Choosing not to evolve- Salesforce

My wife’s grandfather and I basically have the same exact job.  We both sell a similar suite of services to small business owners. Although our jobs are similar, the way we go about them couldn’t be more different. I use mobile apps and he uses a pencil. I use an iPad and he uses manila folders. He networks at the rotary club and I use social media. The landscape of business has changed. Technology has reformed productivity in the workplace. Despite the tech revolution, there are still people who resemble my wife’s grandfather more then myself. The reason there are still sales professionals pathetically clutching their manila folders and number 2 pencils is simple… Change is hard! It’s easier to stick with what you know then to learn something new. Learning a new skill requires time, effort, and hard work.   What has achieved success in the past won’t necessarily achieve it in the future. Choosing not to evolve and embrace technology is much more costly then just sucking it up and doing it.  You can’t afford not to embrace technology because the customers you want to attract and the competitors that you’re trying to beat are all using it on a daily basis.

 I recently took a senior sales position at a multi billion-dollar company. During the interview process I made sure to ask about their use of technology. I was pleased to learn that their efforts were organized through the use of a CRM. When I found out their CRM was Salesforce, I took the job! I LOVE SALESFORCE! Salesforce gets more hits from my IP address then facebook and youtube combined! When I started this new job I assumed that my colleges would love Salesforce as much as I did, they didn’t. I assumed the sales team would rely on Salesforce in their prospecting efforts like I do, they weren’t. I also assumed that managers would be using Salesforce for reporting, I was wrong again.  

This multi billion dollar company was dumping millions of dollars into a CRM that their sales team was ignoring. The majority of my colleagues were prospecting, reporting, and keeping notes in excel spreadsheets rather then in Salesforce. One morning on a conference call, I heard one of the top reps in the country mention something that blew my mind. This rep told everyone on the call that he spends about 2.5 hours each Friday reconciling Salesforce and his excel spreadsheets. This means that one of our top performers in the country is spending 10 hours a month or 130 hours per year completely wasting his time! THIS WAS THE FINAL STRAW!

After digging a bit and asking numerous colleges why they weren’t using Salesforce, I finally figured it out. When the CRM had been rolled out nationwide, It was presented as a tool used for micromanagement. Now this multi billion dollar company didn’t literally come out and say “Salesforce is the means by which all reps are going to be micromanaged”. They did however come out with numerous MANDITORY training modules on topics like logging activity, creating an opportunity, and reporting a sale. These modules were focused on things that helped managers keep tabs on their reps rather then helping the reps increase their productivity. Salesforce had been presented to the sales team as digital busy work. Does anyone really like busy work?

So rather then get on a soapbox I decided that 100% of my prospecting efforts during my first full month on the job were going to be done strictly in Salesforce. My goal was to prove to my colleges that using Salesforce could help them make money.  The first thing I did was run a few reports and filter the clients I found down to a very specific demographic. Once I had my reports just the way I wanted them, I sent out a mass email to everyone on my list asking for a quick 20 min meeting. I did this 3 times for 3 different areas in my territory.  The entire process took me about 30mins tops. Those three emails resulted in over 80 appointment requests from clients asking to meet with me. I finished my first full month in the field over 600% to goal. Word traveled quickly throughout the sales organization about my success and everyone wanted to know my trick. My response was simple….. “I USE SALESFORCE!”

The moral of the story is that most people are selfish and lazy. The majority of us wont welcome change unless we see how it can benefit us and make our lives easier. If you have anyone in your organization who is struggling to adopt technology in their daily routine it’s because you have failed at showing them how THEY can benefit from using it.

Some of the best sales people out there are still using pencils and manila folders. Even though they might be miraculously staying afloat their hard work can only get them so far.  I don’t want to merely float… I want to swim! I want to be the Michael Phelps of Sales. Technology helps you work hard but more importantly it helps you work smart. Hard work, a great attitude, and passion are timeless principles that my wife’s grandfather and I both rely on to achieve success.  Although these timeless principles will never change, the tools used to implement them most assuredly have.