Why your CRM is an important tool

We unpack why most CRMs underperform and show how to turn yours into a real sales engine. From clean data and reminders to cross‑team handoffs and a simple scoreboard, we share the habits that shorten cycles and raise conversion.

• defining what a CRM should deliver for sales and retention
• building clean, consistent data with required fields
• using reminders to safeguard follow‑ups and timing
• writing short, useful call notes with clear next steps
• enabling seamless handovers between sales and service
• tracking weekly inputs and conversion rates as a scoreboard
• motivating team adoption through benefits and training
• using real client outcomes to refine marketing messages
• pruning low‑value accounts and focusing attention
• using the CRM as a single source of truth

Let me know what you would like me to cover in other podcasts: Graham@salescraft.training

Welcome to the podcast!

Chapters

• 0:00 Why Most CRMs Fail In Practice
• 2:42 What A CRM Should Deliver
• 4:39 Cross‑Team Visibility And Handoffs
• 7:52 Clean Data That Actually Helps
• 11:18 Reminders, Follow‑Ups, And Habits
• 15:09 Notes, Summaries, And Seamless Cover
• 18:13 Know Your Numbers And Scoreboard
• 21:19 Team Buy‑In Without The Stick
• 24:07 Post‑Sales Insights That Drive Sales
• 27:24 Marketing Uses And Real Buyer Motives

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:14

Hello and welcome to another podcast. My name is Graeme Elliott, and what we're going to talk about, what I'm going to talk about in this episode, is your CRM, your customer relationship management system. So you might be one of those people who really recognize the CRM as a very valuable tool for your business. And regardless of whether you work for yourself or you work for somebody else, I always regard being a salesperson as essentially running your own business because you're responsible for the clients in the area or the accounts that you manage. And you're the driver for getting business out of that account, so or those accounts or that area. So from that perspective, you are running that business. So if you are one of those people who see the value of it, congratulations because you are in less than 20%, which is quite a worrying statistic of people who see value in the CRM. So, in other words, less than 20% of people actually make good use of their CRM system. So if you're one of the other 80, you probably regard it as something as a chore, something of a chore, I should say. Something that perhaps you do when you have to. If you're working for somebody, maybe when your sales manager asks you for an update or to provide some information about what's going on, or if it's your own business, it might be one of those things that you remember is on a laptop somewhere, and uh it's been a little while since you looked at it. So the purpose of this podcast is to hopefully give you some insights into the real value of a CRM and how it can be one of the most important tools within your business if used correctly. And I I certainly believe that, and that was the way I uh that's the way I use my own CRM system. So if you are one of these people who really doesn't use it that often, it's a little bit like buying a Swiss Army knife and then just using the toothpick. So, in other words, it has huge potential and it should be seen as an investment in your business. But if you're not using it, well, what's the point? So before we start looking at the CRM in any real detail, I want to get clear, and and I'd like you to do this with me, and just to get clear about what it will do for your business. Do you understand what a CRM actually does? Do you understand what it's capable of? And are you making good use of that investment? So the CRN system, the CRM system, and obviously there are a lot about, and it may be you've invested quite a lot of money in a system or you're using a spreadsheet, but however you're managing your customer interactions, that is really managing the lifeblood of your business because if we don't have clients, we don't have customers, we don't have a business. So what can the CRM do? Well, the sort of objectives we want to be looking at when we're looking at how to make use of the CRM are really these. So it might be to shorten sales cycles, it might be to increase client retention. And one of the ways we do that is to make sure that we follow up when we do. And um, and I will say, as a sales manager, um, I would look at how the CRM systems were being used by the salespeople I had, and some of it was pretty horrible. And one of those things that always used to um raise a red flag for me was when there was no made to follow up with a client in two weeks, whatever it might be, and then there was clearly no follow-up action. So these are the ways that we can really uh lose clients without realizing that we're losing them. So better follow-up is important. Clear reporting um is very important. So if you're running your own business, you need to be able to take a very clear snapshot of what's going on and see just where you're at in terms of prospects, in terms of where they are in the funnel, and also looking at your conversion rates. And I've spoken about this in other places, in my online course, consultative selling. Knowing your numbers is absolutely vital. And the truth is that if you are not tracking your numbers now, you are probably very optimistic about what your real numbers are. So