Mastering the World of Selling: The Ultimate Training Resource from the Biggest Names in Sales

Chapter 6. Confronting the CRM Challenge

Walter Rogers

Baker Communications

For the last couple of years now, all of the buzz in business has been about the Sales 2.0 revolution. By Sales 2.0, I am referring to the way technology—especially Web-based strategies and applications—has transformed the way sales and marketing organizations can and must interact with customers, track information, implement solutions, and manage sales teams.

For the most part, this revolution is driven by the simple reality that customers are empowered and inspired by the advantages they gain through using the Web and its sophisticated interactive features to control the buying process and customize solutions to fit their needs. In response to this demand from customers, countless developers of business applications have jumped into the market with products to help sales organizations leverage the Sales 2.0 revolution to more successfully interact with customers and drive revenue. At any rate, that is the stated goal, which brings us to the CRM Challenge.

CRM—an acronym for Customer Relationship Management— broadly refers to a vast array of software applications (including many Web-based strategies) purportedly offering sales organizations the "silver bullets" they need to more effectively manage all the processes it takes to connect with customers and grow revenue in the intensely competitive, rapidly shifting market conditions we all deal with these days. The theory is that CRM systems, and other processes ...