5 More CRM Related Problems Facing Sales Managers Today
This is part II of our CRM problems for Sales Managers post. The topics covered today will be:
- CRM is a Technology, Not a Process
- Unforeseen costs
- No Management Buy-in
- Rigid Rules
- Poor Sales Team Training
CRM is a Technology, Not a Process
CRM is often seen as just a computer system, and not a whole collection of processes aimed at managing customers and prospects. “Organisations that go for the “bells and whistles” approach and believe that CRM technology will lead directly and quickly to a customer centric nirvana are starting from the wrong place entirely”. If you don’t pay attention to your processes, you’ll end up with a sophisticated contact management system, but no real improvement in the way you deal with customers and prospects.
Read more here.
Unforeseen Costs
CRM can overlap many areas of your business. It is particular easy to run up large expenses setting up and running a system. Examples of costs that can arise are as follows:
No Buy-in
Poor communication can prevent buy-in. In order to make CRM work, all the relevant people in your business must know what information you need and how to use it. Top salespeople may ask, for example, why should we be forced to change our working habits, when those very habits helped us become so successful?
Weak leadership could cause problems for any CRM implementation plan. The onus is on management to lead by example and push for a customer focus on every project. If a proposed plan isn’t right for your customers, don’t do it. Send your teams back to the drawing board to come up with a solution that will work.
Without buy-in, you’ll eventually end up back in a place where there is a large, expensive system, with no one using it. Companies must not only create buy-in, but must also maintain users’ enthusiasm.
Rigid Rules
Avoid adopting rigid rules which cannot be changed. Rules should be flexible to allow needs to be met as they arise. Creating a bureaucracy designed to monitor and delay changes consumes time and resources and there can be a backlash towards your CRM system. Control is good, but too much control and you will see a decline in usage.
Poor Sales Team Training
As the CRM is still evolving, businesses are required to devote enough time and revenue in training sales personnel. The workforce should be able to judge how to use the stored data in best possible manner.
If they don’t use it (or the information they do put in is out of date, inaccurate, or spotty) then they can be of little value to the company.
Essentially, companies that don’t provide representatives with sufficient training are going to lose more customers.
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