you will be thinking that you're doing a lot better than the reality, and this may well explain why, if you experience this, you you're just not getting the numbers. You feel like you're doing all the work, you might be working quite hard, but the results aren't coming in. And one of the factors there is that you don't know your numbers. And if you don't know your numbers, so your conversion rates, that kind of thing, you don't know what you need to improve, and so you just carry on doing the same thing and you will struggle. So these are just ways the CRM system can be used. If you're in a larger organization where you have separate marketing and maybe um customer service departments, these often work independently of one another, which is kind of crazy because you really want the CRM system to be working across everything so that everybody who deals with a particular client can see exactly who is talking to them about what. So, for example, is that if there is a service issue, it might flag salespeople to go in and resolve an issue or maybe even sell them some add-on, which may well resolve the issue. Um, marketing people need to understand who is buying what and understand the reasons why. So, what's the solution that you are providing for that particular client? So, if you've listened to me talk about avatars, um there is one avatar for every offer you make, and if you have several offers, the chances are that they will appeal to different people, different ideal clients. So that's what an avatar is, if you're not familiar with that phrase. So, all of this stuff can be there in the CRM, and it means if everyone's using the same data and it's real data based on actual client interactions, then this is absolutely gold for your organization. And the as I've already said, the sad fact is that very few uh businesses make use of this, and so they just keep repeating the same mistakes and getting the same results. So think about how or what you want your CRM to deliver for you, whether it's a snapshot of what's going on in the business, whether it's real intelligence on how people are using your products and solutions, whether it's allowing separate departments, if you like, within your business, if you have that kind of a setup, allowing them to easily see what's going on with a certain client. And that's important as well. Now I'll add this because as a customer, it can be really frustrating if you've been spending time talking to, say, a service department uh about an issue, and then a uh your sales guy walks in and has no idea of what's going on at all. How does that make make you feel as a client? Do you feel valued, or do you feel like you know nobody really cares? Clearly, these guys are not talking to one another. Do they actually know what they're doing? Do you trust them? Do you start looking at somewhere else? So these are really important things to get a handle on. So, first of all, looking at clean data. So CRMs are often regarded as a wasteland of data. So you enter stuff in there and it's never looked at again, or it might be something you've put in in 2018 and that's it. So the way I think of CRM data, first of all, is it's first of all, keep things consistent. Keep the information that you need, but don't put a lot of extra stuff in that really isn't necessary. But so you need to be clear on what information you need. So clearly, people's names, their position in the business, keep that updated as well because people get promotions or they leave and other people step in, all of this. It needs to be kept up to date, but also keep older information so you've got something to look back on. Um, things like birthdays, is that important for your business? So for some businesses it isn't, but for other businesses it's a really nice thing to do to just send someone a gift on their birthday or make contact in some way. So, what's the information that helps you to really look after your clients and go that extra step compared to your competitors, so that people feel that you or your clients feel that you really care about them. So you need to be really consistent about how you're using names. So, what is a person's name, what's their preferred name, all that kind of stuff. Make sure you have required fields. So, for example, job titles are really important if you're doing business to business, you've got to understand who people are and where they fit. You may even want to have some note about their level of influence. So, what's important, and you also need to do regular spring clean. So, you need to go through the information periodically. Uh, I would say probably once a quarter, it doesn't have to be all the time, but you want to be just running through and making sure you that you are having regular contact. Certainly with your key clients, make sure you're having where as you have regular contact with people, as you do a follow-up call or a meeting, just check that all the information you have on them is correct. So, job titles, um, their level of influence, if they've shifted roles, it might be that they are no longer as influential in a sale as they used to be, or they might be more influential. So, it's really important to understand that. And if you keep on top of that, it means that the work that you're doing, you consistently are talking to the right people and you're not wasting time with the wrong people. Now, another really important thing that I feel with CRMs, and