Three Things That Kill CRM...and How to Counter Them

Used correctly, CRM provides the information you need for continuous sales improvement.
July 8, 2008

By Todd Youngblood

According to the best research I can find, roughly two-thirds of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) implementations fail. How can this be? After so many years, why haven't sales leaders and CRM vendors figured this out?

On days when my patience is running short, my list of three CRM-Killers consists of resistance to change, intellectual laziness and fear of being exposed as not quite the sales superstar everybody thinks I am. On one level, this is right on target, and as a member of a sales team, you'll be well served to keep this "2x4 upside the head" style list in mind.

At a more pragmatic level, though, it's more helpful to think in terms of addressing the three key objections I hear most often.

1.    "Process and metrics don't apply to me because..." Sales reps think they're different; that what they do is un-measurable and dependent mostly on hard-won, real-world experience. They (mistakenly) believe that continuous improvement techniques that apply everywhere else in the known universe don't apply to sales.

Here are a few "un-measurable professions" that have been hugely and dramatically changed for the better within the past decade: medical care, mortgage lending, wine investing, PGA golf and Major League Baseball scouting. There isn't enough space to discuss the details here. Suffice to say that the conclusion of the story for each of the above is 1) Hard-won experience is great, but not enough anymore. 2) Statistical geeks beat the daylights out of the old pros every time. 3) The really big winners were those highly experienced folks who added a process and metrics mindset to their professional repertoire. In other words, process and metrics DO apply to you.

2. "You want me to spend time typing instead of making sales calls." Yes. I want you to spend time typing stuff into the CRM system. Get over it. Study after study shows that while you will spend more time typing information, you'll save even more time in retrieving and communicating information.

You already take lots of notes, right? On note pads, day-timers, post-its, napkins, etc. Don't try to tell me that a Google-like inquiry into your CRM isn't vastly faster and more complete than rooting through hand-written notes "neatly" organized and filed who-knows-where. Oh, and who else in your sales support organization has access to the incredibly valuable customer intelligence you work so diligently and hard to collect? If it's on paper, the answer is nobody. You need to spend still more time composing e-mails and/or verbally explaining things.

3. "You want to micro-manage me." Eeeesssssh!!! Are you really serious? It's exactly the opposite! Sales managers are pulled in a gazillion different directions at once. The most fabulous thing about CRMs is that they can slice, dice, analyze and spit out reports automatically. CRMs enable sales reps to manage themselves. CRMs can pin-point what your specific problem areas are so that you can take the appropriate actions without getting management involved unless you want them to get involved.

Management wants CRM so they don't have to hold your hand!!! One caveat though: If you're coasting, or screwing up or just a lousy rep, a CRM means there's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

Professionals in every field need to continuously upgrade and update the tools they use. Coal mining with pick and shovel anyone? Prescribing drugs without electronic data bases that analyze efficacy, side effects and potentially dangerous interactions with other medications? Sales without CRM?

Todd Youngblood is managing partner and CEO of The YPS Group Inc. in Acworth, Ga. His 30-year career in executive management, sales, marketing and consulting has focused on selling more, better, cheaper and faster via an approach called sales process engineering, which he describes in his book The Dolphin and the Cow. Youngblood founded The YPS Group in 1999 and currently leads this federation of specialists in sales process engineering, interpersonal communications and business planning for small and medium-sized companies. To contact him, e-mail todd@ypsgroup.com.

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