I Have No Patience for Reps Who Don't Use CRM | Sales Strategies

I was recently with a group of sales leaders and one of them admitted that he had sales reps who didn't use CRM. And this sales leader was from a top-performing company with around 40-50 reps who are consistently over their targets both from a volume and margin perspective. While it was commendable that he was willing to admit that his sales reps had CRM deficiencies, it's a shame that those salespeople were not using a tool that would make them much more effective.

CRM as an Extension of Your Brain

I don't think of CRM as an application or admin tool. I think about it as an extension of my brain—almost like a team member that I have sitting beside me who I can download a large amount of information to so that I don't have to think about it. And that's the way you should be thinking about CRM. Indeed, think about CRM as an extension, teammate, or additional employee.

CRM's Myriads of Benefits

When you get used to utilizing CRM on a daily basis and putting all the details in there—your call notes, call attempts, contacts, opportunity stages, presentation materials, products you sell, or price sheets—you don't have to remember such large amounts of intricate information. It just sits in the system. You can draw on it easily from any device when you need it. You can use reports and data to help guide you where you should be selling, what you should be working on, what leads you should be creating or getting rid of, or where you are in your pipeline and quoted development. It acts as a secondary thinking source for you, but only if you use it correctly.

I find that those salespeople who use CRM completely and effectively do outsell those that don't. Even if they have help with their CRM, they outsell those who don't. Why? Because they are better organized and have more access to realtime data than those who are trying to rely on their memory.

Use your CRM. Think about it as a tool like a teammate. It will help you create a nonstop sales boom.