When I first started using CRM software, I will admit, I thought it was a little intense for what I believed was pretty basic stuff. After all, I had been selling successfully most of my adult career and I had always done just fine without it, right?
Recognizing that I could either accept change, like the Sniff and Scurry of Who Moved My Cheese, or resist change and stay behind in the empty cheese chamber like Hem and Haw, I decided to embrace this new challenge and see if there truly was anything to all the hype. That being said I’m not the type to jump on a passing band wagon without really good cause so I decided to give it an honest try and reserve all judgment for 30 days. I will admit, I expected it to be a little more intuitive. As easy, perhaps as ordering a book from Amazon? Shouldn’t everything be that easy now days? (Seriously, whoever came up with 1-Click ordering deserves a medal.) I think I was expecting that every feature and function should appear as a push button option in the screen I was on, sort of like mind reading magic. Perhaps I’m not easily impressed?
I won’t admit to being an overnight convert. Not exactly overnight. By that I mean it took a couple of days for me to truly accept the value of being able to sleep at night without waking up every couple of hours and running through the mental list of things I needed to do the next day, or worse, the surfacing subconscious list of what I was supposed to have already done the day before, and had failed to complete. That list has a tendency to prevent further sleep. I hate that list. I remember gradually submitting to the magic of CRM and all the benefits it provided the way I submit to knowing I’m going to eat the entire Hershey’s chocolate bar, instead of just the half I had promised myself I would. Really, it’s just too good. Give me one good reason to stop!
As I began to utilize the software more, I realized that the layers of this solution are what make it so miraculous. In addition to the basic time management functions of CRM, which are impossible not to love, I quickly realized that because others within the company were using it too, and sharing information, the result was a reduction for the demand of my time. It meant a reduction of incoming calls from inquiring internal parties. It meant a reduction of reporting required by me on a weekly basis. After all, the information is right there for all to see. It truly felt like I had discovered a way to do more and be more but with less time.
I have finally resigned to the fact that I am addicted. I am referring to CRM not chocolate, though the latter is also a possibility. If someone, anyone, tried to take my CRM away from me it would get really ugly really fast. I like my sleep. I’m a nicer person when I get my beauty rest. If I had to revert back to my many pages of to-do lists and notes and appointment cards and spreadsheets and business cards and paper reports I would never get another solid night’s sleep again. It would be HORRIBLE, because now I would KNOW what it’s like not to have to live like that. I now know what it’s like to get a full night’s sleep.
If you didn’t sleep well last night because lists are appearing behind your eyelids, call me. I have a solution for you.
