What happens when your team hates your company's CRM software?

Look at sites like Facebook or Twitter for more than a few minutes, and you're bound to find entries like this one:



That's the sound of passionate sales professionals frustrated by the inability to use CRM software to accomplish their goals. Reactions like this are one of the reasons that many CRM implementations fail. Successful, strong-willed sales professionals like to have a say in the way they conduct their business. And, in a market economy, they may head off to another job before letting their frustration be known.

When I wrote about six things managers can do to help CRM implementation go smoothly, I focused on using software to underscore the needs of the business. However, when I see comments like the one above, I know that someone has flipped the equation around -- the CRM software is driving the bus, not the sales professional.

It's important for anyone tasked with a CRM implementation to make sure there's a safe space to speak out about limitations of the software, and that it's not particularly disloyal or unhelpful to vent about what you want a CRM application to do. In some cases, additional training may help. Sometimes, the situation may require a workaround. And, especially when dealing with custom CRM applications, it might even be possible to engage the developers for insight or for a solution.