by Jacques Werth
Why Most Top Producers Don’t Use CRM
Top sales producers (the top 2%) are typically ambitious, highly intelligent and pragmatic. Most will use any available technology that enables them to sell more and better. Top producers seldom use CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems because their own sales processes are different from the sales process that is installed in the SFA (Sales Force Automation) part of the system. If the top producers’ actual sales process is installed in the CRM system, they’ll use it. That will benefit them, most of the other salespeople, and the bottom line of the company.
Interviewing Top Producers Does Not Work
Most of top producers learned to sell intuitively, experientially, and individually. They can seldom accurately communicate how they sell. Most “best sales practices” studies fail to identify the sales processes of the best producers. Most of the research methods are question based. Thus, they are biased at several levels.
An Effective Research Method
The best way to determine your company’s best sales process is to base it on unbiased observations of what your best salespeople actually do. Observing them while they are working with their prospects and customers will reveal your company’s actual best sales process. Then, the sales process installed in your existing software system can create a significant increase in sales productivity.
Author
Asking people to adapt to technology (instead of the other way around) is always a very difficult proposition. Here’s a story about one company that tried to force its employees to use CRM: http://alignment.wordpress.com/2008/03/10/measuring-lack-of-crm-usage
Jonathan –
Your article is quite interesting and very useful. Please send me your contact info.
This is a nice write up, any on service marketing?
Sileola –
All products and services have a list of features, benefits, and detriments. Therefore, services can be sold, using High Probability Prospecting and Selling, in the same way as products.
I read this article and comments, but could not understand what point it was making. It seems that CRM is desirable, and most top sales people make use of it, but in their own intuitive way.
What do you recommend?
Deb Adams