The answer to "Do you need a CRM?" is yes, but also: no.
No, you do not strictly need a CRM (aka Customer Relationship Manager), if you’re thinking about something like Hubspot, or SalesForce, or PipeDrive.
But what you do need, and yes you absolutely need it, is a central place where you list all your clients, your former clients, the opportunities that you’re trying to convert into clients, and a record of events like meetings and messages, and your notes.
Without that historical record – a log, if you will – a stupidly large amount of the time you spend on business development and lead generation will be completely wasted. Because very few sales happen immediately, and I’ll bet you don’t remember that 13 months ago you spoke with Jimmy who was super keen on hiring you but was about to go in for surgery that week.
That Jimmy who would definitely ping you once recovered except you missed his message or didn’t reply, and then life happened and your hard drive crashed and… and you never spoke with him again and you forgot about him.
And now the time you spent generating and qualifying that lead named Jimmy is a net loss…
But he wouldn’t have been if you had a record of all those events, stored in a list, where you make sure you keep track of all the people, relationship, opportunities and conversations that go on in your business. Because that way Jimmy will always re-surface when you go back to your pipeline work.
So yes, you very definitely need some sort of CRM-type tool.
It’s what creates leverage for all the time you put into relationships and conversation – in other words, it makes your People-Garden more, well, fruitful.
At its most basic your record keeping can happen in a notebook, or on a whiteboard with stickies on it.
A few steps up the technology ladder would be a spreadsheet, and beyond that, there’s the many different software CRM companies and their offerings.
But then the question is:
Which CRM is the best?
And the answer is: The best CRM is the one you actually use.
Because unless you actually use a CRM in order to review your pipeline and take intelligent action on the opportunities in there, you’ll find it very hard to keep your deals moving forward.
Be it a spreadsheet, or a notebook, a multi-purpose CRM like Hubspot or a simple one like OnePageCRM (affiliate link) which I highly recommend:
If you want your pipeline to work, and you want your leads to become clients, you’ll need to actively, conscientiously, repeatedly, process those deals and take action on them, one by one, over and over again.
That’s how you make sales happen.
Instead of what most people do, which is to just wait, and react to whatever your buyers may or may not do.
And this is where "CRM software" often becomes its own obstacle.
Most software is far too complex, too bloated, there’s too many features and integrations and funnels and ‘AI-enabled whatsama-mations’ and what have you.
Depending on your type and size of company, a hyper-capable Swiss Army Knife type thing might be what you need – but for the majority of sole-traders and small-business owners, it’s overkill and the very software itself is the reason why the software isn’t getting used. And, in those cases, the (choice of) software itself is the reason why deals sit there, going stale. (Pretty crazy, when you think about it: the CRM you pay for in order to land more sales becomes the product that prevents you from landing more sales.)
Some people lose themselves trying to configure automations and funnels, others simply rarely log in to the app, and if for any reason your CRM isn’t working for you and you just don’t use it: Ditch it and try a different solution. A simpler one is probably going to be best.
Because what you need, is to keep and maintain a list of people, log your interactions, and update the status of the relationships you have with those people.
And if a spreadsheet works best for you, because that’s a format that you actually use?
Then use a spreadsheet, and forget what some sales guru said on a podcast about how keeping your pipeline in a spreadsheet is like living in the middle ages.
Like the photographer Ansel Adams said: "The best camera is the one you have with you".
And so it is with CRMs and stuff:
The best CRM is the one you’ll actually use.
Use a piece of paper if you must – just make sure that you keep, and maintain, a list of the people in your world. Somewhere. Anywhere.
And then what?
Well, then you go and review those people daily, and ask yourself questions about them.
Because that’s the whole crux of selling your work: questions are the lever that transforms a relationship, and that turns a buyer in your world into a client in your business.
Questions like: "What needs to happen for this deal to move forward?", or What is their biggest aspiration? or any of the questions in Sales for Nice People really, but you can start with the questions in The Empathy Edge.
Asking questions will help you identify things that you can do or say, in order tokeep the conversation going and work towards the sale.
So, whatever your tool of choice for managing your customer relationships:
Pick a tool, make a list, and use the tool, review the list.
Ask questions, repeat daily.
Want my help in asking those questions and making your deals move forward, leading up to the sale?
Then DDXR coaching is where we’ll work on each of your deals together. More information on the programme here.