The perfect CRM: I once met a real unicorn in the Canadian wilderness

OK, maybe not the wilderness, wilderness. It was Toronto. I met Jamie Lee while building a Marketo instance for her. Her company was doing a ten-city tour and they wanted to use the system in six weeks, nearly half the time it takes for a normal implementation. But Jamie Lee was supremely organized, so it worked.

Typically in an implementation, there comes a time when you have to connect a new marketing automation system to the Customer Relationship Manager (CRM). This is the time when the really ugly things come crawling out of the corporate gutter. Not here. 

Her employer was a household-name investment firm renown for employing smart and thoughtful leaders. This organizational discipline came through in their CRM system. It was pristine. Sales diligently worked leads, documented all activity, and the consistency resulted in a nearly spotless database and quick, accurate reporting. 

[Designed from ground up. Got the right people in the planning sessions. Strong executive oversight. Realized the importance of the system for profitablility and conveyed that to employees. Compensated sales on accurate and timely working within system (notes, conversion, dispositioning, etc)]

How did this happen? The senior executives were actively engaged in the design and build of the project. They partnered with IT and Sales. And, most importantly, they tied the accurate and timely transitioning of leads to sales opportunities to the salespersons’ bonus. That’s right: you work the lead properly, you get your full commission.