Current State Audit

Where is customer data now?
Map: Customer X data is scattered across 6 systems. Unify it into one.

• Old CRM (Dynamics? Older version?)
• Email (Gmail, Outlook - customer communications)
• Spreadsheets (customer lists, contact info)
• Documents (contracts, agreements)
• Accounting system (customer transaction history)
• Support system (if separate - ticket history)
• Analytics (customer usage data)

Data Assessment

How much data?
Estimate: Cleaning and migrating will take time.

• Total customers: X
• Transactions: X per year
• Communications: X emails per customer
• Documents: X attachments
• Quality: how clean is current data? (missing fields? duplicates?)

CRM Selection

What CRM system?
Decide: Which fits your budget, complexity, team size?

• Salesforce: most powerful, most expensive (?13,695-300/user/month)
• HubSpot: simpler, mid-range (?4,150-120/month)
• Pipedrive: sales-focused, affordable (?1,162-99/month)
• Microsoft Dynamics: enterprise, complex
• Custom: build your own (most expensive, most flexible)

Team Assessment

Who will manage migration?

• CRM admin (full-time during migration)
• Data specialist (clean & validate data)
• IT/integrations (connect to other systems)
• Business analyst (gather requirements)
• Super-users from sales/operations (test, train others)

Budget & Timeline

Includes: software licenses, data migration, training, support

• Small (1-50 people): ?4,150-100K, 8-12 weeks
• Mid (50-200 people): ?8,300-250K, 12-16 weeks
• Large (200+ people): ?20,750K+, 16-24 weeks

Deliverable from Phase 1

• One-page assessment: current data locations, volumes, CRM selected, budget approved, timeline committed

Requirements Gathering

What should the new CRM do?

• Sales: track deals, manage pipeline, forecast
• Customers: complete profiles, communication history, interactions
• Reporting: visibility (who's doing what, where's revenue?)
• Integrations: connect to email, calendar, accounting, support

CRM Configuration

Configure the new CRM:

• Define fields (what info do we track? company, industry, revenue, contact info, etc.)
• Define relationships (how do accounts, contacts, deals, activities relate?)
• Define workflows (when deal closes, what happens? invoice? alert finance?)
• Define reports (what do managers need to see?)

Data Mapping

Map old data to new:

• Old CRM field "Company_Name" ? New CRM field "Account Name"
• Old CRM field "Opp_Amount" ? New CRM field "Deal Value"
• Identify: which old data migrates? Which gets archived?

Data Cleaning Plan

Clean data before migration:

• Remove duplicates (same customer in 3 records)
• Validate data (missing required fields? Bad formats?)
• Standardize (inconsistent naming? Fix it)
• Estimate: 20-40% of time is cleaning

Integration Planning

What connects to CRM?

• Email (Gmail/Outlook ? CRM auto-logs activities)
• Calendar (meetings ? CRM auto-logs)
• Accounting (deals ? CRM triggers invoice)
• Support (tickets ? CRM links to customer)

Deliverable from Phase 2

• Configuration document: CRM fields, relationships, workflows, integrations planned

Data Export

Export data from old system:

• Customers
• Contacts
• Deals/opportunities
• Activities (emails, calls, meetings)
• Documents

Data Cleaning

Clean data:

• Remove duplicates (merge customer records)
• Validate (ensure all required fields populated)
• Standardize (fix formatting, naming inconsistencies)
• Enrich (add missing data if available)

Data Import

Import into new CRM:

• Test import (small batch first, verify it works)
• Full import (all data)
• Validate (spot-check: does data look right?)

De-Duplication

After import, find duplicates:

• Same company, different records
• Same contact, different records
• Merge duplicates into single records

Data Validation

Verify data integrity:
Timeline: 2-4 weeks (depending on data volume and quality)

• Count: same number of records as old system?
• Spot-check: sample records, verify accuracy
• Cross-check: customer in new CRM? Also in finance system?

Deliverable from Phase 3

• Clean, migrated data in new CRM, validated and ready for testing

User Acceptance Testing

Test the CRM with real users:

• Create test scenarios (sales rep uses CRM as they normally would)
• Test workflows (deal closes ? does invoice auto-create?)
• Test integrations (email arrives ? does CRM auto-log?)
• Gather feedback (what's confusing? What's missing?)
• Fix issues

Training Development

Create training materials:

• User guides (how to create deal, log activity, etc.)
• Video tutorials (short 2-3 min videos for each task)
• Q&A documents (common questions answered)
• Admin guides (if applicable, for CRM administrators)

Train Super-Users

Train 2-3 super-users from each department:

• These people become go-to experts for their team
• They help train others
• They gather feedback from their teams

Train All Users

Training approaches:

• Live webinars (all users, walk through system)
• 1-on-1 coaching (for struggling users)
• Self-service videos (users learn at their own pace)
• Post-training support (questions answered within 24 hours)

Support Setup

Assign CRM support:

• CRM admin (owner, escalation point)
• Help desk (questions answered)
• Super-users (peer support)
• Training materials (self-service)

Deliverable from Phase 4

• All users trained, comfortable with CRM, support structure in place

Schema

Guide, HowTo, FAQPage

SEO Checklist

Title includes "implementation" + "migration"
Meta mentions roadmap, timeline, budget
H1 mentions "current state to unified"
Clear 5-phase breakdown
Real timeline example
FAQ with 8 questions
Links to services

AEO Optimization

Step-by-step implementation guide
Timeline and budget guidance
Real case study with metrics
Risk mitigation approach