--- title: 5 Reasons Your CRM System may be Holding Back Your Sales description: "B2B Sales: Here are 5 of the most common reasons why CRM implementations turn into sales prevention systems - and what to do about them..." --- This is a search field with an autosuggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. # 5 Reasons Your CRM System may be Holding Back Your Sales ![Bob Apollo](https://app.hubspot.com/settings/avatar/78fa41976d534cacbb0e22e151bc6816) Post by [Bob Apollo](https://www.inflexion-point.com/blog/author/bob-apollo) March 22, 2011 ![No CRM](https://www.inflexion-point.com/Portals/41408/images/No%20CRM.jpg?width=152&height=151&name=No%20CRM.jpg)Most B2B sales organisations have some sort of **CRM system** in place - or are planning to invest in one. Yet I still keep coming across **basic errors** in implementation and usage that prevent CRM applications from being valuable sales tools and which **turn them instead into sales prevention systems**... I’ve [written on the subject before](https://www.inflexion-point.com/Blog/bid/25311/Is-your-CRM-System-a-Sales-Prevention-System), but the topic is so fundamental to building a repeatable, scalable and predictable sales and marketing machine that I thought it was worth revisiting the topic - and updating the advice I gave at the time. Here are 5 of my most frequently-observed reasons why your CRM system may be **holding back your sales** - and 5 remedies that that can help resolve the problem. ## 1: Ambiguous Stage Definitions The first and most obvious reason is the use of ambiguous or undefined stage definitions - so the sales people interpret them as they think fit. There’s no consistency across the sales organisation as to what - for example - “qualified” really means. **The Remedy**: *Establish and enforce clearly defined definitions for exactly what you mean by each stage in the process. Most critical of all, be clear about the milestone that must be completed before the opportunity can be promoted to the next stage.* ## 2: No Defined Sales Process CRM systems are most effective when they are used to track the progress of opportunities through a defined sales process that reflects the expected sales actions at each stage along the way. Without a defined sales process, a CRM system is no more valuable than a poorly kept diary. **The Remedy**: *Draw upon the best practices of your most successful sales people to define a repeatable, scalable and predictable sales process that every sales person can benefit from - and use your CRM system to track progress against it (and conformance with it).* ## 3: Lack of Alignment with the Buying Process Even if you’ve defined a sales process, if it bears little relationship to your prospect’s buying decision process, you’re more likely to be driving activity than achieving real progress. If your sales process does not reflect your prospect’s buying journey, you’re going to be wasting a great deal of effort. **The Remedy**: *Take pains to understand the critical phases your prospects go through in their buying decision process. Look for observable evidence of their progress. Ensure that your sales process (and CRM system) captures, reflects and tracks observable evidence of your prospect’s buying behaviour.* ## 4: Focusing on Volume and Value and Ignoring Velocity Most CRM systems track the volume/number and value of opportunities in the sales pipeline. But few are set up to measure and report on the velocity of deals as they move from stage to stage. Yet repeated studies show that deal velocity is one of the most important and reliable predictors of whether an opportunity will close - and when. **The Remedy**: *Ensure that your CRM system captures the dates at which opportunities enter and leave each stage of the process, measure and monitor deal velocity, and proactively highlight any opportunities that are “stuck in stage” for management attention.* ## 5: No Benefit to the Sales Person Even if you’ve implemented all four of my previous recommendations, unless your sales people believe that what they will get out of the CRM system is more than the effort required to enter the required data into it, all you’ll get is unenthusiastic lip service - at best - to CRM adoption. **The Remedy**: *Look at your CRM system from your sales person’s perspective. Make sure that they see it as a sales enablement system and not an activity recording system. Help them to see it as an invaluable tool to win more business and earn more commission.* ## How effective is YOUR CRM Implementation? Having an effective CRM implementation is one of the 10 key foundations of our [**Business Scalability Maturity Model**](https://www.inflexion-point.com/how-we-do-it/business-scalability-maturity-model/). You can learn more about how your sales and marketing organisation compares to the best in class in each of these 10 critical areas here. Even better, if you are a **UK-based B2B Company** you may qualify for a free benchmarking session which will enable you compare your sales and marketing processes against the best-in-class. **[Find out more here](https://www.inflexion-point.com/benchmark-offer/)**. Finally, you might also want to join the **[Building Scalable Businesses group](http://www.linkedin.com/groupRegistration?gid=3813986&csrfToken=ajax%3A4909383668480947898)** on **[LinkedIn](http://www.linkedin.com/groupRegistration?gid=3813986&csrfToken=ajax%3A4909383668480947898) **- you can [join the group here](http://www.linkedin.com/groupRegistration?gid=3813986&csrfToken=ajax%3A7851695298855403460). I look forward to your contributions... ###### Tags: [B2B Buying Process, ](https://www.inflexion-point.com/blog/topic/b2b-buying-process) [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 22, 2011 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 ### [If You Haven’t Chosen the Game, You Need to Change the Rules](https://www.inflexion-point.com/Blog/bid/57977/If-You-Haven-t-Chosen-the-Game-You-Need-to-Change-the-Rules) Posted by **[Bob Apollo](https://www.inflexion-point.com/blog/author/bob-apollo),** **Mar 08, 2011** Have you ever stumbled over a sales opportunity late in the day, after your prospect had already consulted with one or more ... ### [Why You Need to Sell the Problem Before You Can Sell Your Solution](https://www.inflexion-point.com/Blog/bid/58547/Why-You-Need-to-Sell-the-Problem-Before-You-Can-Sell-Your-Solution) Posted by **[Bob Apollo](https://www.inflexion-point.com/blog/author/bob-apollo),** **Mar 16, 2011** Recent research by CSO Insights, SiriusDecisions and others confirms what a growing number of sales managers have observed: ... ### [5 proven ways of improving your sales proposal win rates](https://www.inflexion-point.com/Blog/bid/92980/5-proven-ways-of-improving-your-sales-proposal-win-rates) Posted by **[Bob Apollo](https://www.inflexion-point.com/blog/author/bob-apollo),** **Jan 08, 2013** Imagine how much effort and resource is wasted every year in creating and submitting sales proposals to prospects that end ... 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