Is Sales Technology a Crutch?

Gwynne Young
Managing Editor, CustomerThink
Member

Posted 15-Sep-2006 03:43 PM
In their article, Don't Wait for Godot; You Can Make Sales More Effective Without the Latest Killer App in the Sept. 18, 2006, Advisor, Liz and Jim Roche argue that too many sales departments pin their hopes on technology as the answer to whatever fails them.

They recommend getting busy and developing a good process and stop waiting for the next best app. Yet, there are those professionals who believe that software systems, applied well, can work wonders.

Do you think there's room for both positions? Where do you stand? Have you worked in a department that failed to clean house before implementing yet another sales system?

Kregg
Member

Posted 18-Sep-2006 02:42 PM
Is technology a crutch? Maybe, but if you have a broken leg is a crutch a bad thing?

Not surprisingly given the nature of the customer described in the article (a Professional Services company with a presumably complex sale), 3 of the 4 major initiatives that came out of the consulting project were process related not technology related.

My 20+ years of sales and management experience has taught me that a successful (complex) sales organization needs:

1) good listening skills—in my experience, the rarest of all personality traits in the sales profession,

2) good processes and a will to follow them—sales people also seem to have an aversion to process management,

3) good sales support to reduce the administrative burden and remove revenue prevention obstacles from the path of the top performers (one the sales manager's key responsibilities),

4) good tools for tracking sales performance at an individual level, and

5) good tools to help the sales team maintain high levels of productivity.

To address the last two points technology such as CRM, SFA, and Contact Management tools are essential. But no sales management tool will ever replace detailed, one-on-one pipeline reviews with lots of hard questions posed to the sales rep.

It has been my experience that you can get by without one or more of the above, but to reach peak performance, all are required.

If the technology leg is broken, a crutch could be a good thing.

Kregg Ray
Co-Founder AppShore Inc.
415-350-3472
kray@appshore.com
www.appshore.com

Gwynne Young
Managing Editor, CustomerThink
Member

Posted 22-Sep-2006 10:47 AM
As a matter of fact, in his lead article, When Technology Is an Enabler, Telesales Improves for the Sept. 25 Advisor, Barry Trailer makes the case that you have to do something to give your reps a chance to do their work.

You have to stop holding unproductive status meetings. You have to use technology wisely to make your sales team more efficient.

I think Liz and Jim were arguing that too many companies hold back from doing those non-technical things that can improve efficiency because they're waiting for the next best technology to do it for them. And nothing really improves.

But I'm interested in your point that CRM, SFA and Contact Management systems are essential. Is this for all businesses? Or just large firms? Would this be a good use of capital for small firms?

Kregg
Member

Posted 01-Oct-2006 10:04 AM
Gwynne,

In my humble opinion, CRM technology is essential for all businesses large or small. However, I would not agree that it would be a good use of small business capital to invest in CRM. Instead, I would suggest an expense oriented approach (monthly rental rather than capital expenditure).

It has been my experience that most small businesses start by using daytimers or other paper based CRM 'systems', a single user desktop solution, a hand held device, a cell phone, or Excel spreadsheets to keep track of their customers, opportunities and activities.

But as soon as the company grows past a single employee (or partner), especially when they work from home or in different geographic locations, these systems break down almost immediately. This is primarily due to the lack of ability to collaborate around the CRM 'system'.

Today, there are a few extremely affordable, highly functional, web based, vendor hosted CRM solutions available that provide a shared, real time environment for collaboration, communication and sales management.

Given the high rate of small business failure, the absolute requirement to collaborate, and the generally low level of capital available, I believe CRM rental is a much more cost effective approach than CRM capital investment for the typical small business owner.

Kregg

Kregg Ray
Co-Founder AppShore Inc.
415-350-3472
kray@appshore.com
www.appshore.com