where that's been really helpful to me, is to put reminders in there. So have reminders pop up that I need to do a follow-up with someone, or I need to make a meeting, or I need to provide some sort of information. It's very easy today with so we spend a lot of time on computers, we spend a lot of time doing emails, doing that, all that kind of stuff. And from a sales perspective, we're always busy. Uh, we want to be making appointments with people, we want to be out there face to face with people, or however you do your sales, but we need to be connecting with people in order to hit targets, um, whether it's um a personal target or a business target, whatever it is we're we're hitting. But it's really important that we remember to do follow-ups and things like that. So, with any kind of um contact you're making, you'll have your important tasks. So these are perhaps tasks that relate directly to closing a deal. And then there are the secondary ones, which are more the nurturing, keeping sales alive. Maybe you made contact with a client and they were very interested in something that you were uh offering, but it wasn't the right time. So you made an agreement to follow up in two, three weeks, a month, whatever it might be. And one of the classic mistakes, and we've all done it, we forget to do the follow-up, and then we suddenly realize six weeks later that we we didn't actually follow up with that person, and we go and contact them and they've got on board from somebody else. So if your CRM system can issue you reminders or put things in your diary, then make use of that, and of course, make sure you're looking at the diary to make sure that you are taking care of those events. So this is really important, and this is about developing good habits. So, one good habit is to make sure you do make a note of follow-ups and you put in your diary, whether that might be a paper diary still or electronic, but you do follow up, excuse me, and then having made that note, put that reminder in there, make sure that you check it or that you get it to come up on your phone or however you're using your um your diary to make sure that those follow-ups are carried out. And this is where we do build client loyalty. So we're we we're gonna remember the ones you I would hope that relate to a deal that we're closing. But the ones that we can forget are the more backburner uh sales that need to be nurtured, maybe need to be follow-up followed up. Um, it's easy to forget those, and as I've said, you can remember them a little bit late, and then it's it's um it's too late. So do make sure you're using it to keep you current, keep you active, make sure you are staying on top of all of the day-to-day follow-ups, and particularly the ones that might be of a second tier importance, at least at that point. So, what else would you use it for? Well, another important thing that I've already spoken about is making sure you know your numbers. So if you are making a note of telephone calls and all of that, and look, it doesn't have to be you don't you don't want to be writing a novel every time you note a telephone call, but it is important to note that you did call somebody, and then very just do a quick pressy of of the call. So, what's a very, very brief summary? Keep it as short as you can, very punchy. I tended to do um something like I made a call and then item one. We spoke about this, item two is this, and item three was this, and then what the outcome was. So it might be um agreed at meeting on this date, and that's it. So you don't want to be writing a big report every time. I think this is one of the reasons or one of one of the aspects that puts people off using this CRM because they just feel it's now going to burn a lot of time. But if you can do it very quickly, if you can do it immediately after the call, is the ideal time, just while it's fresh, and also make a note in your diary of any actions that need to be taken. So it may be that you've set up a meeting, but before you do the meeting, so that might be let's say three days away, but before you go to the meeting, you've just got to check on one piece of information. So make sure that's all in there so that when you go to the meeting, that's all done. The other reason for putting it on the CRM is that if for any reason you can't go, somebody else can stand in for you and they know exactly what's going on. They can jump on the CRM, have a quick look through the summaries. Again, they're not going to want to read through a massive um uh you know paper on what you've been talking about. But if they've got the salient points, they can go into the meeting prepared, and from the client's perspective, they just drop in almost seamlessly. The client feels like people within your organization are talking to one another and that they can be relied upon. So they know that if you're not there for whatever reason as a primary contact, the secondary contact is as able to handle things as the primary. And I think this is one of the real strengths of the CRM, and it's one of the things that is quite easy to keep going and is a massive letdown if you don't. So, this is where I'm my own personal opinion, this is where CRMs are incredibly valuable in terms of the customer-facing aspects. Now, in terms of your numbers, most CRMs that I know, I think pretty much everything I've come across, and even actually with um things like if you if you really haven't invested any