Advancements in technology have provided businesses the opportunity to dramatically improve the efficiency and productivity of their marketing and sales organizations. Marketing automation software helps marketing teams design and execute marketing campaigns that attract and nurture more qualified leads with fewer resources. CRM software helps salespeople manage their day-to-day sales activities; enables an efficient sales process that accelerates leads through the sales funnel; and gives management improved visibility into the pipeline and more accurate forecasting. 

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software has been one of the fastest-growing business application segments for the last several years. There are literally hundreds of options to choose from. They include large enterprise solutions from companies that spend millions on marketing and product development, as well as small niche players that focus on supporting the unique requirements of specific industries. Some of them get good reviews and other not so much. 

At LeadG2 and our parent company, The Center for Sales Strategy, we use the HubSpot CRM to manage our sales pipeline and activity. We also provide full customization, set-up, and training on the HubSpot CRM for our clients. Coming from a media sales background myself, I’ve seen my fair share of CRMs being rolled out, and ultimately never effectively used internally. This is why I love working with media companies today and helping them simplify the process of choosing, setting up, and using a CRM with the HubSpot CRM. 

While no CRM (or really any software tool) is perfect—we personally think the HubSpot CRM is at the top of the list and provides unique benefits that other CRMs can’t deliver on. This is why I’ve developed a list of what I believe to be the top eight reasons media companies will love (and do love!) the HubSpot CRM.

It seems that just about every sales organization has implemented a CRM software to help their sales team become more productive and more efficient. But according to Merkle Group, Inc, 63% of CRM implementations fail. They don’t fail because it’s bad software. No, it’s usually because the sales team simply doesn’t use the software.

Salespeople can be a finicky bunch—especially experienced, successful ones. They’ve spent years refining their sales approach, and they don’t want to rock the boat. The common refrain that can be heard from conference rooms across the country is, "If it ain’t broke, why fix it?" Maybe their process "ain’t broke," but it’s rare to find a sales process that can’t be improved or enhanced in some way. Often that’s what a CRM offers—the ability to take your sales process to the next level. The challenge then becomes getting the sales team to actually use the CRM on a consistent basis. Here are a few ideas.

This morning, as I got dressed and ready for work, something got me thinking about how cool it would be if I could simply talk into a device and ask for a pipeline report to see what was being forecasted to close this month. Unless you are a sales manager, it's probably not the first thing that you think about in the morning. But as a sales and marketing consultant, I think about similar things... about ways to improve the sales process and sales management process.

In my first job as an advanced financial analyst at EDS, I remember writing a business case for why we needed access to the Internet. As a financial analyst, I was responsible for making sure that my accounts and our clients followed Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) practices for recognizing revenues and recording expenses. Each month, I received a binder of new and updated rules and pronouncements from the FASB.  While it was nice to receive a big box in the mail at work, this system used a lot of paper and printing resources, took up a lot of storage space in my cubicle, and probably cost a fortune to mail.   

Ask any sales manager, salesperson, or business leader about CRMs and you’re likely to get mixed reviews. Most agree they are a necessary piece of technology, but that’s about all they might agree on. Managers tend to feel like they must have a CRM for proper reporting, but they've likely had a bad experience in the past due to lack of adoption by sellers. At the same time, many salespeople have had at least one poor experience with a CRM in their career. Meanwhile, a lucky few have found the key to effective and successful CRM adoption and usage.

As part of the LeadG2 series on "The 10 Commandments of Inbound Marketing," today we're looking at the ninth of The 10 Commandments of Inbound Marketing: You must use a CRM. (Tweet This)

If you’ve ever worked in sales then you’ve likely used a CRM (short for Customer Relationship Management) or at least heard stories from colleagues and peers about what a pain in the butt their CRM was to use. Most of my professional career I’ve either had a poor experience with clunky data entry and useless reports, or worked for organizations spending big money on a CRM that was barely being used by the sales team (until there was a win to report).