C.R.M
CRM’s – Customer Relationship Management. How is it possible to have all this money to waste?
“I don’t have the time or money for a good CRM right now” or the best one “We bought a really good system last year and it doesn’t work”. I hear this all the time from business owners and I will debate anyone that your CRM is the heart of your business. It saves money, it protects information, it holds staff accountable and most important it allows management to make informed decisions. Companies always find plenty of ways to waste their money on unproductive sales representatives, repeating marketing campaigns that do not work and deliver no ROI. Exponential hours of additional effort result in heating up an entire organization with little return. How is it possible to have all this money to waste and not have the money to invest?
Systems work-period. It is possible for a business to grow and run seamlessly with little exceptions. It is possible and should be expected as management; to get a report stating exactly who earned their pay, potential closed sales and how many leads came in from where. It is possible to do a trade show print ad or social media campaign and measure the ROI. These are all things owners and managers should not simply claim to want, complain they don’t have but demand.
The option to not use the systems chosen cannot be optional. Too often owners feel the need to be gentle, and make exceptions based on how their employees work when implementing a new system. This only leads to not having a system at all, and results in a place to find a phone number. Change in management and best practices are critical in avoiding a weak system deployment. I’ve been in and out of many organizations; I have never seen a system that did not do everything it claim to do, only poor training, implementation and most of all weak enforcement. Some factors to consider are: If the top selling sales rep were to leave today for any reason, wouldn’t it be critical to own your information? How expensive would it be for all leads and opportunities to leave with that person? An unproductive sales executive can easily drain a company; think about the cost of investment in the average sales person, money, time, and expenses. I’ll never forget consulting a company that loved one of the reps, he was likable and always had a deal to talk about, his hopper was always full. This was nothing anyone could measure, just perception. About 60 days after implementing the cloud based CRM, it was very clear, he had nothing! In all fairness, not even he knew how little he had until he saw it in black and white exactly how unproductive he was in reality. From that point forward the system was this reps saving grace, it kept him focused on the calls and meetings that mattered, he knew every day where he was in relation to his quotas, and it eliminated all the other “busy noise” that distracted him. The owners were the rare breed that invested in good systems and expected them to be used by everyone. Enforcement was 100% and they explained to the sales staff this is unconditionally how performance will be measured.
Marketing always gets blamed for spending too much money. However, the results of the dollars spent usually cannot be accurately measured. Companies should not sign up for a tradeshow until they ran the numbers from the last tradeshow. The results of mailings should be clearly measured. Wasted dollas and efforts must be controlled. Companies should be able to clearly see what worked and what generated leads and what didn’t. Bravery plays a role in owning business when it comes to taking risks and trying something new perhaps. However, most decisions should be based on measureable data.
From a service aspect a quality CRM is not only a money saver but your partner in customer retention. The ability to track service, parts, complaints and much more is invaluable. Reports allow you to see your product line, fix the problems before the items leave and be completely proactive. It allows you create solution centers, an online trouble shooting database, making training new employees drastically easier. It provides an opportunity to create a wonderful customer service experience post sale and more importantly, avoid the price of a frustrated customer screaming at the top of their lungs on every social media message board. CRM’s protect you from turnover, employees getting “hit by the bus” or more realistically when on vacation or sick. Regardless the company can continue to do business and pick up where things were left off easily. They allow honest conversations based on what is real, rather than “I think so” or “I’m pretty sure”.
Great systems have become so affordable, cloud computing has taken off, eliminating the need for high IT bills, allowing you and your staff to put in a productive day literally anywhere in the world. Good employees take no issue with accountability; in fact they welcome the opportunity to display to their boss what they have been doing all day. Systems work and those that enforce them prosper.
Joanne Nelson
K2J Services, Inc
516-398-1773
Joanne@k2jservices.com
