Fix Sales: Is Your CRM a “Box of Lies”?

By Mark Roberts

More and more sales teams are investing in a CRM to improve their sales effectiveness and drive more revenue to the bottom-line. (or that’s what the business case you wrote said to justify the investment) The right CRM becomes your single voice of truth to determine sales pipeline, sales behavior and customer activity. Salespeople often push back because the tool was thrown on them and not sold to them on how it could benefit them. Most salespeople believe a CRM is basically one more way for the organization (big brother) to watch them and challenge what they do. Sales organizations are already the most measured business team in most organizations. One-way salespeople push back on a CRM is making it a “box of lies”. In this post we will discuss why sales teams often hate CRM’s, the value a good CRM will deliver and how to tell if your current CRM is just a “box of lies.”

I was watching the Jimmy Fallon show not long ago and he had a guest Mellissa McCarthy and they played a game called box of lies. If you are not familiar with this game click here and watch a short video. The game is set up with two players facing each other and they have a small window to make eye contact. One player picks a box from the shelf and opens it and can describe what they see or lie. The other person must try to guess if what they are being told is the truth or a lie.

As I watched this show it reminded me how this is often how sales leaders feel when they look into their CRM systems trying to find valuable insights about the accounts their salespeople are working with.

Working with senior sales leader I often hear two common concerns about their CRM:

1. The doubt the accuracy of the data
2. They struggle to have their sales teams use the tool they invested in

Salespeople who have the right CRM for their application and have received training on how to use the technology to become more efficient and effective love their CRM. The CRM is the first thing they open each day, they can enter updates from their cell phones and they have seen how this tool helps takes the complexity out of account management and helps them close more sales faster.

However this is not the norm in most sales organizations I work with. Salespeople do not use the CRM in many cases and if asked they share they hate it.

Why?

If we seek the root of a problem we can often better understand it and fix it. To fix this sales problem I Goggled: “Why Sales hates CRM systems” It seems I am not the only one who has noticed salespeople hating their CRM and wanting to know why.

Why sales (don’t) hate CRM, but why they won’t use it 

Why do salespeople hate CRM? 

5 Reasons Salespeople Hate CRM 

Why do your Sales Reps Hate your CRM 

Why salespeople hate their CRM (you tube)

Why Your Sales Reps Hate CRM Software [Infographic]

I read these posts and watched You-tubes and identified 5 common reasons salespeople Hate CRM.

1. Trust – they believe it was implemented to check on them, hold them even more accountable. They believe its one more way for big brother to watch them and challenge them and their sales leaders have no idea what selling is like today.
2. Written for sales managers not salespeople– this came up often and I hear it from salespeople I work with and coach. The tool their leaders invested in (often in a big way) does not add any value to the salesperson. The tool they use, if they use it, was not designed for the user but the manager.
3. Access– some salespeople complain their CRM system is not accessible when they are in the field working with customers. Many complain they cannot update account data from their cell phones. One team expressed the concern their CRM is so poor they spend hours entering the updates and it is lost.
4. Not easy to learn or use– many of the salespeople I coach share they received little if any training on how to use their CRM and if they did receive training it was on the basics and not real life examples of what they do in a typical day.
5. Adds more time and complexity to their day not efficiency – this comes up in every conversation. Some CRM tools have such a poor user interface they just add frustration to the salesperson’s already frustrating and stress filled day. As one seasoned salesperson shared with me off the record: “ What does my CEO and Sr. VP of Sales want? They said it very clear in our last meeting. They want more organic growth, more customer face time, more net new business and sales selling based on value not price. The trouble is the CRM system we chose is not adding efficiency to my day it is taking time from the hours I could be selling.”

One article shared the below quote:

“The valuable data and sales process flow reviews and improving your sales forecasting you hoped to gain from the investment is now a bunch of meaningless data that is not worth the time it took a salesperson to enter it.”

Another article went on to share:

“Salespeople should be doing one thing and one thing only: talking to prospects and building real human relations in the process. Traditional CRM systems are keeping them away from that. Instead of facilitating relationship building, CRM’s hold sales people from their prospects and force them to log calls, update contacts, attach emails and other mindless admin work humans are not meant to be doing.”

What good is a tool if you need to help it to make it help you?

One last quote from SalesBox.com (I promise):

“We have personally discussed CRM with thousands of people worldwide. The general feedback from the salespeople is usually unprintable, we usually say they get something dark in their eyes when you mention the word CRM”

Why have a CRM if a sale hates them so much?

What are the key benefits of CRM software?

The right CRM can help your sales grow profitably with:

• Improved efficiency
• Improved customer retention
• Get greater customer satisfaction
• Increased sales productivity
• Do better forecasting and reporting

Former CEO of General Electric, Jack Welch insists that the secret to making it to the top of your industry (and staying there) starts on the inside:

“An organization’s ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.

I thought this quote was a compelling reason to have a CRM:

“Digital transformation is no longer an initiative used by progressive companies to increase efficiency or gain a competitive edge over their peers—it is a requirement for all businesses to thrive in the future.” – Gartner

How do you know if your current CRM is the wrong CRM?

1. Sales Managers have to force salespeople to use it
2. The tool is not accessible 24/7
3. The tool is not accessible on mobile devices
4. Sales is not updating account records timely
5. You have zero confidence in your sales pipeline
6. Salespeople are spending less time selling and more time with data entry

So how about your team?

Are you looking for a CRM?

Does your sales team hate your CRM? If so, why?

Did your CRM training include applications for typical sales activities?

Did your sales team receive CRM training?

I purposefully did not call out any CRM Software companies in this post. You need to find the right tool for your sales process. As Covey said: “start with the end in mind.” Why do you want or why did you buy the CRM you have? We need to help salespeople by improving the user experience and with training. Fail to have a good user experience and fail to train your sales team…you will have an expensive box of lies.

To close, I want to share I do not work for any CRM company. I would also like to share I am a huge fan of having a CRM if it is the right application and interface for your business and supports a better buyer experience and adds efficiency and effectiveness to your sales team.

What is my advice if your sale hates your CRM and they are not using it?

1. Understand your current sales process and make sure your CRM matches how your salespeople sell, or are supposed to sell today.
2. Ask the users what they want and need to make the CRM more useful.
3. Continuously train and facilitate peer to peer sharing of best practices
4. Coach your salespeople
5. Share with your sales team how you will use this tool to identify needed new sales tools and job aids based on the data they are entering.
6. Share how critical it is to enter account updates and why we win and why we lose sales and the role that data will play in the future