Does a CRM get you better appointments?

I spent a very late night this week customizing a CRM, standardizing data, importing it and creating a new reports...in fact the whole process took about two weeks.  Somewhere around 2am I asked if it was really worth it.

The answer is yes.  Why?  Because in sales prospecting two elements have to be perfectly balanced:  efficiency and effectivenss.

You have to be efficient at making calls, printing letters and sending emails...the more efficient you are, the more prospects you contact and the more results you generate.  But you also have to be effective...contacting the right people, in the right industry and at the right size companies.

And the key to being both efficient and effective is having the right tools.  And that means the right tools which let you address the requests of prospects immediately and move on to the next.  In my experience, both small companies and large fail their staff in this area, but it's their obligation to provide the right tools if they are going to require results and compensate based on results (as they should!).

So yes, if you are a sales prospector/appointment setter, it's worth having a well-tuned CRM.  And if you are a manager or company owner, it's also in your best interests, so put in the time & money it takes to get it right!