Do you remember when you were in high school or college; that time of year came when you selected your courses for the following semester? Do you remember asking around to find out who had taken that class already, and “Was it hard?”, and most importantly, “Did the teacher (or professor) give a lot of homework”? That was the ultimate criteria for deciding which teacher you would take which class with, or if you would take an elective class at all. No one likes homework, right! The very best classes were the ones where they allowed time in class to complete the assignments. You could just do it and forget it, and not have to worry about it again.
I don’t think my mentality towards homework has changed all that much since then, really. If anything, as I get older, I have less and less tolerance for doing “work” on “my” time. I think age has made me appreciate how important “my” time really is. So it doesn’t surprise me that when I talk to sales managers who have never used CRM before, and ask them what their reservations are, they tell me it’s because they “don’t want more work to do”. You know what…that’s a fair statement! I get where they’re coming from. I believe it’s a common perception in the business world that our bosses, our prospects and our clients are always wanting more and more from us and we have less and less time to get it all done. Often, we in sales, tend to feel like our time is not our own. “And you want more?” we think. “Seriously? And where is the time for that supposed to come from?” They envision themselves having to fire up their laptops at 10:00 p.m. after they’ve finally checked into their hotel for the night, only to enter information into the CRM software that they already emailed or called into their inside contacts earlier in the day. They don’t want to be held accountable for yet another task at the end of each day. They don’t want to use the little “me” time they have at the end of a travel day working even longer hours.
CRM is not homework! CRM can be accessed through smart phones and iPads as well as laptops. Bring your device of choice with you into your customer meeting. Use it as a means to demonstrate to your customer your encompassing knowledge of them and their history with your company. Take brief notes right in your device and schedule the follow up actions needed while your customer is right in front of you. If you aren’t comfortable with that, then make it a habit not to leave the customers’ parking lot without inputting the (limited) key points of the conversation and documenting a follow up action or assigning the appropriate tasks. Limit yourself to 2 minutes of entry after each customer contact. Using CRM effectively allows you to do it and forget it, much like choosing the course that provided time for you to do your homework in class.
That 2 minutes of discipline will give you back minutes in your day and hours in your week. Not only will you not have CRM homework, it will eliminate the need for lengthy emails and long meetings. Interested parties will know they can find the answers, tasks and next steps in the CRM and require less of your precious time. Your time will be yours to manage and you will once again, be glad you have another free night, without homework!
