A CRM fails almost always for the same reason: it is slower than what it replaces.
A rep who wrote a client into a notebook in five seconds will not fill in eleven mandatory fields. They will keep using the notebook, and the system stays empty and expensive.
What actually matters in a first CRM
Being faster than Excel. Adding a client has to take less time than opening a file. If it does not, it does not get used.
Few mandatory fields. Three, not eleven. The rest get filled in if they are useful, not because the system refuses to save.
One place for the history. What was discussed, when, what was promised. That is the real value: when a rep goes on holiday or leaves, the relationship stays.
A link to 1C. Orders and invoices already live there. A CRM that cannot see them forces someone to enter them a second time, and that is where it dies.
Romanian and Russian in the interface. An English-only system limits adoption to the people who speak English.
On a phone. Field reps do not open a laptop in the car.
What you do not need at the start
Marketing automation, lead scoring, forecasts, approval hierarchies. Those are features for companies whose process is already settled. In a company coming from a notebook they add nothing but friction.
A good first CRM does four things: holds the clients, holds the history, reminds you what is next, and shows what is in progress.
Where it starts
From the current process, not from software. Who makes first contact, who quotes, who closes, what happens when a client goes quiet for two weeks. If that is not clear, the system will record the confusion rather than resolve it.
Then the migration: existing clients from Excel go into the system before the first day of use. An empty CRM is never adopted.
Questions
Do we buy an off-the-shelf CRM or build one?
It depends how specific the process is. For classic sales, an existing system configured properly is cheaper. For processes of your own — distribution with per-client pricing, service with a history per machine — building is justified.
How do we get the reps to use it?
By making it faster than what they use now. Not through training and not through obligation. A system slower than a notebook always loses.
Can it connect to 1C?
Yes, and usually it has to. Without that link, someone enters the same orders twice and the CRM becomes a chore.
How long does implementation take?
Configuration is quick. What takes time is agreeing the process and migrating the existing data — and that is also where it gets decided whether the system will be used.