State of Customer Relationship Management: The Canadian Report 2010
Best-in-Class Analysis

This section examines how Best-in-Class (BiC) firms compare to Laggards regarding their use of performance measurement in CRM, their CRM organizational and knowledge processes along with their CRM business development technology adoption. BiC firms are defined as North American businesses that achieve positive results in five key year-over-year performance criteria: average deal size, average annual customer revenue, sales cycle time, time to quota, and sales administration time. BiC firms represent those North American businesses that constitute the top 20 percent of aggregate performance scorers while the Laggards constitute the bottom 30 percent.¹⁵

CRM performance measurement
Tracking performance such as sales cycle time, customer retention and forecast accuracy provides BiC firms with the ability to promptly identify issues in their CRM process and take any necessary action (Figure 15). Key performance indicator (KPI) measurement also allows BiC firms to monitor progress of their customer relations initiatives and their return on investment (ROI) in CRM on an ongoing basis. Furthermore, once performance is being measured a firm can set performance targets — a key link between strategy and day-to-day operations.¹⁵

CRM business development technology adoption

The adoption of business development technology beyond individual contact management and multi-module CRM distinguishes BiC firms. Enabling sales forces to benefit from a structured method of sourcing new business is a key BiC strategy. For example, employing a well thoughtout approach to manage leads allows sales teams to efficiently pursue business opportunities and decrease sales cycle times. In particular, BiC firms are more than twice as likely to utilize lead management solutions and CRM collaboration tools (Figure 16).

CRM organizational and knowledge processes

BiC firms not only excel in CRM performance measurement and technology adoption but also share similar priorities and excellence in their process, organizational, and knowledge management (Figure 17). The advancement of web-based business opportunities has increased the likelihood that a customer will have multiple touch points with a supplier: with the customer able to interact with the supplier often either in-person, over the phone, or online, the importance of creating a single source of up-to-date customer data is emphasized. Leveraged use of centralized customer and inventory data in CRM systems enables firms to optimize initiatives that impact the bottom line through sales force optimization, increased predictability of revenue flows, customized service for customers, reduced unnecessary discounting, maximized profitable customer loyalty, and reduction in customer acquisition / retention and recovery costs.¹⁵

The use of a formalized sales process increases the chances of a sale by ensuring that the customer is presented a consistent message along established timelines. Having dedicated sales support resources enables a sales force to commit more time to selling rather than administrative needs. Finally, BiC firms are 2.5 times more likely than laggards to utilize skills development to drive their competitiveness.¹⁵