If you're reading this post, then you might feel a little like the kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar. You've done your homework, you know that you aren't supposed to have dessert before dinner, and yet you can't help yourself ... you reached for the cookie, without realizing that if you had just done a little bit of research you could have had a cookie on top of an ice cream sundae. In other words, perhaps you have a "fake CRM" (the cookie) and have now sheepishly realized that it isn't a "real" CRM. One might say that's the way the cookie crumbles, but all food references aside, you've come to the right place if you want to a) confirm that your CRM isn't cutting it, and b) discover what you should be looking for in your CRM.
Picture this scenario
Your sales team manually inputting leads and notes into Microsoft Excel or Outlook, keeping them off the phone. Microsoft Excel excels at everything related to spreadsheets, from calculations to graphing tools. Outlook not only serves as an email communications system, but also has built-in features that help users organize tasks, meetings, and notes. So it seems like it would make sense to use these as your sales tools of choice, right?
In 2016, the use of these systems for sales-oriented tasks were more common, as 40% of salespeople reported using these means to store leads and customer data.
And now picture this scenario:
Having an automated system that tracks leads, stores customer data, creates detailed sales and marketing reports, and manages all email, phone, and meeting communications. That’s not even all of it. A system like this exists, and it’s an acronym you may have seen - CRM. CRM stands for customer relationship management and is commonly followed up with the word “system” after it. Between 2016 and now, CRM adoption by businesses has grown by 113%, with 64% of sales professionals reporting that they use CRM tools.
