5 situations which mean that it is time to implement CRM

The implementation of a CRM system is never a completely painless task because it means a certain change in the way of work, and every change arouses resistance. This is why we often ask ourselves: “Is it time yet, or can we wait a little longer?”. Let’s take a look at 5 situations that may occur at your company. If they happen, you should not trivialize them – they are a clear sign that it is time to think about a CRM tool.

1. You do not know who the customer on the phone is

In a situation where your sales process can take quite a long time and the number of customers is growing, it may happen that, when you talk with a customer, you have no idea what the conversation is about. Memory is fallible – to you, some matters discussed half a year ago are just one of the many similar sales that was long-drawn-out and has simply been replaced by new matters. But to your customer, it may be a very important decision that took them a long time to make and now they are letting you know that they are ready for the transaction. Their disappointment can be quite noticeable when it turns out that nobody at the company remembers what they actually wanted to buy or on what conditions. CRM will help to keep the whole history of contact with the customer in one place – also when, during prolonged talks, the contact was maintained by different people, several possible proposals were being considered, and the customer themselves repeatedly changed their mind about the scope of their order.

2. You are losing control of the sales process

Only time will tell whether sales are effective – 200 open sales unfortunately have the same value from the company’s financial perspective as 2 or 2,000. Until you close them, they are nothing more than a promising forecast. So, when you feel that sales start to drag on, and your salespeople open new ones without closing the old ones, it means that it is high time for changes. The amount of energy lost to establish a new contact and bring it to success is much greater than that needed to finalize ongoing talks. You cannot afford to miss sales that require little to be closed.

3. You are unable to account for the effects of the team’s work

The sales team is expected to be successful because its work is the driving force behind the company. Regardless of whether the salespeople are aware of this or do their own thing without giving much though to translating those activities into the development of the company, they rarely admit their mistakes or negligence. If you hear all sorts of promises about excellent results from your team and get signals that everything is going fine but this does not translate into actually signed contracts, it is time to increase control over the sales team. Sales are statistics, not good feelings – if you want your team to operate effectively, you should set specific goals for them to achieve, and have tools for monitoring their fulfillment.

4. You do not know when or why you lose

The way of conducting sales can vary completely even within a single team. This will not matter to you until you find out that you do not know when or why you lose potential customers. To determine this, the sales process must be unified and measured – it is difficult to draw conclusions without any data. This way you will know how the method of operation of better salespeople differs from that of the worse ones, at what moment you lose customers most often, and what more you could do about this. If you feel that the method of conducting sales in your company is becoming chaotic and it is difficult to predict how to act in order to increase the chances for a win – it is probably time to think about implementing CRM.

5. You do not use the capital in the form of existing customers

If someone has decided to buy a product or service from you and not from anyone else, this is an excellent capital for further activities. Do you remember to ask such a customer for references? Do you ask him or her to recommend your product / service to other customers? Do you check what other products or services you could additionally sell to him or her? Remember – he or she has already made the decision to buy from you. He or she can potentially be worth much more than you think and, also, you no longer have to win that person over. If you do not use this potential, it is time to think about a tool that will help you remember about such things.

The purpose of introducing a CRM system into the organization is to prevent or minimize the occurrence of said situations. Each of them may have a noticeable impact on your sales results. If you notice more than one of them, then you should not consider the implementation of a sales and customer relationship management system as an improvement, but rather as a necessity which, unless fulfilled, will hinder further development. Remember – you are not alone on the market. Your shortcomings can easily add wind to the sails of the competition that will better adapt to the customers’ needs.