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Call Tracking Software Isn't Sales Management!

 

Salesforce and other call-tracking and CRM software have become an important part of sales management. They can track activity, organize customer information, document opportunities and provide management with useful data.

 

There is nothing wrong with that.

 

The problem starts when management begins confusing TRACKING sales activity with MANAGING salespeople!

 

Software can tell you that a salesperson made 25 calls last week.

 

• But can it tell you whether they made the RIGHT calls?
• Can it tell you whether they asked the right questions?
• Can it tell you whether they uncovered the customer's real needs, established credibility, recognized an objection or knew when it was time to CLOSE?

 

Probably not!

 

Here are five reasons I believe sales organizations need to be careful about relying too heavily on call-tracking software.

 

1. Too Much Emphasis on the Numbers

 

Data can provide valuable information about customer activity and sales performance. But an overreliance on that data can cause both salespeople and management to focus on QUANTITY instead of QUALITY.

 

How many calls did you make?

How many emails did you send?

How many appointments did you schedule?

 

Those numbers may be useful, but none of them tells you whether the salesperson is actually SELLING!

 

A salesperson can spend an entire week making calls to poorly qualified prospects and produce beautiful activity reports without getting any closer to an order.

 

Meanwhile, another salesperson may make fewer calls because they are carefully selecting prospects, preparing for appointments and spending their time with customers who have a legitimate opportunity to buy.

 

Which salesperson would you rather have?

 

2. Sales Isn't One-Size-Fits-All (too many variables!)

 

• Customers are different.
• Industries are different.
• Territories are different.
• Products are different.
• And SALESPEOPLE are different!

 

Trying to force every salesperson and every opportunity through exactly the same rigid approach ignores one of the most important realities of professional selling: you have to adapt to the customer and the situation.

 

Customers don't want to feel as though they're being processed through a system. They want to believe the salesperson understands THEIR business, THEIR problems and THEIR needs.

 

Technology can help you organize information about a customer.

It can't build the relationship for you.

 

3. Good Salespeople Need Flexibility

 

I ask you:

When has a one-size-fits-all approach ever worked well?

 

There absolutely SHOULD be structure in professional selling. In fact, I believe there is a logical path a salesperson should travel during a sales call.

 

But structure and rigidity are two very different things.

 

A good salesperson needs to listen, think and adjust. A customer's answer may take the conversation in a direction you didn't expect. A new objection may surface. The person you thought was making the decision may not be the real decision-maker.

 

That's SALES!

 

The salesperson needs enough knowledge, training and judgment to recognize what's happening and respond appropriately.

 

Software should support that salesperson — not prevent them from thinking.

 

4. The Software Can Become the Job

 

CRM systems can require training, data entry and ongoing maintenance. Some of that is necessary and valuable.

 

But every minute a salesperson spends entering information is a minute they aren't prospecting, preparing for an appointment, talking with a customer or following up on an opportunity.

 

Management needs to ask a very simple question:

 

Are we collecting information because it helps us sell — or are we collecting information because the software gives us a place to put it?

 

There is a BIG difference!

 

If your salespeople spend more time satisfying the reporting system than the system saves them, something is wrong.

 

Technology should make your salespeople more productive.

It shouldn't turn your salespeople into data-entry clerks.

 

5. Software Can't Capture Everything That Happens in a Sales Call

 

Call-tracking software can capture quantitative information such as call frequency, duration, appointments, opportunities and results — assuming the information is entered accurately.

 

But selling involves much more than numbers.

 

What was the customer's tone of voice?

Did their body language change when price came up?

Did they hesitate before answering a question?

Did another person in the room suddenly become interested when a particular benefit was discussed?

Was that really an objection — or was the customer asking for reassurance?

Did the salesperson establish TRUST?

 

These are the nuances of human communication.

 

A computer can record information ABOUT the sales call.

It wasn't necessarily THERE for the sales call!

 

That's why the human element remains so important.

 

People sell to PEOPLE.

 

And people still need to be trained, coached and managed by people who understand professional selling.

 

Sometimes LESS really is MORE!

 

I'll gladly take a salesperson who makes five well-planned, high-quality calls a week and consistently achieves their sales goals over someone who makes 25 calls and can't sell anything!

 

I'm not suggesting that activity doesn't matter.

It does.

 

I'm not suggesting that CRM and call-tracking software can't be useful.

They can be VERY useful.

 

But they're tools.

 

A hammer doesn't make someone a carpenter.

And call-tracking software doesn't make someone a salesperson — or a sales manager!

 

Quality selling requires training, judgment, communication, coaching and experience.

• Use the technology.
• Use the data.
• Measure the things that matter.

 

But don't confuse managing the DATA with managing the SALESPERSON.

 

And don't ever let the software become more important than the CUSTOMER!

 

Salespeople need accountability. But managing numbers isn't the same thing as managing salespeople.

 

Good sales management requires understanding what your people are doing, WHY they're doing it and which activities actually produce results. Technology can provide information, but it can't replace coaching, judgment, communication and leadership.

 

Close Every Sales Call isn't only about making the sales call. I also share practical techniques for managing salespeople, measuring performance and building successful sales teams — techniques I've tested and refined over more than 45 years in sales and sales management.

 

If you manage salespeople — or hope to someday — there's a lot more waiting for you in Close Every Sales Call.