Top 5 Reasons Your CRM is Unused

Having been a project manager and sales lead on numerous CRM deployments, I often hear similar comments across all segments of the marketplace about why companies are less than pleased with the acceptance or usage of their current CRM.  Not even substantial upfront investments guarantee an across the board “buy-in.”  Everyone knows the potential benefits of CRM, so why is yours going unused?

Here are the top five reasons I personally have run across.

1. Big Brother Paranoia:  Too many reps have no idea why a CRM has been introduced.  Without clear messaging from management, the natural inclination is to assume that Big Brother wants to micromanage their every step.  The reality is, at the end of the day, what matters is the numbers.  An abundance of tracking data won’t mask poor sales.  The CRM, it should be communicated, is a tool to help your reps exceed their goals.  A sale is the end result of activity, and the CRM helps you stay on top of your activities
   
2. No selling value:  If the tool doesn’t help you close more sales, then, using it is an exercise in data entry.   Does the CRM reduce redundant tasks?  Does it proactively alert you to significant milestones?  Does it make the completion of a weekly call log a thing of the past?  The CRM should work for you, not you for it.
   
3. Costly Upkeep: Business needs change.  What was great for you six months ago doesn’t necessarily cut the mustard today.  Unfortunately, smaller CRM implementations typically lack the ability to create functionality unique to your business as you grow.  Enterprise level CRM solutions typically provide the ability to create these customizations, but each feature request can require a scope development fee and significant development costs, pushing the ROI of your CRM further down the road.  So, necessary feature enhancements often go un-created, which leads to time-sapping work-arounds, which leads to poor acceptance.  I’ve heard from multiple prospects that are afraid to call their current provider for fear that they’ll receive a bill.
   
   The solution is to find a CRM that provides the best of both worlds: powerful and useful off the shelf CRM functionality, with the ability to make cost effective modifications when necessary as the business needs change.
   
4. Nobody knows how to use it:  Did you do a “do it yourself” CRM implementation?  Did you leave the training of your staff up to YouTube and a user manual?  If you’re going to invest in a CRM, invest a few hours to make sure your team knows how to use it.  It’ll pay you back sooner rather than later.
   
5. No mobility:  Not all sales happen in the office.  Many reps go for days at a time without ever stepping foot in a cubicle.  Because of a lack of mobile access, or painfully slow remote desktop sessions, reps often trick themselves into believing that they’ll enter their data when they are back in front of their computers.  But, when the time comes, nobody wants to dedicate an hour to put in a week’s worth of data.  Your CRM needs to work on that little computer in your pocket without any feature limited apps or proprietary software.  Your CRM needs to help you extend your office, not chain you to it.

What’s your experience been like?  What are reasons your CRM isn’t being used?