I stole the title of this post from Gloria Lubben, Director of Sales at SecurAlarm in Grand Rapids. On a training call several years ago, she pointed out to one of their sales people that he didn’t have to track every single activity in the CRM system (they use Zoho). She proclaimed: “Zoho is not a time card.” I immediately switched screens wrote down that statement for this week’s posts. Brilliant.
Unfortunately, too many sales managers view the CRM system as a time card. I actually had a general manager say to me, in front of their sales people: “Yes, we want to track everything they’re doing – we need to know if they’re working or not.” I laughed out loud because I thought he was joking. He stared at me, wondering what I was laughing at.
The objectives of a CRM system are completely different than most realize. My guidelines to the objectives of a CRM system are pretty simple:
- Helps the sales person improve their sales performance.
- As a byproduct, provides helpful reports to management to make educated decisions.
That’s it – nothing else. Don’t waste your time or your sales team’s time by using your CRM system as a time card. Make sure it’s primary purpose is to make your sales team better!
