Your CRM is a tool. That’s all. And, like most tools, you have to us it correctly if want get the most out of it.

Have you ever seen a little kid use a hammer for the first time? They bang away at the nail, if you’re lucky it’s not a vase, your iPhone or the remote control, using the broad side of the hammer. If you think about it, it makes sense to a child to use the broadside, it has more surface area, it’s easier to swing and you can hit more stuff faster. But, if they have to actually be successful driving the nail. It’s gonna be awhile, so you may want to get a drink. They aren’t using the hammer correctly.

A CRM is just like a hammer. It can be used in a lot of different ways, but that doesn’t mean you are  using it right. Too many sales people and sales managers use their CRM like they are swinging a hammer broad side down and they look silly as hell doing it. Too much time is wasted and too many deals are lost or delayed because the CRM is being used in the wrong way.

When you’re using the CRM like your using the broadside of a hammer;

• You’re not putting in all the data
• You’re not putting the data in, in a timely manner
• You’re not capturing the tasks and activities required for each sale
• You just enter your contacts info, you don’t input all the stakeholders in a deal and their role in the decision
•  You’re not capturing your deal strategy
• You don’t have at least one open task or next yes objective with a delivery date for EVERY deal
• You don’t update sales stages
• You’re close dates are wrong
• You’re not adding regular, comprehensive notes that articulate what’s going on in the deal
• You’re not inputting the challenges and objections to the sale
• There is nothing about the competition and where they stand
• You don’t input the clients decision criteria
• You don’t have a personal reporting dashboard
• Nobody but you can decipher where an opportunity is but you
• The CRM DOESN’T  help you sell or close a deal

Using the CRM like a little kid uses a hammers is all too common. What’s worse, is most sales people don’t recognize it and continue smashing away, wondering why the CRM isn’t working for them and getting frustrated that their boss is constantly nagging them to update it. However, when the CRM is used like it’s supposed to be, it becomes an efficient tool that helps sales people close more deals, avoid losses due to missteps, accurately forecast the probability of hitting their number, become more responsive to clients and customers, see trends, avoid wasting time on deals that won’t close, engage others internally, find competitive weaknesses, and more.

A CRM is a tool, just like a hammer. In this case, it’s a data tool and a data tool needs good data. It requires lots of data, timely data. If you’re haphazardly putting in shitty data or incomplete data, then ya, no shit it’s a pain in the ass. Hello?

It doesn’t matter what CRM you use, if you use it correctly, it will help you sell. It will help you mange your pipeline, your relationships, your opportunities, what’s critical to winning, and most importantly your quota attainment.

When sales people view their CRM as a tool for them to sell better, they stop swinging it the wrong way and amazingly the nail seems to alway go right in.

Stop using the CRM like the broadside of a hammer. Someone is going to get hurt.