Patience is a Virture
We are marking the one year anniversary of the Change We Can Believe In. Starting with the 100 day milestone and ever since that time there has been a slow but clear descent into many not believing in The Change. Yes, this growing dissatisfaction is fueled by right-wing fundamentalists and exacerbated by unemployment figures hovering around the double-digit range. But the part that I find troubling is the lack of patience that the nation seems to suffer from. We are so accustomed to instant gratification from everything ranging from fast food to overnight shipping from Amazon that we just can’t give the current administration camping out on Pennsylvania Avenue a chance to get things actually changed.
Sadly, this is the way it works with many CRM programs I encounter as well. For example, we have worked with one client that has insisted on changing its CRM platform three times. Each need for change was blamed on the software. Believe me, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the software. There was, however, a serious problem with patience.
I think there are a couple of important lessons here.
First, if you have been tasked with the job of investigating the prospect of changing out your CRM system, stop! Take a really close look at some telltale factors. Is it really the software that is failing? The statistics would indicate otherwise. I would be willing to place a huge wager that you are more likely hampered by a combination of weak management sponsorship, lackluster adoption, and a poorly designed data structure. You don’t need new software to remedy this. In fact, if you bring in new software you will likely encounter the same issues, just like the example above. Address the issues, don’t make the CRM package the scapegoat.
Second, if you have been tasked with the job of investigating the prospect of introducing a CRM system into an organization that does not truly have one; please consider this one piece of advice. You will have many detractors across the organization, just like we are witnessing across the US of A today. The one way to quiet the crowd is to score early. As you build your program plan, find a way to produce a quick win. The financial stimulus package may or may not turn out to be the quick win for our current package – historians will eventually be the judge of this.
You absolutely cannot afford to have historians evaluate your CRM program success. Find a quick win that everyone will recognize as a quick win, at the time that it happens. Where is the pain? Can you alleviate it quickly, even if only partially? Nothing beats failure and naysayers like success. Plan the earliest possible success you can practically produce.
Patience is not an easy thing to manage. If you can find a quick win you will then be playing its game – feeding the beast. Who cares? If you can overcome impatience by satisfying it, you will win in the long run (and in the short run). Don’t confuse this with the action of inappropriately reinforcing a bad behavior in a child. Go for the success and forget about B.F. Skinner. You will never teach the organization to be patient. So, be impatient yourself and build a success into your plan as soon as you possibly can, even if it adds a bit of extra cost. You may not be able to buy happiness, but you can buy success.