money and you're just using the spreadsheet, you can still do this. But make a note of for every week, how many calls did you make? How many phone calls, how many meetings did you have, and try and start putting numbers around that. And a lot of CRMs are really smart with this stuff, and they'll give you good uh conversion rates, but you need to understand your numbers. So, for to get a meeting, how many calls did you have to make to in a week to get X number of meetings? And this helps run your scoreboard. I'm not gonna go into your scoreboard, um, it's something I cover in the in the course. But essentially, if you have a scoreboard for your business, and this is one of the key things a CRA, a good CRM will provide for you, you can see exactly what's going on straight away. And it's a bit like going to um uh a sports game. So I like my rugby union, there's a lot of action going on on the field, you know, people are getting tackled, the ball's going here and there and everywhere, and somebody gets a try or scores a um a goal or whatever it might be. But if you don't know what the current score is, you don't really know what's going on. So, and this is just as true for your own business. Whether you're running your own business or if you're running an area, you need to know what your numbers are. And if you are running an area and running working for somebody else, then your sales manager will need to be able to see those numbers too. So, again, the CRM can give you a snapshot of your scoreboard. And once you know what the score is, you can then look at which areas you need to work on where you maybe need to change the focus of your activity because you're spending too much time in one area or your conversion rates aren't good enough, so you can work on that area and improve them. But without that scoreboard, you don't know what you're doing. You know, goals are happening, you might be getting the occasional order, but you've no idea how well you're doing really. Okay, so now if you're um running a team, this also is where getting people getting buy-in on the CRM is really important. So it is important to make sure people understand what the benefits are of the CRM. And this comes down to training, and it might be something you do if you have regular sales meetings. Um, but you need to get people using the CRM. I'm I'm not one for beating people up to do it. Um, I would much rather people got involved doing it because they saw the benefit, because then they're motivated to do it, and it's the it's carrot and stick, I suppose. Uh, if you really want to give them some sort of reward, that's fine. But I think if people recognize the benefit and recognize how it saves them work um in the course of a week or a month, whatever it is, then they're much more likely to do it. If they feel they're being bullied into it, a lot of people will push back. I think a lot of salespeople are probably more likely to do that because we're just those kind of people. So it's really important that you look at the CRM and how it applies to your business, and you get very clear on how it can save people time and really shorten sales cycles and um improve sales. And that to me is the bottom line, not only for the the health of the business, but for salespeople too. We want to get good commissions, we want to you know have a good lifestyle. It's one of the reasons most salespeople get involved. It's because of the uh the kind of lifestyle it can deliver, not only for themselves but for their families, loved ones, whoever. So if they can see the benefits of that, then you'll get buying, and then things will really start clicking for you. It's also important, as I've spoken about, if you have different departments, that everybody is working together because and and this is a real thing, and I've definitely used this. So, for example, if somebody if a client is talking to a service person about an issue, uh they are probably more likely to be honest about what's going on and how they're finding the product, because they'll feel that that service person is not likely to try and sell them anything. Whereas, and you you've got to understand that some clients will imagine um kind of confrontational or what they feel as confrontational conversations, so they'll avoid them, even if in reality that's never going to happen. But it's like you it it if you imagine you might have been in the situation where you've got to have what you feel is an awkward conversation with someone, and you're not looking forward to it, and one of the reasons you're not looking forward to is you feel there might be some kind of a conflict, that person might get angry with you, or there might be some other issue. So we start to imagine these scenarios in our in our mind before we get to any reality at all, and that will change our approach to that person. So they've done nothing at this point, all of this is in our head, but this is how a lot of people operate. So I've always felt that it's really important that the post-sales people work closely with the salespeople, because that way you can get really important information coming back, and as I've said, with the service person, a client might might be much more open with them about what's going on than they were with a salesperson because a lot of people regard salespeople as you know, frankly, people who are there to rip them off in some way. And although this is not how I teach sales, it's not