The level of attention companies are placing on sales and marketing has quickly and drastically increased. Due to COVID, companies are sharing how they are giving more attention, budget, and time to their sales and marketing strategy and initiatives.
However, talk is cheap. Do their actions support their comments?
I do not doubt many companies are putting more emphasis on sales and marketing. Placing more attention on sales does not necessarily equate to more sales. Placing more attention on sales does not mean your are committing to the correct or appropriate areas. When companies say they are placing more emphasis, more time, and perhaps, even more budget on sales, it often simply means they are placing more attention on sales and marketing than they did before.
How do you know if you are channeling your focus, time, attention, and budget in the right areas when it comes to sales and marketing? In today’s business climate, we cannot afford to take chances of placing time, energy, and dollars in places where we are not going to get a return.
So how can you tell if you are moving in the right direction?
I have a “Sales Litmus” test you can take. After taking this very simple but effective test, you will know how serious you are about sales. This test requires one question. If you answer “yes” to the question you are on the right track. If you answer “no” you need to do a little evaluation of the reason why.
Here is the question…
Do you require your sales and marketing staff to treat your CRM system with the same level of importance, accuracy, integrity, best practices, reporting, and accountability as your accounting staff does with your accounting system?
You may want to read this question again.
This is really a pretty simple question. However, I am guessing your answer may not be as simple. I am also guessing for most companies, your answer is “no”.
If your answer is “no”, why? Why do you not require your sales and marketing staff to treat CRM with the same level of importance as your accounting staff does with its accounting system? The most common reasons are:
1. We cannot get our sales reps to use CRM. We have poor user adoption.
a. What would you do if you could not get an accounting staff member to use the accounting system?
2. The sales reps do not like the company knowing everything they are doing.
a. What would you do if your receivables person did not want to enter all the checks they received because they did not want you to know what they were doing with the money?
3. The sales reps say it takes too long to enter everything into CRM.
a. What would you do if the accounting staff said it takes too long for them to enter everything into the system, so they were simply going to pick and choose what they were going to enter?
4. Some of the sales reps are just not good with technology.
a. What would you do if one of your accounting personnel was just not good with technology?
5. The sales reps simply do not see the value. They say they can keep track of everything on their own.
a. What would you do if your accounting staff said they simply do not see the value and they are capable of keeping track of everything on their own?
So why do companies not require sales reps to use CRM with the same level of importance and integrity as accounting? Why do companies allow their sales reps to dictate what they are and are not going to do regarding CRM? Permitting this in the accounting world is unheard of. Can you imagine your receivables person saying they were not going to enter all the checks they receive?
There is only one real answer why companies do not require sales reps to use CRM with the same level of integrity as their accounting staff does with their accounting system. The answer is because the company is really not serious about sales.
Sure, companies want to sell. Yes, companies want to sell more this year than last year. Obviously companies want to find and develop new customers. However, wanting it, wishing for it, hoping for it, versus demanding certain things happen in order for them to achieve it are two different things.
If sales reps are not inputting all data into CRM, how are companies able to make informed decisions? How can companies effectively and accurately analyze incomplete data? Can you imaging trying to run your company with half of the data missing in your accounting system?
It seems funny when we look at it this way. However, this is what is going on inside organizations.
I started this blog out with the statement that companies are saying they are taking sales and marketing more seriously now due to COVID. They say they are placing more emphasis and focus on sales today than they did pre-COVID.
The question is, are they? If they have not placed CRM at the core of their sales and marketing focus, I challenge their seriousness about sales.
How serious are you about sales? What kind of emphasis are you placing on sales?
If you are truly committed to improving sales, put CRM at the core. Sales is the heartbeat of our organizations. Make sure you have a pulse on it.