Transforming your sales approach? Here’s why you should buy a new CRM too.

Many organizations treat investments in sales effectiveness a series of buckets: One for strategy, one for the sales process, one for training, enablement content, coaching, analysis, individual salesperson performance… and so on. Along the way, companies bolt on numerous tools to their legacy CRM, one after the other.

I believe that’s a big mistake.

Lasting sales improvements can only happen when you can fully align all of those elements and execute them on a daily basis. Effective sales consulting will help you align your initiatives… and effective technology will help you execute on them.

That’s why I believe that organizations should invest both in a sales consultant AND a new CRM–at the same time.

I can hear the objection: “Yes, George, you built and sell a sales enablement CRM, so of course you believe we should buy it.”

If that’s what you’re thinking, you’ve got it backwards. I don’t believe you should buy a new CRM because I built one. I built the CRM because I believe you need a new CRM.

And here’s why consulting & CRM go together.

Sales consulting and training is only as powerful as your ability to execute

How many sales strategies have you gotten excited about and then later despaired as all those exciting ideas stayed locked in a folder on a shelf, gathering dust?

How many times have you pulled your hair out trying to get the sales team to buy into the big plans you have for them?

How many training programs have you purchased only to watch salespeople rubber-band back to old habits later?

Sales consulting can be a transformative investment for an organization. The right partner can help you develop go-to-market and sales strategies that differentiate your team and drive business results; connect you with the process, methodology, and training that gives your team the skills and know-how to get the job done; improve your team’s ability to coach successfully; assess, hire, and onboard new salespeople effectively; enable your team to higher performance; and make you look good doing it.

But when this investment is treated as separate from the technology investment, it forces your teams to try to fit your strategic shifts and your training into an old box that wasn’t built for it.

This leads to a misalignment in the execution of all those wonderful things you’ve invested in and, ultimately, all of the symptoms listed above.

A purpose-built CRM makes strategy, process, methodology, and enablement easy to execute

On the other hand, when your consultant is free to help you choose and implement technology to align with the rest of the transformation, then they are also free to make that CRM work for your team instead of against.

In many cases, an organization already uses a CRM that is more-or-less functional for them. So, instead of investing in one that helps them execute on newly defined strategies, they attempt to buy plug-ins or layer new technologies on top of the old. Or, worse, they don’t see the problem as a problem of technology at all, and simply trudge along with what they already have.

Often, they don’t even realize how elegantly the right technology could support their initiatives. Here are some of the things a purpose-built Sales Enablement CRM can do:

• Provide salespeople with continuous guidance through the sales process with each prospect and opportunity - driving best practice behaviors in real time
• Reinforce training and new skills with video and other training assets embedded directly into the workflow for new and veteran salespeople, tailored to their needs
• Improve on-boarding times by guiding new salespeople through process and training in a coordinated fashion
• Enable salespeople with in-context sales collateral aligned with strategy, brand, messaging, and process
• Enable better coaching with deeper insights to sales leaders
• Assist in optimizing strategy and process with trend analysis and best-in-class analytical tools

Why I built Membrain

I believe you should get the most out of your sales investments. Before I designed and built Membrain, there was no CRM tool that was purpose-built to actually help salespeople to sell.

Now there is.

Consultants love Membrain because it allows them to reinforce their training even when they’re not onsite–meaning they look great to their clients, and their clients keep coming back. We love sales consultants because they have the know-how and skills to help organizations grow.

Sales organizations love Membrain because it reinforces and amplifies all of their other investments in sales enablement.

Consultants make more money with Membrain because Membrain gives them the ability to pinpoint exactly where their clients need more help, and to make the case effectively. Sales organizations are happy to invest more with these consultants because they can see the results they deliver.

I’d love to show you a demo of Membrain today. I’m convinced you’ll be convinced that you need Membrain to help you get more out of the rest of your sales investments. Together, we’ll elevate the sales profession!