DEAR CRM AGONY UNCLE,
I don’t want to admit it – but I don’t always tell my CRM the whole truth and I think it’s ruining my relationships.
Of course, it didn’t start out this way. When the CRM and I first got together, I really wanted to make it work. Back then, whenever there was any kind of client contact I updated straight away. Every email, every phone call: I gave it everything I had. Slowly but surely though, my attitude started to change.
I think it began when I first realised that no matter how much I put in, I simply wasn’t getting back the support I needed. At first it was the small things, like a name being misspelt. Then it began to get worse. There were the nightmare meetings where I didn’t even have a correct job title. The excruciating cold calls, with the cold sweat running down my back, not knowing if the contact knew my firm or not. I felt let down and embarrassed, used and angry. I didn’t want to feel that way again.
So yes, I started to get sloppy. I told myself I was working too hard. I had too many deadlines. That the CRM was just too needy. No matter how much data I entered, it was never good enough.
And yes, I started to cheat. At first it was just the odd phone call; then it got more serious. Eventually it was a whole string of emails that I didn’t enter into the CRM. And once it began I just didn’t seem able to stop.
But now I feel terribly guilty. The CRM wants to do a good job. It doesn’t deserve to be treated this way, but what can I do? I simply don’t have the time to meet its constant demands. I honestly don’t know whether to recommit to the CRM or to start using a rolodex. What do you advise?
GUILTY CRM USER
DEAR GUILTY,
First of all, let’s have no more crazy talk about rolodexes. The fact that you can even use that word in the 21st century tells me how deep the emotional scars go from this unhappy relationship with your CRM. I know you’re hurting, but you have to keep things digital.
I also have to tell you that my mailbox is full of letters like yours. There are so many people just like you who want to do the right thing. But for a combination of reasons – often a lack of time and a system with poor usability – activities simply don’t get logged or incomplete contact information gets entered. Don’t beat yourself up about it. You’re not alone. The good news is that there is a way forward, and it’s called Introhive from Tikit.
Introhive is an automated contact and activity data entry system. It scans activity and simply asks for permission to put the data it has gleaned from sources like email traffic, social networks and calendars into your CRM system.
The breakthrough is that you no longer have to enter any data manually. Data entry is now automated. Our calculation is that Introhive saves CRM users an average of 5.5 hours per week because of this. You don’t have to cheat and feel guilty anymore!
Moreover, this means that human error and frailty are eliminated. There are no more misspellings. There’s no more partial data. Quickly and painlessly, the CRM system accumulates comprehensive, accurate and current information. It’s clean, complete and trustworthy so you’ll never have to be embarrassed by missing, incomplete or stale data again.
Even better, Introhive is proactive. Because it can access your calendar, it anticipates when you’re meeting a prospect or current client and sends you a digest of information about that contact the day before a scheduled meeting.
Better yet, Introhive can also generate predictive metrics based on analysis of all your firm’s interactions with any given client. These algorithms can answer your most important questions about the warmth of the relationship with the client and if that relationship is moving in the right direction. It gives you actionable information so that you can take the right steps at the right time to make sure a client is won or retained.
‘Guilty’, I know that right now you’re feeling bad about how things have gone wrong between you and the CRM. Let me reassure you that together with Introhive you can make things right again.
But if you still need more information, be sure to check back here because next time I’ll be writing to a firm’s business development manager who’s worried that the CRM he committed to isn’t in it for the long haul.
All the best,
YOUR CRM AGONY UNCLE
Tikit’s CRM ‘Agony Uncle’ is Simon Elven (otherwise known as Tikit’s Commercial and Marketing Director as well as Product Manager for Tikit eMarketing).
To find out more about how Tikit and Introhive can help you to put CRM (and growing and understanding your firms relationship), at the heart of Business Development and Marketing:
Join us for a webinar on the 16 Jan, 2018 (2-3pm) – PWC, Tikit and Introhive on building better relationships with your CRM.
Or click here for more information
