PoC process that helps make a right decision

This guide is a part of the below ultimate guides:
‍How to Build a Perfect Sales Process With the Help of Your CRM?

Let's assume that independent research on the Internet to find the necessary and verified information takes from a few to dozen hours. Of course, it all depends on the industry and the extent of the topic. It takes so long because it is not easy to find a reliable source of answers to very specialistic questions. Within 6 hours, Aleksander not only answered all the client's questions and dispelled his doubts, but he also helped determine the needs related to the CRM system and implemented a preliminary version of the solution. The client saved his time resources and received services from a world-class certified specialist.

Project scope:

• Workshop and collecting needs
• PoC implementation

Project time: 6h

Effect: The knowledge of a certified CRM consultant enabled an efficient decision-making process to change the main CRM system and software development to meet the organization's requirements. Thanks to the reliability of the specialist, the client saved even several dozen hours. He also gained confidence that the chosen solution would fulfill its function.

Aleksander Dytko - Certified CRM Freelancer

I work in the sales department at Software House daily, and our general CRM system is Pipedrive. Based on my sales experience, I am able to understand the client's situation and processes quickly, advise on the selection of solutions and process optimization. I also deal with system integrations through Zapier, which significantly improves the work of teams. With SoftwareSupp, I have already completed a few projects. One of them has been described here.

CRM consultant help make a decision about Customer Relationship management

The client hired a certified CRM consultant to obtain specialist advice and assistance in implementing the selected system. To better illustrate the situation, we introduce our client: Autonomia consulting. It is a Poznań consulting and training company that helps its clients achieve higher organization and working people effectiveness. Autonomia consulting has so far used ActiveCampaign to manage customer relations. But it did not meet all expectations and needs. The client admitted that the capabilities of this software were insufficient. He also paid attention to the daily operation of the system. The aim of the project was to quickly check whether Pipedrive as a CRM meets the organization's needs. A list of measures was defined as success criteria.

CRM success criteria:

• Is it possible to integrate Pipedrive with other tools via Zapier?
• Will the salesperson need an Asana to manage tasks at the customer's site?
• Can I create tasks in Pipedrive?
• Can I see which customers are at which stage of the funnel?
• How can I analyze the sales funnel?
• What does the integration with an email account look like?
• Integration with Teams: How to use Pipedrive in Teams - plugin to use
• Can I define email templates for faster sending in Pipedrive?
• How to attach files to sales opportunities/people/organizations in CRM?
• Is it possible to change the status of a sales opportunity (e.g. change a stage in a funnel) after completing the task?
• Pipedrive's ability to create sales opportunities from email: Can I automatically create sales opportunities from emails?
• Pipedrive integration with ActiveCampaign: How ActiveCampaign -> Pipedrive communication works - when something happens in one, it should also appear in the other. Is it possible? How does Pipedrive -> ActiveCampaign communication work?
• Same fields in Pipedrive and ActiveCampaign: The need is to be able to export the CSV file from Pipedrive and import it into ActiveCampaign. The columns and data types must match.
• Is it possible to create a form after which the data will be sent into the CRM, and a task will be created automatically?
• Can this data also be sent to ActiveCampaign?
• How does the import of companies and contacts work?
• Is it possible to assign one person to many companies?
  

The client received answers to these and other questions. On this basis, a decision was made to implement the tool into the internal system.

Pipedrive is a CRM system for customer relationship management - it stores contacts to our business partners and customers, company data, and a history of sales opportunities. Pipedrive is a tool that is easy to integrate through webhook, native integrations, or Zapier, which is one of the most popular CRM systems in the world. - Aleksander, CRM consultant 

Certified CRM consultant’s project for the client from consulting industry

The project implemented by a CRM consultant was to test the tool's capabilities without spending time on research and figuring out how to use the software. After 6 hours of working with an expert, the client received answers to his questions about the possibilities and a short team training on selected CRM.

As a result, the client gained several dozen hours (1-2 weeks) that would be spent on looking for answers, learning how to use the software, and training other employees.

CRM consultant skills used for Pipedrive PoC project

• Pipedrive knowledge and experience
• Ability to configure Wordpress and its plugins
• Acquaintance with Zapier
• Knowledge of ActiveCampaign
  

I really enjoyed this project and the cooperation with the client in developing the best solution. For Pipedrive PoC, we jointly created a list of success criteria that I tested. An interesting fact to solve was assigning more than one organization to a sales opportunity. Also, the multitude of tools with which you had to integrate CRM made this project interesting. - Aleksander, CRM consultant 

Preparation of a Proof of concept as the principal CRM consultant's task

Proof of concept, commonly known as PoC, is an activity consisting in proving the rightness of using a given solution in a specific company. The purpose of PoC is to demonstrate the possibility of achieving the assumed business results. 

The goal is to help us decide if Pipedrive is the right solution for our consulting company - client at the initial stage of the project 

CRM consultant’s tasks

1. Kick-off call with the preparation of the meeting's summary 
2. Prepare the Pipedrive account
3. Account activation
4. Configuration of funnels based on a diagram from the customer
5. Custom fields configuration based on the previous CRM

6. Preparation of the import of contacts, organizations, and sales opportunities, based on the export of data from the previous CRM system
7. Automation of transitions between stages - when a sales opportunity is closed in one funnel, a copy of it is created and the original sales opportunity is transferred to the next funnel in the sequence (e.g. sales -> customer service), based on Workflow automation
8. Configuration of an email account and preparation of email templates
   

9. Integration with OneDrive and preparation of document templates
10. Integration with Teams and setting notifications
11. Preparing the Zapier instance to connect to the Contact Form 7
12. Preparation of a Wordpress test instance with the Contact Form 7 plugin to present the integration options via Webhooks and Zapier to Pipedrive
    
    

13. Presentation of work results, training and Q&A
14. Delegation of access

The success of CRM Proof of Concept

The filar of project success was the joint building of criteria that were factors directly influencing the decision-making process. Meeting the client's requirements would not be possible without the knowledge of CRM. The fact of many years of experience in sales, which facilitated the efficient understanding of the needs and scope of the project, cannot be ignored as well. At the beginning of the cooperation, the client set the following requirements: Mapping the sales process in the organization in CRM and migration from the old solution. The client's company has 10-15 employees, thanks to the adaptation of the tool for managing relations with clients, each of them will become more effective. Automation of tasks and data transfer, combined with additional tools integrations, will eliminate repetitive and tedious work. It results in gaining additional time that has a positive impact on sales results and employee satisfaction.

What made Aleksander a suitable expert for the Autonomia consulting project?

After submitting the project to SoftwareSupp, we knew what kind of person the client needed. Aleksander is a certified Pipedrive specialist but also has extensive experience in managing sales processes. These skills allowed the expert to complete the assigned tasks efficiently. The screenshot shown above indicates that only part of the project has been completed at this stage. The client decided which of the work submitted to the project board should be implemented immediately and which could wait. Some of the tasks are still waiting for implementation. The client has the option to manage his budget according to his individual needs. Probably funds will be used for additional integration, Pipedrive support, or the client will develop another part of the business, such as a website, in its time. However, the most important thing for us is that everyone has a sense of managing time and money following the planned development.