A CRM Alone Won’t Fix the Problem
Gretchen Gordon
Author of the best-selling book The Happy Sales Manager ??, Speaker, Entrepreneur, Sales Nerd
Here’s a question I’m often asked by both business owners and sales team leaders. “What’s the best CRM for our situation?” What most of those asking really want is a magic bullet to make their salespeople do the right activities to generate enough business.
I am not a highly technical person so I cannot cover the ins and outs of all the different products on the market. But no matter what the product, the answer really is: There isn’t one. I have yet to actually find a CRM that MAKES a salesperson do what they are supposed to do.
Here’s a better answer: The system alone won’t fix the problem.
Which CRM Isn’t the Right Question
I have seen very robust CRM systems with all the bells and whistles be very effective. But I’ve also seen Excel spreadsheets do the job, and of course everything in between. I have seen various systems work great to give leadership better insight into activities and determine resource allocation and I have witnessed them fail miserably. The reason most didn’t work wasn’t because the system was poor, it was because the leadership of salespeople using the system was ineffective.
Here is what I mean. A new CRM system is put in place that helps track where leads come from and who they are distributed to. This is a great start, but if the sales manager isn’t following up to determine what works and what does not with these leads or doesn’t regularly check in with the salespeople who have received them, the money invested in the system is totally wasted.
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Get Your Money’s Worth
Here are some thoughts about how to get the most out of a CRM system:
The Best System is Solid Sales Management
Any CRM system is worthless if the sales manager is not using the system to improve coaching and to hold people accountable to the right behaviors that produce the appropriate level of success. So, you CEOs and business owners out there, if you have a weak sales manager, a system will not make them better. It will make the good sales managers’ job easier but a weak manager won’t become a strong one using a CRM alone.