Embrace the CRM

Why do I need to log a customer conversation? Why do I need to put customer feedback into the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system? What is management doing with this information? Who cares? What will another salesperson do with the info I put on the CRMs? Who cares what my customer likes and what their kids’ names are? When a company says we are moving to a CRM, these are all questions you hear from a salesperson. They will argue that this is information they don’t need to share; they have it on their spreadsheets and their systems.

Starting with the facts, it is tough to argue against the facts. Tech World did a study and found the below information about using a CRM:

• Improves Customer Service by 74%
• Improves Customer Satisfaction by 66%
• Improves Customer Retention by 56%
• Increases Sales by 54%
• Generates New Business by 53%
• Improves Market intelligence by 29%

Starting the conversation by showing the success of a CRM program and how it has improved sales across a multitude of industries helps reinforce the point with your sales team. All salespeople are rewarded when more sales occur.

Once a salesperson understands that using the CRM will help increase sales,  now is the time to develop good habits when interfacing with CRM. At the start, nurture your sales team’s process. Teach them the best practices and get them to use the platform. The more someone uses the platform, the more comfortable they will be using it, no matter the chosen system. I would always suggest putting a standard mechanism for your sales process and making the CRM the tool used to record or be the structure for the instrument. If you have a bid schedule or a quote system, tie your CRM to that so that the salesperson must interact with the CRM.

The final suggestion is that if you want a CRM to succeed in an organization, management must use the tool. It can just live in the salesperson’s realm. Management can set up the expectations and use the tools. The more reporting, dashboard, and metrics management used in the CRM, the more the buy-in from the sales group will lead to use of the system. If a salesperson’s success is measured by what is put into the CRM, they will be more inclined to use the CRM.

Suppose your company considers using a CRM, then share this article with the sales team. If you are currently using a CRM, challenge yourself to use it every day and define and create good habits to use for the success of the CRM. If you enjoy reading the blog, please follow, connect on LinkedIn, and follow me on Twitter.