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What does a CRM implementation actually include?

Discovery, data model, migration, automation, integrations, reporting, and training.

A real CRM implementation has seven work streams: discovery, data model design, data migration, process and automation, integrations, reporting, and training with go live support. Take any proposal you have received and check it against that list. Whatever is missing is either not being done or is going to appear later as a change order.

The seven work streams

  • Discovery. How leads arrive, who touches them, what has to be true at each step, and what leadership needs to see. Output is documented process, not notes.
  • Data model. Objects, properties, property types, picklist values, owners, and associations. This document is the implementation's spine.
  • Migration. Field mapping, cleaning, deduplication before load, a sandbox test, a staged load, and a record count reconciliation afterwards.
  • Process and automation. Pipelines, stages, lifecycle, lead status, routing, task creation, notifications, suppression. Built as a small number of readable workflows.
  • Integrations. Only the ones that block daily work in phase one. The rest belongs in phase two, after the data model stops moving.
  • Reporting. Dashboards built last, because a report is only true if the fields it reads are maintained.
  • Training and go live. Role specific training, admin training for your internal owner, and a support window after launch when the real questions show up.

What is usually missing from a cheap quote

Migration cleanup, training, and the post launch window. Those three are where the effort actually is, and they are the easiest to leave out of a proposal to make the number look good. A quote that covers configuration only is not wrong, it is just quoting a fraction of the project.

What a good one leaves out on purpose

Every integration anyone can imagine. Lead scoring you are not ready for. Custom objects you do not need yet. Scope discipline is a feature. Adding later is cheap, removing later is expensive.

Our HubSpot specific version of this is the onboarding process, and what onboarding with us looks like covers it in more detail. See the service.

Related: How long does a CRM implementation take? | How much does a CRM implementation cost? | What happens after onboarding is complete?