CRM consultant or CRM developer: who do you need?

What a CRM consultant usually does

A CRM (customer relationship management system) consultant usually helps you choose and set up an existing platform. They look at your process, advise on how to organise stages and fields, and help configure the product and train your team.

This is valuable when a ready-made platform can cover most of what you need, and the main task is to set it up well and make sure people use it.

What a CRM developer does

A CRM developer builds software. That can mean a custom CRM designed around your workflow, or the connections that let your CRM exchange data with your website, accounting software or email.

This is useful when your process does not fit a standard product, when your team keeps working around a product's limits, or when you want the system and the data under your own control.

When you need which, and when you need both

• You may need a consultant when your process fits an existing platform and the question is how to set it up and adopt it.
• You may need a developer when your core workflows, records or permissions need more flexibility than a product offers.
• You may need both when you want advice on the process first and a build or connection afterwards. Some suppliers offer both, and some businesses use two.

Questions to ask either one

Whichever kind of help you consider, these questions help you compare fairly:

• Who owns the data and the system? Ask where it is kept and what you receive at handover.
• What do I get at handover? Ask for documents, access and training to be listed.
• Who does the migration? Moving data from spreadsheets or another system is a task of its own.
• Who supports the system after launch? Ask how fixes, updates and changes are requested.
• Can you show real work? Ask for examples, described in a way that respects the other client's privacy.
• How do you decide what to recommend? A good answer starts with your problem, not with a product or a build.

How True North works

We start by assessing the fit before recommending a development approach. In some cases, the better step is to customise the CRM you already use. If a custom build is the better step, then as CRM developers in Melbourne, we work in four steps.

• Map the workflow: understand your team, records, existing tools and the decisions the CRM needs to support. The output is agreed requirements.
• Design the system: plan the data model, screens, roles and integrations. The output is scope and screen designs.
• Build and review: develop the agreed workflows and review working features with your team. The output is tested workflows.
• Launch and train: complete the agreed migration, explain everyday use and hand over access and documentation. The output is a launch and handover plan.

What to prepare before you contact anyone

A short brief saves time for you and for the supplier. You do not need technical words. Write down five things:

• The tools you use today for customers, quotes and invoices.
• The steps of your process, from the first enquiry to the finished job.
• The one problem that costs you the most time or the most enquiries.
• The people who will use the system every day, and what each of them does.
• Any data you want to keep, and where it is held now.

Questions about your own situation

Before you choose a kind of help, ask yourself a few things. Does a ready-made product already cover most of your steps? Do you work around its limits every week? Is your problem mainly about how people use the system, or about what the system can do? Would you want the system and the data under your own control?

Your answers point toward a consultant, a developer, or both. They also make your first conversation with a supplier much more useful, because you can explain the problem instead of asking for a product.

Choosing between them

You do not need to decide the title first. Start by writing down your process, the tools you already use and what is not working. Then ask each supplier what they would recommend and why. The better answers explain the reasoning, mention the options they would not choose, and are clear about what happens after launch.