Customer relationship management (CRM) systems transformed how organizations store and organize large amounts of customer data. Everyone from the new sales rep to a C-suite executive, or CXO, could now access one universal source of information. But in today’s modern business environment, there is a growing disconnect in the way these systems are being used. Traditional CRMs are designed for reporting and tracking, making them a CXO favorite. But it’s time to admit they aren’t working for the people on the ground who matter most: salespeople.
The Executive Fantasy
It’s not hard to see why executives are bound to their CRMS. By offering comprehensive customer and sales information on pristine dashboards, they give CXOs the much needed illusion of control. The most tangible benefits include:
Centralized data: CRMs centralize customer data, from contact details to purchase history, current interactions, and more. This data allows CXOs to build reports across forecasted sales, customer behavior, sales performance, sales pipeline, profitability, top-performing products, etc.
Customer journey mapping: CRMs consolidate customer data from various touchpoints, providing CXOs with a holistic perspective of the customer journey and preferences. This can help them visualize and map the customer journey across multiple touchpoints, identifying strengths and weaknesses.
Performance analytics: CRMs capture every interaction a salesperson has with a customer, from emails and phone calls to meetings and follow-ups. This helps CXOs monitor sales team performance.
Pipeline management: CRMs allow CXOs to track sales pipelines and forecast future revenue efficiently. CXOs can allocate resources, adjust strategies, and drive overall company performance by getting a clear picture of the business's current and future state.
Task automation: Newer CRMs offer a range of AI-enabled automation features that reduce manual tasks and create smoother workflows. Such automation allows CXOs to improve the overall efficiency of the sales process and ensure that every opportunity is managed correctly, without the risk of human error or missed follow-ups.
The Salesperson’s Reality
If a CRM is a command center, then salespeople are the field operatives. But the intelligence they are fed is only helpful ifthey know what to do with it. Instead of guidance on which accounts need more attention or which prospects to call, they’re forced to wade through a sea of data without insight. This results in:
Cognitive load: Modern customer relationship management tools collate data from across the sales lifecycle, which can be incredibly overwhelming. With so much data and not enough meaning, sales teams often struggle to take the next best action. A lack of a daily roundup of action items from emails and messages can lead to poor, or worse, no sales decisions on upcoming opportunities. Classic analysis paralysis.
Inadequate guidance: Salespeople often spend significant time on administrative tasks such as data entry, managing schedules, and tracking follow-ups. Although CRMs offer several automation features, they do not guide sales teams in building customer relationships, capitalizing on up-selling or cross-selling opportunities, or closing deals. Since a lot of the data in CRM tools is unstructured, salespeople must still leverage their interpersonal skills, product knowledge, and intuition to engage with customers and drive sales.
Limited account management: Sales teams often struggle to manage an extensive portfolio of accounts and determine which ones need immediate attention. This is an enormous challenge today, when most enterprise sales strategies depend on growing and expanding existing customer relationships given how hard it is to “close” new customer accounts. Since CRMs are primarily pipeline tracking tools, they demand massive customization to enable account management capabilities. This can lead to issues in planning follow-ups and renewals, causing loopholes in focusing on the right opportunities at the right time. To add to that, these systems are just not set up to give insights to the entire team interacting with the client account beyond the sales point person. This ignores the contribution of account managers, project staff, and other team members in account growth.
Missed opportunities: Even with a CRM, sales teams often struggle to pinpoint which interactions positively or negatively affect client relationships. Without visibility into the impact of each interaction or insight into declining account health, it’s hard to anticipate and address issues that could lead to churn.
Lack of personalization: Most CRMs treat all accounts the same—whether they are existing clients, named accounts, or prospects, leading to inefficient sales strategies. Not customizing the approach to fit each account type's specific needs and behaviors could reduce the effectiveness of the sales efforts.
A Savior in AI
To bridge the Great CRM Disconnect, leveraging the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is essential. The future belongs to AI-enabled CRM tools that actually help sales teams succeed.
These tools will provide much-needed nudges to sales teams, guiding them toward the next best action. They will help teams view accounts at a glance, get account score trends, surface growth opportunities, and more.
Spend less time updating databases, and more time closing deals.
