I am a sales tool addict. I know this and freely admit it. It started many years ago. I was in a slump. My mantra was activity, outgoing sales activity. Meaning, get on the phone, get leads, make as many presentations as possible and win the day. And this got tougher. Probably with the advent of voice mail systems hitched to the power of internet vendor evaluation.
Phone call contacts dropped. Competition got better and I was mired in a slump. Here is what I did. I got super organized. I used sales tools, first ACT and then salesforce.com to make sure nothing fell through the cracks. I got good at this. I entered all leads, I tracked call backs, tracked lead conversions and wins.
I learned what helps and what does not. This perspective, the sales persons. The sales guy needed simplicity. Learning to use a CRM was out. Give em a lead list and let him bang the list was in. Maybe set a task, set a meeting, move the lead to an opty, or more focused record, and good to go.
And today, I see CRM get so bloated that it is like the fat kid trying to run, he just can not get out of his own way, tripping over his feet and falling, huffing and puffing, big gut hanging over his jeans. That is CRM. And then I look at my enterprise software customers over the years. And the investment approach in to new technology, is always best of breed point solution. Smart business and tech people do not do big bang. Too much risk. They find so point solutions that solve pain and payback fast.
Point solutions to solve pain and pay back fast. Solutions that are easy to use and offer true sales force automation. Tools that will ease the workflow which makes up a sales person’s day. Sales force automation and workflow are abused phrases. Software vendors mis use and abuse both. What is sales force automation?
We know what a sales force is right? Directs and in-directs like reps, dealers, distys. That is easy. But what is automation. Fire up the salesforce.com web site and find automation, for the sales force. Go ahead, I will wait……
Ok, you came back empty ehh? Right. There is no automation. Automation means a task or chore or work flow is done automatically. Makes sense. The light is shining on the big sales force automation lie spewed by CRM vendors. The truth is there is no sales force automation. Plenty of sales force de-automation, there is though. And then consider the re-sellers. The flock of sales guys at reps, dealers, distys. Guys that sell in the dark, as your company sees it. They don’t really talk to prospects with the lights off, but your company is in the dark.
The sales force, directs and in-directs, are de-automated. Guys that are trying to kill a deal, close something to make some money and in these times, keep his job, have to fight with bloated fat CRM tool to do the simplest tasks. I am a user of one of these sales force killers. I am amazed at the time and effort forced just to convert a lead to an opty. And that is not all..
Multi-mode sales is king. The best sales teams are built with several pieces; e-commerce, inside staff, directs, and dealers and reps that sell to a subset of customers or to a territory not directly covered by directs. Manufacturers often sell only with dealers or distributors. Regional sales managers will manage the dealer relationships. Rolling out a CRM or typical sales software to a vast network of reps and dealers is like the fat kid winning the hundred yard dash. No way. Aint happening.
Ain’t happening because you need to be Trump to pay for all the licenses and you need to hire a Silva learning center full time to train the re-seller users. Cost, training and support. 3 buckets of cost and failure. But if you need the sales data how do you get it?
There is only one way that I know of for sure. I know cause I built it. It is called the Sales Power Bench.
