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"One of the greatest benefits of MyDecisionHelper.com is that it can help you and your team know the right questions and issues to explore regarding a software purchase. It helps each of the team members recognize what it is that they value the most, making the whole process more transparent and objective. The "Invite a Supplier" feature saves us time and money. It also is tremendously helpful for team members to organize and properly evaluate the information they are receiving. I am confident that anyone involved in making software decisions would benefit greatly from using this tool." - Kenneth M., VA
| Name | Description |
| Business objectives | How well do you rate the CRM system in meeting your overall business objectives? (Consider sales, marketing, customer service, technical support, IT and executive management needs.) |
| Selection requirements | How well does the CRM system meet your overall selection criteria? (Consider your needs analysis, long-term goals, process conformity, RFP requirements, vendor support, etc.) |
| Stakeholders needs analysis | How well does the CRM package meet the needs analysis of stakeholders? (Consider multi-channel access, customization and integration requirements, user interface, etc.) |
| Multi-channel access | How well does the CRM system meet your needs for multi-department access? (Consider the needs of sales, marketing, service, IT, etc.) |
| Customization requirements | Does the system meet your customization requirements, if any? |
| Integration requirements | Does the system meet your integration requirements, if any? |
| User interface | How do you rate the user interface of the CRM system? |
| Long term goals | How well does the system meet your long-term goals? (Consider growth in sales, increased customer service and/or tech support, IT requirements, etc.) |
| RFP (Request for proposal) | How well does the CRM vendor meet the requirements of your RFP? (Consider completeness, attention to detail, etc., as well as system specifications.) |
| Vendor customer support | How do existing customers rate the quality and response levels of the vendor’s customer service? |
| Process conformity | How well does the CRM system meet your current or planned process flow within your sales, support and marketing departments? |
| Demos and trials | Has the vendor provided ample demos and a suitable trial period to establish the CRM’s suitability for your business? |
| Sales objectives | How suitable is the CRM software to meet your sales needs? (Consider completeness of contact information, sales scheduling, activity tracking, metrics against goals, etc.) |
| Contact information | How complete is the core contact information for the prospect or customer? (Consider name, organization, title, address, multiple phone and fax numbers, email and instant messaging, classification, geographical location or region, status, etc.) |
| Supplemental information | How desirable is the additional information available within the account record? (Consider employee number, revenues, lead source, industry, company legal type, etc.) |
| Sales activity scheduling | How do you rate the sales scheduling capabilities of the CRM system? (Consider tracking of tentative, confirmed, and cancelled calls, appointment status, account priority, call subjects, support required, parties involved, etc.) |
| Task scheduling | How do you rate the task scheduling capabilities of the CRM system? (Consider non-contact activities such as call and proposal preparation, account research, competitive review, etc.) |
| Task status | How well does the system track the status of all tasks for a given customer across all departments? |
| Account history | Does the CRM system maintain the level of detail in account sales activity and related task history you desire? |
| Sales metrics | Does the CRM system provide the level of sales metrics you want? (Consider prospecting goals, customer contact levels, revenue goals, etc.) |
| Customer service objectives | How well does the CRM system meet your overall customer service objectives? (Consider service records, response, communications, request status, service metrics, etc.) |
| Customer service records | How do you rate the system’s ability to provide customer service records for your company? |
| Customer service response | How well does the system track customer service responses? |
| Customer service response time | How well does the system track customer service response time? |
| Customer service communication | How well does the CRM system support both internal and external communications? (Consider email, template letters, instant messaging, etc.) |
| Customer service request status | How well does the system provide service request status information and/or alerts to open items? |
| Customer service metrics | Does the system provide adequate customer service performance metrics? (Consider requests handled, response time, etc.) |
| Technical support objectives | How well does the CRM system meet your overall technical support objectives? (Consider support records, response, communications, problem status, support metrics, etc.) |
| Technical support records | How do you rate the system’s ability to provide technical support records for your company? |
