Getting the Most Out of Your CRM System

Few people would argue that a quality customer relationship management (CRM) system is an important revenue and lead generation tool for companies. Unfortunately, many companies that have invested in a quality CRM system are not getting as much as they could out of that system.

One of the most common complaints salespeople have about their company’s CRM system is that although it yields a large amount of data, most of that data is irrelevant or doesn’t provide any significant insight to help them do their jobs better.

While CRM systems are designed to generate a great deal of information about customers, it is important to remember that when it comes to CRM systems, less is usually more. To put it another way, CRM systems work best when those systems are set up to provide only the information that is relevant to the sales team.

In order to ensure that your CRM system is as effective as possible there are some things to keep in mind. When it comes to setting up your CRM system; begin with only the fields, tabs, and functionality you absolutely need. This doesn’t mean you can’t add more fields, tabs, and functionality as needed; but you never want your sales team to be distracted by unnecessary information.

Remember, CRM systems should be used to improve the efforts of your sales team. While it is tempting for management to want to collect as much information as possible through the CRM system, this will not help your sales people do their job. Even if information collected is significant to management, if it doesn’t specifically help salespeople close sales, salespeople do not need it.

CRM systems can yield exceptional outcomes. Unfortunately, in many cases management is unable to grasp how much, and what type, of information is necessary for their sales team to do their best work.

While CRM systems are touted by many in the sales industry as the place to compile every single piece of information about a customer, designing a CRM system in this manner can actually hurt your sales efforts.

When your sales team feels there is too much information to process and dig through when they use a CRM system, you can be sure they will stop using it. CRM systems are intended as a way to keep customer data organized in a way to help your sales team. If your sales team stops using it, no matter how much you have invested in the system, it will have been a waste of money.