Why Sales Reps Hate CRM Systems

When I got off of the phone, I took the time to fill in all of the information related to the call in my CRM system (which at the time was simply the software that came with my Palm Pilot), including the Needham High School connection. End of story. I moved on to the next item on my to do list.

Fast-forward a year.

My phone rings and it's a woman from Houston, Texas whose name rang a bell somewhere off in the foggy distance. She had heard some good things about my training programs and wanted to know more. As she talked, I searched. Up popped the name, "Rachel Koenig" and I quickly read the notes I had made, smiling as it all came back to me.

"Rachel," I interrupted. "You don't remember me? We went to high school together in Needham!" "We did?" she replied, completely stunned. I went on to relate every detail that I had written down as if it was just yesterday that we passed in the hallway. The tone of the call changed immediately and before I know it we were talking like old friends. At the end of the call, I was invited to speak at their three presidents' meetings, the first time they had ever invited in an outside speaker. I went on to do hundreds of thousands of dollars of business with CGX and continue to work with many of their 80-something locations.

I eventually 'fessed up to Rachel that my memory was not all that I led her to believe it was. Thanks to that stupid, can't stand it, OMG what a waste of time CRM system that "I swear is only so that management can keep track of me," I landed a big fish.