Are you treating your CRM like Tinder?

We live in an era where everything, even our most intimate relationships, finds someone telling us there’s an app for that and we can systematize the most personal human experiences off an algorithm.? In business, our customer relationship management “tools” are at risk of actually killing off more relationships than we gain if we don’t remember what they are actually intended for...management support, not creation. ? Similar to our personal lives, letting the computer essentially decide who is worthy of our time is hugely dangerous when looking at large scale contracts with complexity.??

While I am definitely an advocate for the usage of tools and systems to help stay in touch with clients and inform prospects of what we’re doing or opportunities we have for them, that automatically triggered email or pre-programmed social post is not and will never be a replacement for the value of a real life conversation.? For anything beyond perhaps what type of coffee they want in their office, You have to get into the detail of a person’s business needs and goals to create those solutions.

Having started my career just as the internet and email were coming into wide usage, I’ve had the benefit of being able to choose how I adapt the “old school” into the more tech driven modern eras and opportunities. The "best practices" of all these eras still apply and help to amplify each other.? Meanwhile, the number of LinkedIn “connection requests” I get from people promising to change my world overnight because they know how to set digital appointments is staggering and stupid.? The instant I ask any of them about the industries I work in specifically?? I’m either ghosted or given a line of bull about how they can deliver my wildest dreams while they actually know nothing about the space or maybe know some but won’t invest the time necessary to really dig into the depth of who I work with.? My title, and descriptor triggered some key word interest for them, but actually knowing whether we can communicate together, they just “swiped right” and that’s about it..? I’m not really that kind of guy, so I'll go left.

What do we do when the pace of business has accelerated 100x or more in the last decade, we may receive over 1000 emails in a day, and everyone is worried the prospect is going to get stolen by someone else if we aren’t there fast enough?? Our instinct is to hit the gas, use our CRM tech platforms to hit everyone today with a pickup line, follow up tomorrow with a promise to deliver the world, check the open rate, ask everyone that opened it to believe the promise with little background? and “close” whatever deal they can by Friday night when the weekly report is due. When in fact, we should be doing the opposite.??

Yes, we want to use our platforms to keep in touch and keep track of our conversations with people. Yes, we want to send out on a regular basis information that educates our clients on things of value to them.? It’s a sign that you care when you do. ? But, when it comes to conversion from a prospect to a client, we need to remember that in most industries we want the right clients who we can work with for a long time to build great things.? It’s not about a quick hit relationship.? We’re building relationships for long term success over time and that’s not what CRM automation is all about when abused in a silo. Relationships take work and you can't delegate that work solely to an AI.???

This means you need to own the CRM process, don’t let it run you.? It requires doing some study of the prospect to make sure you think they are a good fit and that you can explain to them why you believe in it.? Most importantly, it requires a feedback loop that most CRM programs don’t have where we can actually listen and comprehend the needs of the client so we best know how to fulfill them. It requires conversation beyond a text.

I acknowledge for those industries where you are trying to move maybe a $49 retail product out the door en masse, perhaps a less personal, and not as in depth algorithm based approach may work well.? But even there, I would argue that those individuals buying quick products use them frequently as repeat customers because they do feel a relationship beyond an AI based solution.

If you look at average email open rates of approximately 2% to 3% against 1000 people, you’ll have? moved on the upside approximately 30 people a step deeper into your marketing funnel.? Over the course of a few months for a moderately complex product sale, you might sell 10 out of 30 of those if you are really good in managing your CRM pipeline while turning off all the others who now will ignore you forever or block you even if someday they might have become a client.? You won’t know much about the 30 you did get really, but you’ll be able to put some sales points on the board. ? On the other hand, if you manage 30 really focused relationships with companies you know need your service, you’ll know in detail about their needs, you’ll have a personal relationship with them that protects client loyalty and longevity, likely gain referrals and you’ll still be able use CRM for what it was meant to do... relationship management not relationship creation.??

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