| Technical support response | How well does the system track technical support responses? |
| Technical support response time | How well does the system track technical support response time? |
| Technical support communication | How well does the CRM system support both internal and external communications? (Consider email, template letters, instant messaging, etc.) |
| Technical support issue status | How well does the system provide support status information and/or alerts to open items? |
| Technical support metrics | Does the system provide adequate technical support performance metrics? (Consider issues handled, response time, resolution rates, etc.) |
| Marketing objectives | How do you rate the capabilities of the CRM system to meet your overall marketing objectives? (Consider analytical strength, information for marketing and customer campaigns, product development, etc.) |
| Analytical strength | How strong is the CRM system in providing a variety of analytical tools to benefit the marketing direction of your organization? |
| Marketing campaigns | Does the system provide broad based statistics across all customers and prospects to assist in developing marketing campaigns? |
| Customer campaigns | How well does the system track all aspects of your interactions with the customer or prospect to develop a customer campaign? |
| Product development | How well does the CRM product report customer needs and desires that can be used for product development? |
| Product pricing | How well does the system track pricing constraints of customers and prospects to improve product pricing? |
| IT requirements | How well does the system meet the overall IT capabilities of your organization? (Consider hosted vs. installed, reliability, integration, security, change management, etc.) |
| Hosted vs. installed | How well does the hosted vs. installed system option meet your needs? |
| System reliability | How do existing vendor customers rate the system’s reliability? |
| Integration burden | How do you rate the integration requirements burden between the CRM system and your existing software? |
| Security | How do you rate the security aspects of the CRM system? |
| Self-service Web portal | Does the CRM vendor’s Web site provide the self-service support you need? (Consider software upgrades, FAQ’s, training modules or flash videos, online tech support, etc.) |
| Change management | How well does the CRM system accommodate change management? (Consider systems integration changes as well as host-to-buy options.) |
| Training and support requirements | How do you rate the overall training and support requirements needed by this system? (Consider implementation, rollout, training, support, etc.) |
| Implementation | How to you rate the ease of implementation of this CRM system? |
| Training | How easy will it be to have all desired personnel trained on this system? |
| Support | How do you rate the ongoing support available to you? |
| Rollout | How well does the CRM rollout schedule meet your requirements? |
| Financial considerations | How well does the CRM system meet overall financial needs, including internal costs as well as customer financial analysis? (Consider base cost, customization/integration, maintenance and support costs, customer forecasting and profitability, etc.) |
| Cost | How do you rate the base cost of the CRM system, given its functionality, to meet your needs? |
| Customization/integration costs | How do you rate the costs of customization and integration you need, if any? |
| Maintenance and support costs | How do you rate the ongoing maintenance and support costs of the CRM system? |
| Budget | How well do the total costs meet your budget requirements? |
| Return on investment (ROI) | How well has the vendor demonstrated an achievable return on investment? (Compare your internal analysis with vendor projections.) |
| Financial forecasting | Does the CRM system provide adequate information to create reliable financial forecasting? |
| Customer profitability analysis | Does the CRM system provide adequate information to determine customer profitability? |
| Contractual considerations | How well do the overall contractual considerations meet your needs? (Consider terms and conditions, vendor history, financial stability, etc.) |
| Terms and conditions | How well do the overall terms and conditions of the purchase or service agreement serve your best interests? (Consider limits on fee increases, upgrade costs, service guarantees, payment terms, etc.) |
| Limits on fee increases | How satisfied are you with the limits on fee increases within the contract? |
| Future upgrade costs | How satisfied are you with the costs of future upgrades, including any host-to-buy options? |
| Service guarantees | How well do the service guarantees for the CRM system meet your business needs? |
| Payment terms | How well do the payment terms meet your needs? |
| Penalties | How suitable are the penalties for early termination or transfer, if any? |
| Vendor business history | How solid is the CRM’s business history? |
| Vendor financial health | How strong is the financial condition of the CRM vendor? |
This site is intended as an informational tool only and should be used in consultation with appropriate professional advisors.
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