how I do sales. I'm I'm a strong believer in ethical sales, salespeople there to solve are there to solve problems for clients. Unfortunately, there are salespeople out there who are very mercenary, and so we have to accept that a lot of clients regard us that way, regardless of how we are in reality. So understanding having that communication between post-sales and pre-sales is really important. If you're in marketing, also accessing or understanding how a client is using a particular solution and what the problem is that your solution has sold for that client, this is really important, and I've spoken about this before, because often what somebody is buying our product for is not what we are necessarily pitching it as. Because um, and this is where it's really important to talk to clients who are using the solution to understand and really get a good understanding of what the problem is it's actually solving, because sometimes we will put something out there to solve a particular problem, and in fact, it's better at solving something else. We've really got to understand that, um, and we've got to understand why clients are buying our product as opposed to some somebody else's, because that's the gold in the sales process, it's the gold in the marketing process. That's the thing we talk about in our marketing. We're talking about the end result, not how great our product is, but what it does for the client. That is absolutely important. If we it's really fundamental, if you don't get that right, you you have a problem. So, I've spoken a bit about the CRM. Let me just recap. And and I hope this maybe has made you see some benefits to it if you're not using the CRM. So it's there really, it's the it's the it's the information center for your business, for your clients. It tells you everything about your clients, your client interactions. Uh, you can track and look at maybe difficult clients, maybe some people are really um high maintenance, and it may or may not be worth even continuing with them. You know, you've got so many hours in the day, and frankly, you might be better off just letting that person go and let it be somebody else's problem, and then spend time with the clients who are going to buy from you, who are worth your effort. Um it could be that historically you've had people on the books and they've just not done anything. They they like you maybe if you send out a um a newsletter or information, that kind of thing, they they take that. And I've had these conversations with clients. You know, I've said that well, you know, we've spoken to you for several years now, you've never really been interested in anything. Is it worth is it worth us maintaining the connection? And quite often I find that people get very defensive, they want to stay, uh, and then you might actually uh get a lead from them. So get clear on the data that you need, what data is appropriate for your business that's going to help your business be successful. Use data that is going to shorten your sales cycles, and so and what I mean by that is really just making sure, for example, that you follow up on time, that you note down important things that need to happen. Um, often in the businesses I've been in, we'd have to go and find out more information, they'd be very technical, and I'd be in Australia, and the manufacturer might have been in the United States or in the UK or somewhere else. So I would need to go check that up with them and then get back to my client. Uh so use the CRM as your reminder, it should be your friend, it should be there to help you to follow up on time, follow up the correct information. And it's also really useful if you're not going to be there. So it might be you're on a holiday, or you know, we all have emergencies to deal with from time to time, which can um you know impact um how quickly we follow up with a client, and while while that is not something they would necessarily capitalize on or would give you a um a bad reputation with them, the fact is, if you're not able to make a meeting, or if you're not able to come back with information on time, you do have uh competitors who are perhaps ready to jump in there and they might be able to exploit that situation. So if you keep your data clean and current, somebody else can just step in for you and keep things moving. Maybe there are other things you've thought of while I've been talking about CRMs where this can be useful for you. So not only is it about being that reservoir of information, but also being a place where you can monitor the health of your business, it can be the source of your scoreboard, your business scoreboard. And as I've said, I'm not gonna go into that in this podcast, I might go into it in another one, but it's definitely in the uh in my online course if you if you want to look at that. And that scoreboard tells you how you're doing, that's the summary, and the CRM is the source data. That's where you can dive in and get all of the detail and then start to look at how you can improve certain aspects of what you're doing. So if you would like more information on any as any of the things I've been speaking about in this podcast, please let me know. Graham at um salescraft.training. If there is something else you would like me to cover on a podcast, please uh let me know. And that's it for this podcast. So, as I say, I hope you felt that found that useful, and um, I'll speak to you next time. So bye for now.