--- title: Why CRM Is the Right Investment in a Bad Economy description: Selling Power on Why CRM Is the Right Investment in a Bad Economy --- This is a search field with an autosuggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. # Why CRM Is the Right Investment in a Bad Economy ![Bob Apollo](https://app.hubspot.com/settings/avatar/78fa41976d534cacbb0e22e151bc6816) Post by [Bob Apollo](https://www.inflexion-point.com/blog/author/bob-apollo) March 3, 2009 There's a very interesting article in the latest edition of [Selling Power](http://www.sellingpower.com/html_newsletter/article.asp?NLid=2&Layout_ID=867&ARTid=3861&nDate=March+3%2C+2009) (registration required).  They quote market research from Gartner that suggests that despite budget pressures on almost every aspect of business, CRM expenditures are likely to hold up - and in fact are projected to grow in Europe by 4% from 2008 to 2009. There's a simple and powerful rationale: to win in today's markets, vendors need to target their prospects more selectively, and to execute their sales strategies impeccably.  Nobody wants to be spending scarce sales resources on poorly qualified opportunities that aren't going to buy. Most of the investment is going into improving the effectiveness of the CRM systems they already have in place.  It's become critical that these investments are both a technical and commercial success, and a more intelligent approach to CRM implementation is yielding tangible benefits. We're seeing a particular surge in interest in [pipeline analytics solutions](https://www.inflexion-point.com/our-solutions/pipeline-visibility/advanced-pipeline-analytics/) from vendors like [Cloud9 Analytics](https://www.inflexion-point.com/our-partners/cloud9-analytics/).  These tools are proving highly effective in extracting actionable intelligence from the mass of sales data companies have been accumulating.  We've also been involved in a growing number of projects to review and where necessary re-implement CRM systems in order to better align them with [facilitating the buying process](https://www.inflexion-point.com/our-solutions/advance/the-process-of-buying/) - rather than simply monitoring the sales cycle. It seems that the traditional reputation for CRM projects costing too much, taking too long and delivering inadequate results is being sucessfully challenged.  With the benefit of clear visibility of what's really going on in their pipelines, sales organisations are able to focus in on changes and to react while there is still time to influence outcomes. As Selling Power observes, having a CRM system that delivers isn't a nice to have any more - it's a must have. ###### Tags: [CRM, ](https://www.inflexion-point.com/blog/topic/crm) [Complex Sales](https://www.inflexion-point.com/blog/topic/complex-sales) ![Bob Apollo](https://app.hubspot.com/settings/avatar/78fa41976d534cacbb0e22e151bc6816) Post by [Bob Apollo](https://www.inflexion-point.com/blog/author/bob-apollo) March 3, 2009 Bob Apollo is a Fellow of the Institute of Sales Professionals, a regular contributor to the International Journal of Sales Transformation and Top Sales World Magazine, and the driving force behind Inflexion-Point Strategy Partners, the leading proponents of outcome-centric selling. Following a successful corporate career spanning start-ups, scale-ups and market leaders, Bob now works as a strategic advisor, mentor, trainer and coach to ambitious B2B sales organisations - teaching them how to differentiate themselves through their provably superior approach to achieving their customer's desired outcomes. [Follow me on my website](https://www.inflexion-point.com) [Follow me on LinkedIn ](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/bobapollo) [Follow me on Twitter ](https://twitter.com/bobapollo) ### Comments ###### Related Articles ### [It's better to sail with the wind than against it...](https://www.inflexion-point.com/Blog/bid/10286/It-s-better-to-sail-with-the-wind-than-against-it) Posted by **[Bob Apollo](https://www.inflexion-point.com/blog/author/bob-apollo),** **Mar 17, 2008** Most of the best recent thinking about the complex B2B sales environment suggests that the primary role of the sales person ... ### [Navigating the BuyerSphere](https://www.inflexion-point.com/Blog/bid/22049/Navigating-the-BuyerSphere) Posted by **[Bob Apollo](https://www.inflexion-point.com/blog/author/bob-apollo),** **Mar 30, 2009** Today's buyers are influenced by a wide variety of sources, far beyond the conventional analyst and press community. They ... ### [The Keys to Sustainable Sales and Marketing](https://www.inflexion-point.com/Blog/bid/29102/The-Keys-to-Sustainable-Sales-and-Marketing) Posted by **[Bob Apollo](https://www.inflexion-point.com/blog/author/bob-apollo),** **Dec 17, 2009** All the publicity surrounding the Copenhagen Climate Conference has reinforced the world-wide need for sustainable ... 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