There's an old saying that people buy things because of how they think they will feel after the purchase. Sounds ridiculous, but it drives plenty of IT purchase cycles. Unfortunately, by the time the technology has actually been deployed, many of the assumptions and conclusions of the purchase cycle have been invalidated by changing business needs, by the product attributes, or both. Buyer's remorse is real, but it can be avoided in CRM projects.

All Marketers are Liars

In Seth Godin's book, he wrote that marketers don't actually lie — they merely provide information that lets the customer believe whatever they want. If that's true, the source of the reality distortion field isn't the vendor, it's the buyer. So don't let yourself be deluded.

The first source of delusion is the fascination with features. Of course, that's what the vendor is going to emphasize and demo. In a sales cycle, amazing stories will be told, believed, and extrapolated upon. Features make it easy to do comparative checklists that make the purchasing department happy. Problem is, CRM features are essentially useless if they users don't like them. Since a CRM system is worth only as much as the scope and validity of the data it contains, a CRM without active users is an empty shell that can have no business impact...irrespective of the purported features.

Instead of features, focus on usability. It's hard to quantify, so it's hard to compare. It's not even as exciting as a 5-year TCO analysis. But usability and speed of adoption will be the core determinant of CRM system's success over time. Here are some things to evaluate closely: