How to stop CRM data entry (and data discovery) tasks from stealing your productive phone time
Posted by Geoff Alexander on Mon, Jul 06, 2009 @ 01:26 AM
Last week, just as I was getting ready for the long weekend, I got a blog query from Dave, one of our subscribers. And it's a toughie. Read Dave's question:
"I'm in a new "sales" position, using [sigh] Salesforce.com . Bottom line... while I'm compensated on SALES, much of my work/time (particularly as I work through the "leads" in my region) is data entry. I've put a watch on it & takes upwards of 5-10 minutes to bring a skeletal lead (no address, phone, website or description) up to usability. From experience I know it's crucial to have these basic facts at hand... but it kills my prospecting/selling time. I'd just as soon not go to my boss with the typical lament: "these leads aren't any good." Suggestions?
P.S. With the popularity of Salesforce, I'd be willing to guess there are a lot of folks wrestling with this frustration. This also touches on the greater topic of ‘data quality'... this morning I happened to find: collection/mish/mash of Blue Cross Accounts. BlueCross, Blue Cross, Blue Cross of MA, Blue Cross of Massachusetts, Blue Cross/BlueShield & more."
Geoff here: So what Dave is dealing with here are raw company leads, where there is no contact, and he has to go to the web, use Hoover's, OneSource, or another source to get company, contact, and website data, in order to turn it into something he can call. OK, Dave, there are several areas to tackle here, and they all touch upon the challenge with which you're dealing. And there are solutions. Here goes:
1) As a general FYI, every one of my clients deals with similar Contact Management Relationship (CRM) issues, regardless of what CRM they're using, from Oracle, to Siebel, to SAP. To date, I've never spoken with a rep that's totally in love with his or her CRM database. Take heart in the fact that you're not alone, Dave, you're in a very big (and vocal) club.
2) I believe you when you said it takes 5-10 minutes to do enough data mining to bring a skeletal lead up to snuff. For what I'm going to suggest in #3 (below), I'd like you to actually log ten skeletal situations, with the time it takes to do each, and the name of the ultimate contact you enter into the contact field. Put these on a sheet of paper, because I'm going to take a scientific approach under item #3, and you'll need ten instances of quantifiable data to make your point.
3) Determine how many calls you need to make every day for your territory to reach its sales quota. It's easy to do, because I've got a blog post that tells you how to put together meaningful call metrics, and you should read it and cobble together yours. It's not that difficult, and it may differ from the call metrics you've been given. You'll end up creating a weekly sales quota sheet as well as a daily call quota sheet.
4) With the facts you uncovered under # 2 and #3 above, determine how many skeletal leads you can process in one day, and still make your sales numbers. If it's untenable, go to your manager with the irrefutable data. This is taking a scientific approach, and it's hard to argue with numbers. I've often said that managers like solutions, not problems, and taking this approach puts you squarely in solution mode. If your data checks out, your manager will have to come up with his or her own solution as well that works for the entire inside sales team.
5) I've saved a very good part for last. Trish Bertuzzi at The Bridge Group told me about a product called InsideView that acts as a front-end for Salesforce.com, and aggregates data from a number of different sources and compiles it right into Salesforce in a few moments. I saw their online demo, and I'm a believer. This product appears to be ideal for Dave's data discovery dilemma (give me an ‘A' for alliteration in my next English class), as it could dramatically cut the time he's taking to do manual data mining.
To sum up, I always teach a bit about research tools and techniques in my telesales training courses, and invariably, CRM issues come up. Every great telesales rep I know has figured out the number of calls he or she has to make to make the monthly number, so if any of you haven't taken a few minutes to compile yours (item #3 above has a link to show you how), then add that capability to your Best Practices Playbook. And Dave, thanks for bringing up a topic that undoubtedly frustrates many of your colleagues as well.