5 Legitimate Reasons Salespeople Hate CRM
Every profession has their tools of the trade. Lumberjacks go into the woods carrying an axe. Salespeople have a phone, a pen, and a CRM. The difference is that lumberjacks typically enjoy using their axes, while salespeople find their CRM burdensome, disruptive, and generally unhelpful.
Spiro is on a mission to kill CRM, so we put together a list of the biggest reasons salespeople hate CRM.
1. It’s time-consuming
Sales is a race against the clock. You have to exceed your sales quota every month or quarter, beat out your competitors, and close deals before market forces get in the way. So spending your precious time constantly updating a needy CRM is a terrible use of your most valuable resource. If salespeople could take all the time used to input data into CRMs instead into efforts that move the needle and close business, the world’s GDP would probably increase by a few points.
2. It needs constant upkeep
Using a CRM can feel like buying an old house that constantly needs maintenance and updating. Not only do you have to spend what feels like an eternity customizing fields simply to be able to use it, but you also have to devote valuable resources to maintaining a clunky tool. This can even mean hiring someone whose focus is keeping the CRM running properly. And unlike a charming old house, you won’t even enjoy being in your CRM.
3. It’s complicated
Salespeople have enough to worry about without having to understand a complicated, multi-faceted piece of software. Most CRMs are built with data collection as the goal, not necessarily the needs of salespeople and sales leaders. This means that time, energy, and resources are wasted learning how to use a piece of equipment that relegates salespeople to data entry clerks.
4. It’s inaccurate
Speaking of data entry clerks, because CRM relies on salespeople to enter updates, they are notoriously full of inaccurate and incomplete data. (Remember that salespeople live or die by what they know about prospects and customers, and sales leaders forecast based on that poor data.) Some CRMs are filled with so much bad and inaccurate information that salespeople avoid using them altogether, opting instead for the pen and paper (or Excel spreadsheet approach).
5. You serve CRM, CRM doesn’t serve you
To put it simply, CRM likes to take, but never gives. Tools should be designed to help you perform tasks more effectively, not to stand in the way of getting things done. Unfortunately, CRM tends to do a lot of the latter, and very little of the former. If CRM helped salespeople close more deals, they’d love it. But it doesn’t, and is instead an albatross around the neck of millions of sellers.
If you can think of any other reasons why you’re unhappy with your team’s CRM, please let us know in the comments below. And if you hate your CRM, you might want to consider joining us on our mission to kill it.
