The Magic of a Well-Liked CRM Application Adds Value to Your Sales Stack

Magicians who specialize in card tricks are famous for their one-liner: Pick a card, any card!

That’s the way it is with CRM.  There are probably several dozen CRM providers and while SalesForce.com is the company that dwarfs all others, the reality is more complicated.

Pick a CRM application, any CRM application.

The last ten clients I asked answered this way:

7 have a parent company demanding they use SalesForce.com, hate it and can’t switch.

1 said they use SalesForce.com and must choose something else.

1 said they don’t have one but need to get CRM.

1 said they’re stuck with awful, industry-specific software with a CRM module.

Most companies have a sales stack that includes inferior, clunky, applications that aren’t user-friendly.  The Marketing Department gets the best applications while most sales organizations are stuck with applications that salespeople under-use, misuse, abuse or ignore.  Companies spend a small fortune on these applications and don’t realize the benefit of promised up-to-date reports or intelligence because salespeople hate these apps so much, they don’t keep the data current.

Earlier in CRM’s history, salespeople couldn’t be bothered to use it whereas today, most salespeople are repelled by it.  Most applications don’t provide user value or the company hasn’t communicated how these tools will help the sales team.  Additionally, most companies have failed to make compliance (daily updates) a requirement.  CRM has profoundly failed to live up to its potential.

If you think about cars, furniture, TVs, computers, mattresses, and food, one brand, model or size does not fit all.  Everyone is different. Every company is different. Salesforce.com is a square peg and most SMBs and mid-market companies are round holes. For years, companies have bought the Salesforce.com hype and regretted it.

There are exceptions in the CRM world and when you find one to fall in love with, good things usually happen.  My clients love Membrain, the application that we recommend for complex and consultative sales.  Clients love it because their salespeople like it, it is easy to customize, you receive out of the box reporting on everything you need, you can create beautiful sales process integrations with built-in playbooks while avoiding most data entry.

Membrain is an example of a CRM application developed by sales experts who know that unless it’s simple to navigate, easy to use, and provides value (instead of perceived busy work), salespeople won’t use it.

A great CRM application still isn’t enough though.  You also need proper expectations, governance, and accountability.  Salespeople should know that compliance – daily or more frequent updates – are a requirement for continued employment.  Divas rebelling against CRM and claiming it takes time away from selling can defeat your initiative quicker than you can say, “it was fun while it lasted.”  In a perfect world, your salespeople will embrace CRM where instead of living in email and using CRM as a tool, they live in CRM and use email as a tool.

The sales stack does not have to be dysfunctional.  It’s dysfunctional because companies give up, give in and allow it to remain that way.