Bro! Do You Even CRM?

This week, I sent an email to the account team for one of our CRM vendors. A sales account executive replied to my email, and the first words he typed at the top of the email were, "Nice to meet you, happy to assist".

That annoyed me. Not a lot, just a little. But over the rest of the week, my annoyance at that innocent exchange grew and grew.

Why?

We've already met, this Strategic Account Executive and I. We've had one face-to-face meeting, and a couple teleconference calls. And while this is the first time I originated an email out to him, I've been CC'd and shared email correspondence with him several times. I must not have left him with a very memorable impression.

Normally, I'd never call out someone who forgot that we've met. Truthfully, I'm not very good with remembering names and events myself. We use a couple different CRM platforms at my company, and this particularly account team is newly assigned to our business. I'm not looking to get them -- or any of our vendor teams -- in trouble. I appreciate all the support and information they give me.

But this is a sales rep! For a CRM vendor! Their whole business model is centered around creating tools that help sales professionals and companies develop stronger, enduring relationships with their customers. And it kept grating on me more and more over the course of the week that this guy didn't know me. It made me feel like he didn't even use the tool his company was selling.

It didn't help that one of the sales execs from a competing CRM vendor reached out to me -- not to sell me anything, but just to ask how things were progressing with a project we were working on using his product. He reiterated an offer to help bring some additional resources -- at no cost to my business -- to the project.

I've had roughly the same amount of communication and face time with both of these sales executives from competing companies. One of them is connecting with me, engaging me -- nurturing a relationship. The other ... is not. Which one am I likely to continue doing business with?

Have you ever forgotten the name of someone you've met or interacted with professionally? Would it have made a difference if you had captured the meeting or exchange in your CRM platform?

I'm using this email exchange as part of a presentation I'm giving to one of our internal sales teams next week. I want to impress upon them the importance of capturing EVERY interaction they have with a client or prospect in our CRM tools.

As part of the presentation, I've created several screenshots: (1) both email exchanges with the sales reps from these different vendors, (2) how I suspect my personal Contact record information appears in the first vendors CRM tool, and (3) how I hope my personal Contact information appears in the second vendors CRM tool -- or rather, how I think it should appear in both vendors systems. We'll chat about which view gives them the greatest opportunity to establish or nurture a strong customer relationship.

What do Contact and Lead records look like in your CRM tool?

When you pull up a Contact or Lead in your CRM, it should highlight EVERY email and EVERY meeting you've had with that individual. It should clearly highlight which individuals are influencers and/or decision makers for past opportunities you have engaged on with that company. Ideally, your CRM tool should give you insight into their likes and interests, particularly as it relates to your product. It should certainly capture their current projects that overlap with functionality that your company's products or services provide.

Sales is entirely about establishing strong customer relationships, nurturing them, and developing strong customer engagement. You can't be expected to remember the name and face of every customer or prospect you've shaken hands with, but your sales will be a lot more successful if you make it seem like you have.

The goal is simple, and not very hard to implement: Know Every Customer.