For the professional services person, some iterations of CRM may be confusing - many are slanted toward automating customer service operations. But never fear, there is a whole lot more to CRM than fielding service calls. In fact, a new breed of CRM is quickly becoming a powerful solution for professional services firms, especially those with management teams that want to leverage firm-wide intellectual property to grow their client base, improve productivity and maximize profitability.

Unlike accounting or HR solutions that are primarily used by highly trained and skilled personnel within a single department, CRM is an enterprise application that is used by virtually everyone across the firm. When deployed in an organization, CRM solutions aggregate vast amounts of information to create a pool of knowledge that can be used to prospect new business, validate leads, analyze processes and more. Sounds great. But the question remains: how can a firm ensure success? Following are five simple steps that can help put your organization on the path to CRM success.

1. Remember that Culture is King