The Data Quality Dilemma -
Marketing and business development professionals spend a great deal of time carefully lining up plans to effectively communicate with key contacts. Like dominoes, we align our messages and...more
CRM is one of the best technology tools for effective eMarketing and communication with Clients and other contacts. But, as with other aspects of CRM, achieving the desired results often also requires putting effective...more
The team at CLIENTSFirst has helped hundreds of firms succeed with CRM. A key to that success for many firms involves getting attorneys to use the system or at least share their information. However, as mentioned in our last...more
Outsourcing some marketing functions, especially in areas that involve technologies to support marketing and business development, can solve a number of problems and provide important benefits for your firm and team. In our...more
Firm leaders are always looking for ways to make their organizations more efficient, reduce costs, improve business development effectiveness and enhance profitability. To help firms achieve all of these important goals,...more
In our previous post, The Top 10 Challenges to CRM Success and How to Avoid Them – Part 1, we discussed the five challenges that are most often encountered when implementing a CRM. Here are five more that we typically see –...more
Even though the entire law firm business model is built around forging long-term relationships and connections, there probably is no other industry with more disconnected systems and data. Legal marketing professionals and...more
Research estimates that up to 63% of CRM systems fail to meet expectations – and a failed CRM implementation can be extremely costly, not just in terms of the financial expense, but also because of the costs in lost time –...more
The reasons why attorneys manage their contacts in different ways isn’t important, but the challenge this presents for law firms is. A centralized collection of clean, correct and complete contacts is critical to effective...more
CRM should be a team sport. Trying to go it alone in implementing a CRM is not only painful, it’s impossible.
The Marketing team is critical for defining a CRM strategy and assisting in the planning, communication and...more
Before embarking on your CRM marathon, it’s important to plot the best course. To do this, it’s helpful to determine where you are now. Successful CRM implementations begin with a comprehensive assessment of your current...more
Few people will disagree that good CRM data is essential for effective marketing. Despite that fact, bad data has become endemic in marketing databases everywhere....more
The holidays are long over and the scramble to send out holiday mailings seems like ancient history. But don’t close the book yet! ...more
In today’s highly mobile market, up to 30% of a firm’s CRM contact data quality can degrade each year. People get hired, fired, promoted and change jobs; they move and change addresses; they get married and divorced; some...more
So what do you do if you just can’t seem to get data quality help from within your firm – or if you don’t want to spend months manually cleaning your CRM data? How big a problem is data quality depression really?...more
Once the outside structure of your CRM is solid, it’s time to think about the infrastructure. How will the information need to flow within the system and externally? What types of connections or integrations will need to be...more
Once you have a solid CRM foundation to build upon, it’s time to begin building out the CRM framework for your system. Of course, the building blocks for every CRM are the contacts, including both people and companies....more
Once you have a concrete strategy and have formed a plan, you need to build a solid foundation for long term CRM success. Doing this type of ‘groundwork’ will ensure that your CRM implementation and structure will stand the...more
Selecting the right team to build your house is essential. We’ve all heard horror stories about dealing with bad contractors. Without the right building partner, you are likely to get a house that takes longer and costs more...more
CRM success starts with a plan. Once you have invested the time to articulate the initial ideas for your new CRM home and have shared your thoughts with your CRM architect and key stakeholders in the organization, it’s...more
One of the most common CRM data quality complaints we hear as CRM Success Consultants is that key pieces of contact data in the system are missing. This significantly reduces the value of the system and hinders adoption....more
There is nothing sadder than a poor lonely little orphan – especially in your CRM system. When a record is left in the system and all the attorneys who once knew the contact are gone, the record is essentially abandoned. It’s...more
In today’s highly mobile markets, up to 30% of a firm’s CRM contact data can degrade each year. People get hired, fired, promoted and change jobs; they move and change addresses; they get married and divorced; some retire and...more
When some larger firms with sophisticated marketing departments began to realize the limitations of spreadsheets years ago, they started looking for alternatives. But because the profession had not been focused on...more
This is where real pipeline software can help to take a law firm’s business development to the next level. A true sales pipeline allows opportunities to be entered and linked to related people and companies. Pipelines also...more