CRM systems are worth their weight in gold when used as intended. But like so many sales management software tools, they are only as good as the data fed into them.
This can be problematic when sales organizations rely upon the CRM as their single source of truth. Unfortunately, most teams make only sporadic entries or fail to update CRM records at all.
This oversight plagues sales operations in numerous ways. It’s hard for a new rep to get up to speed when another exits without comprehensive prospect and account details. Plus, because CRM data and contact info quickly become outdated, it’s a struggle for managers and their reps to get on the same page. In fact, failure to update CRM is one of the key reasons so many deal review sessions are wasted as managers spend time trying to fill in the basics instead of focusing on strategy.
Bridge the Gap Between Sales Activities and CRM
We get it. Sales reps want to spend their time establishing and building relationships, not doing tedious data entry. Most are already feeling bogged down by administrative tasks. A recent study highlighted by Ken Krogue at Forbes found that nearly two-thirds of reps’ time, on average, is spent in non revenue-generating activities.
Krogue writes:
“CRM, as I’ve written previously, is being used increasingly less. Why? Perhaps there is a clue in the fact that 9.1% of reps’ time (over half the amount of time they spend in CRM) is in spreadsheets as they try to more effectively manage CRM related tasks. Sales reps explicitly called out CRM as their biggest frustration.”
No one can fault reps for wanting to focus on relationships instead of their CRM records. But there’s huge value in the information we capture around leads, opportunities, and deals. These insights form the basis of smart strategies for nurturing decision makers and converting them into customers.
Rather than continually battling reps to keep the CRM updated, sales managers should seek ways to bridge the gap between their sales activities and their sales management software.
Getting the Most Out of Sales Management Software
Deals is a new feature in Sales Navigator that makes it much easier to feed real-time deal and contact info into your CRM system and vice versa.
Sales Navigator Deals was designed to integrate seamlessly with your team's daily sales and relationship workflow. Use it to track all of your opportunities on a single dashboard. When you make in-line edits in Deals, they’ll be automatically updated to your CRM.
This always works the other way, via LinkedIn’s CRM sync, which allows reps to seamlessly import leads and accounts from the CRM into Sales Navigator. There, your team can easily layer in LinkedIn data to uncover new professional insights and hidden links within the buying committee.
By removing the extra effort required to keep your pipeline data current and consistent, you can do away with all that CRM frustration.
Base Your Sales Coaching on Trusted Data
As a sales manager, you’re looking for every opportunity to help your team find success. Playing your A game – and getting your reps to do the same – means you need to make recommendations in the moment based on a solid understanding of deal status. But how can you arrive at a clear, up-to-date view when that information is scattered across emails, notepads, and spreadsheets instead of being captured in one central location?
Sales Navigator Deals gives you this 360-degree view of pipeline in an instant. You and your reps can edit deal size, stage, close date, next steps and more across all opportunities, from a single page. You can even get a real-time picture of the buyer circle, allowing you to better understand the decision makers involved and identify missing players.
Integration between Sales Navigator and your CRM system means your team can trust its pipeline data and get the most out of it, while dedicating more time to the most important activity: selling.
Find out more ways to get better visibility and control over your pipeline by downloading our Pipeline Management Kit.
Topics: Sales management
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