstrations of CRM software, the more confident I am that the software technology is the easy part of solving the pain points for our clients and prospects.  Most of the top CRM solutions (especially Gartner Magic Quadrant solutions) are definitely going to meet the needs of the majority of prospects.

The emphasis on these projects needs to be on adoption and not on the flashy extra bells and whistles, where a lot of the focus still seems to be.  As industries mature they eventually hit a tipping point where the software vendors are trying to catch up to the demands of their clients for additional functionality and even secondary applications that will meet the requirements of a client.  The emphasis however, needs to be on ensuring that the client will use the solution.

Ensuring the adoption of the application is not easy with CRM.  Most people in business development have the mindset that you get fired for not bringing in leads and closed deals.  You do not get fired because you didn’t update your activities in some CRM system.

Focusing on the benefits that the users will receive and how the organization will grow and benefit as a whole is certainly the first step.