CRM Damage Control: 10 RedFlags Your Customer Relations Management System Needs Replacement

Small and large business executives know how important Customer Relationship Management is to make their business thrive in a sea of competitions. 

CRM usage, over the years, has increased tremendously—from 56% in 2013 to 74% in 2018. Another statistic shows that there’s a 65% sales quota increase when CRM is adopted. 

All in all, the benefits of having a good CRM tool are enormous; from having a better client relationship, increased team collaboration, reduced client attrition to even staff satisfaction. 

However, despite the numerous benefits, most companies face serious issues specifically from CRM systems. It should be noted that not all CRM systems are the same. The prevailing difference is the reasons why companies spend money on getting a system that can meet their needs. 

What are those signs, those redflags you can spot and make moves towards upgrading your CRM systems? We will delve briefly into them. 

Every day reports take a longer time to prepare. 

Drafting a report for the very first time may seem daunting. It usually takes time initially—especially when you want to get every detail right. But as time goes on, it becomes increasingly easy to create when it is a monthly affair. 

Now, when you notice that sales managers or sale reps spend longer time to prepare reports which, in retrospect, would not take that much time to prepare, your CRM system is due for an overhaul. 

The best approach to handle this is to look into the quality and/or quality of the data and other processes that feed the reports and implement the changes from that point. 

When you receive poor support from your vendor. 

It is highly recommended that when adopting a CRM system, you and your staff need to receive the proper training. Hence, it is important to choose a vendor like mailchimp vs klaviyo who will offer hands-on and interactive training and support. 

When you have glitches on your system and you can’t contact your vendor to help salvage the situation, then you need a system replacement. 

When your business social media accounts are outside your system. 

A lot of B2B and B2C companies in the business of utilizing social selling in their CRM. This is because these days you cannot separate social media and CRM in pursuing leads. If you or your staff are in the habit of switching screens to handle business social media page and CRM, then the CRM needs a replacement. 

When the system does not respond swiftly to generated leads. 

When websites generate sales leads, it is expected that the CRM jumps on it. By sending automated yet personalized emails to the various leads, your CRM ensures that a relationship is forged. 

When your CRM takes too much time to respond to those generated leads, you could lose a potential client or group of clients. You would agree that this should not be acceptable. When you begin to spot these time lags, it’s time to make replacements to your CRM system. 

When your UI/UX is not cool. 

Over the years, CRM has been geared toward improving User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX). This is because business will choose user-friendliness as a factor in choosing a CRM. When your staff is no longer pleased with the interface of your CRM, it needs an overhaul.

When you cannot control sales activities. 

A good CRM is supposed to offer a platform where you can monitor sales activities and communicate with staff. If you cannot monitor what your sales reps are up to and how they follow up leads, your CRM needs a replacement.  

When new staff is confused over existing data and accounts. 

In a perfect working environment, no CRM agent should have a monopoly over a particular customer account. While some companies favour personalized customer relations approach to driving ROI, it can pose a lot of issues when an agent retires or resigns. 

There are cases where the new agent gets it all confused with customer status and other technical issues. 

When you begin to notice such occurrence, it is best to overhaul the operation. A more effective way of handling this is to implement an environment where all agents can render supports across all customer databases. 

When you rely on salespeople to assist customers all the time. 

CRM systems and applications are built to allow any staff to offer assistance in customer inquiries. An anomaly to that is when salespersons begin to handle customer concerns themselves. 

When you begin to rely on your salespersons to solely handle customer inquiries, your CRM system needs to be overhauled. Have in mind that CRM systems are meant to improve interactions with your customers within your standards—which usually means any staff, with a functioning CRM software, can assist any customer. 

When you are interacting with customers outside your system. 

An integral part of customer relationship management is the ability to manage the customer experience. This is why CRM system is built to improve interactions between your business and your customers. 

Keeping in touch with customers, having full knowledge about their purchase habits is relevant in sustaining your business. 

When communication occurs outside of your systems, make the decision to replace it. 

When your business outgrows your CRM. 

When your business is a start-up, it is okay to keep things small, hiring a couple of employees, renting small space and having basic CRM systems. 

But when your business becomes fully established or fast-growing, you’ll need bigger spaces, more workforce and even more sophisticated tools to match customer demands. 

An old CRM may not be able to support the technicalities that come with new data input, integrated web forms, and even a cloud-based application for marketing. When you notice that your CRM cannot match growing needs, it needs to be replaced. 

In conclusion, no business wants to be or stay behind. Therefore, it is important to see the redflags that will keep your business stagnated and erase them completely. It is important to make the corrections when necessary or let go in favour of a new system that works for you. 


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