Fixing CRM (Pt. 3): NO DATA ENTRY!

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  bzanghi03/20/08 Report as spam
  1

  Making CRM work for the rep...

  I am not convinced that CRM Vendors think sales people are stupid. Maybe my opinion is too biased because I started my career as a sales rep and now am part of a company that adds value to a CRM system.
  
  And that is the point - VALUE.
  
  Sales people should not be doing administrative data entry tasks with the CRM system and there are plenty of options available to companies today to reduce the amount of time this currently takes without needing to outsource the entire effort.
  
  I think the discussion should center more on the things that are done that are high value vs. low value. Do I want my reps entering contact information? Absolutely not!
  
  Do I want my reps taking ownership over maintaining talking points on opportunity status, next steps and strategy? Absolutely! I want this information to be in their voice. Heck - no one questions whether or not reps should be spending time in the email system collaborating with the account team on strategy. The CRM system represents the best place to have that dialogue.
  
  So much of the debate around CRM centers on the rep. Are they using it? Do they spend too much time entering data? Is the data accurate? Is it adding value to the opportunities they are managing?
  
  Here's a hint - If more people in the company that touch the customer (marketing, services, support) used the CRM system and understood what the rep was up to and participated in the dialogue around how they could help - how much more valuable would the CRM system be?
  
  My two cents ? it?s not the technology that's disappointing, it's how companies take low value tasks off of the reps hands, what companies do to encourage others to add value to it and what other applications are brought in house to work with the CRM system and add value to the life of the sales rep.

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  pmason@...03/20/08 Report as spam
  2

  RE: Fixing CRM (Pt. 3): NO DATA ENTRY!

  Better yet:
  - Take a digital recorder to the meeting,
  - Tell everyone you are recording the discussion to make sure nothing gets overlooked,
  - Email the digital recoring to a transcription service (either in house or external) email hard copies to everyone that needs to be kept in the loop.
  
  Peter M.