As I write this, we are now in the eighth month of the most dramatic upheaval to our business life any of us have probably experienced. With this in mind, I am fascinated by how poorly the utilization of CRM tools are today. Very few sales reps are traveling or having face-to-face meetings with customers or prospects so one would assume the data in a client’s CRM system would be in very good shape. From what I see, it is not!
I would submit this is caused by two problems, first the organization has not set up or configured the CRM system in a way that supports how a sales rep does their job and secondly sales managers do not routinely use and inspect the data their sales reps are inputting into a system.
Organizations need to do a better job of streamlining the CRM tool they want their sales reps to utilize. Too often CRM systems are set up by IT professionals, not sales and consequently the tool doesn't support the way a salesperson operates on a daily basis. Sales needs a simple tool to capture basic customer information to be able to analyze a sales situation, track activities /contacts, and manage major accounts. In too many instances it is challenging to find what they need or to update the system, so sales reps simply don't do it. This is an organizational issue that must be addressed by senior leadership if they want their revenue machine (sales dept) to effectively utilize the tool they have invested in. As soon as reps feel there is value, they will use the tool. Until then, organizations will continue to struggle with issuing threats, offering additional compensation, or other useless initiatives to cajole and demand that sales reps use the CRM system. This is simply a huge waste of money and time! I would challenge every C-Suite executive to take a hard look at how their CRM system is being utilized and examine if it supports how your sales teams operate on a daily basis.
Once the organization has streamlined and appropriately set up the CRM system, it is incumbent that sales managers use this as the single source of truth for customer data, sales forecast, account management, opportunity reviews, etc. Many of my customers know the mantra that I use, “if it interests my boss, it better fascinate me.“ This has to be the guiding principle for all sales leadership. Inspect what you expect, reps pay attention to what managers look at, review, and ask questions about. If the CRM system is set up properly it should be easy for sales managers to quickly review and ask minor questions about a sale or account management situation. As this evolves, and sales reps see value in utilizing the CRM tool, data gets better and other functions within the organization will trust what they see in the CRM. Most importantly, the C-Suite will actually see an effective ROI on their CRM investment!
At the organizational level, utilization of the company CRM tool simply cannot be optional. We must fight to simplify the tools we expect our revenue generating department to use and eliminate additional reports, spreadsheets, and other tools which end up being a duplicate process to the CRM tool. Sales reps see no value in doing redundant entry because their manager either doesn't know how to or care to use the tool they’re expected to utilize. This is a management/leadership issue and not a sales rep issue.
Leadership begins at the top of the organization. What we look at, what we question, and what we analyze says much more to our organization than our words. To the C-Suite level I ask, ”What are you looking at, other than a forecast within your revenue generating department?” Are you asking the right questions of your frontline leaders? Do they have the tools to do what you want them to do? And do they have the ability to bring forward challenges they find in the field?
There are plenty of studies that show coaching by frontline leaders can have anywhere from 17-20% increase in revenue generation, so why aren't managers coaching more? I submit it's not for lack of desire to improve performance but the challenges they face trying to get information from their CRM system to coach effectively. In one of my clients, a sales manager described to his director that he spent three hours just trying to pull year-to-date data from their SAP system at midyear so he could have a conversation with his team. Is this what we really want our sales managers doing? Are they trained to be data analysts? If we're serious about making sure our revenue generating department is operating efficiently, we must take a systemic approach to running and managing that department.
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