Introduction:

According to a friend: Recently, SalesEasy released its new intelligent CRM product. I'm closely watching its direction. In fact, it's not just this stylish company that launched a new CRM. In the past couple of days, major players like Yonyou UP, Fenxiang Xiaoke, and Tencent QiDian have also rolled out their new CRM products. And beyond them, there are also professional service providers claiming to be CRM experts making moves. In short, from my observer's perspective, judging by the market buzz, CRM is one of the top three hottest areas in the enterprise services market! Also, according to the usually low-key Fenxiang Xiaoke, which recently raised a Series E+ round, they transformed Fenxiang SalesEasy into Fenxiang Xiaoke in March, focusing on office platforms, but in July they announced a shift back to CRM. So, we're not only unsure whether to call them Fenxiang SalesEasy or Fenxiang Xiaoke, but also what they'll do next! But as a sales professional who manages customers and contacts, why are you completely indifferent to CRM? Why on earth?! I'm working hard! The article says: "The domestic CRM market has never truly flourished since I started paying attention. No company has exceeded 500 million yuan in scale, and no well-known brand has emerged domestically. But during the same period, there were famous independent brands like Siebel abroad. Why is that?" Many professionals have analyzed this deeply, believing that Chinese salespeople are too flexible, focusing only on personal relationships rather than systematic business relationships and standardized customer management! Is that really the case?! Do you have daily sales targets and plans to meet? Even morning and evening meetings to communicate tasks? Are you on the front line every day, meeting, communicating, negotiating with customers, and applying various skills and techniques? When you joined the sales department, were you told to constantly develop markets, maintain customers, and generate orders? Are you diligently working every day, not slacking off as they imagine, because you're actually responsible for yourself? Are you using various arguments, tapping into your genuine emotions, to sincerely win over customers? ...... If you're doing all this, doing it seriously, and your results are still average, and you need support, assistance, and help, then what do you need to improve performance and achieve self-fulfillment? What do you need from the company's software or management tools to support you? How can my efforts not be in vain? As a salesperson, what can support your efforts so they aren't wasted? Are they tools? Are they systems? Is it OA? Is it filling out electronic forms that were previously manual? Is it so-called collaboration from other departments? Is it visit (sales visit, location) management, daily reports, reports, etc.? Is it...... All of these are correct! But if in actual use, they only superficially manage customers, manage myself, manage my field work, but don't truly help generate or improve performance, then sorry! I won't! Use! Them! This is why CRM doesn't catch on in China: I'm a salesperson, I need to generate or improve performance! If the tool software doesn't help me seriously achieve results, but is only for controlling me, then everything is nonsense!!! I want a system that solves performance problems, not a toy! That's all!!! Why can't CRM generate performance? For most companies, why can't CRM truly generate performance? Let's first look at the definition of CRM: To enhance core competitiveness, enterprises use information technology and internet technology to coordinate interactions with customers in sales, marketing, and service, thereby improving management methods and providing innovative, personalized customer interaction and service. The ultimate goal is to attract new customers, retain existing ones, and convert existing customers into loyal ones, increasing market share. First, it's clear that it's between the enterprise and customers, so it's basically for companies that rely on salespeople to push products. Personal selling is outdated; improving management methods means the enterprise only wants to manage customers, not upgrade cooperation and transaction relationships, which is also outdated; personalized customer interaction and service can only be presented by people on-site, how can tools achieve that? Attract-retain-convert customers are all outdated for salesperson-driven companies. In the mobile internet era, consumers, customers, and users are already in front of you. If you don't use direct interactive methods, tools, and communication, but instead use so-called CRM control-style communication and customer negotiation, how can it be effective? We can also analyze more specifically:

  1. In fact, most CRMs on the market are just listings of basic customer data, and with dozens of customers, you can easily remember them. Even if organized more neatly, it's just for the company's backend and assistants to count. So, it's just a basic customer information sheet.
  2. CRM basically records basic customer visit records, like whether it's your first visit or if you've entered the face-to-face stage. These are just basic information collection records, which have no direct effect on improving or enhancing performance. They only serve for backend or leaders to see if you're slacking off.
  3. For a salesperson, true customer management may lie more in the enterprise's services for the customer's people, money, and goods after cooperation is confirmed, and real-time management. Most current CRMs lack this. That is, customer resource management is far less than customer management; customer management includes the entire closed loop after resources are obtained: visits, transactions, after-sales service, product maintenance, price control, market segmentation, personnel development and training, competitive differentiation, and even logistics distribution, capital flow, etc. These are what frontline personnel truly need support for!
  4. Even SaaS CRMs are mostly converted from original PC-based CRMs. Who used the original PC-based CRMs? Only internal staff, finance, and sales management departments. Now giving them to salespeople is obviously inappropriate!
  5. ...... It seems that the original CRM has never developed smoothly in China, and in the mobile internet era, it may be even more unsuitable!

What kind of CRM does the sales system really need? The previous points are clear: salespeople need a CRM that can truly bring performance potential! Salespeople need a CRM that has a business mindset rather than a management mindset, clearly not a control tool! Some even say CRM is anti-human! Because its only purpose is to keep your work, which should have flexibility in field and business, completely monitored! So, the future CRM must be a system that solves performance problems, and customers must also be users of the system, not just the used! Here are some basic features:

  1. It should be used together with enterprise management and e-commerce functions, not as an isolated CRM system or tool. As we've always said, we don't want a hammer and nails; we want a hole!
  2. Pre-development management + post-development service and management, i.e., CRM is not what we need; effective OM (Operations Management) is what we need.
  3. Customers use it together to achieve true partnership. If customers don't use it, if they're outside your software, then your CRM is just a recording tool, not a management tool, let alone an operating system.
  4. Employees are not controlled or forced users, but active users. CRM is a true helper for salespeople.
  5. It's not superficial recording, but an effective system that integrates the essence of management, and must truly and effectively match resources, capabilities, plans, organization, coordination, control, etc.
  6. ...... For this reason, the CRM that salespeople need may be completely different from current CRMs! So, what kind of CRM the sales system needs is right here. About the author: Tan Changchun, committed to selling any product into fast-moving consumer goods. General Manager of Huaxia Jishi Marketing Consulting Company, Group Chief Consultant, Special Expert Consultant at Kotler Consulting Group, Project Director at TNS Market Research Consulting Company. Founder of the integrated marketing system. Well-known sales expert and trainer;特邀讲师 for China Marketing Director Qualification Certification Exam, Special Lecturer for "Frontier Lectures," Gold Medal Lecturer in the Training Expert Group of "Sales and Market," and Special Lecturer for Marketing Director classes at several top domestic universities. WeChat public account: chnstone1. Consulting and planning cooperation: http://t.cn/Rf2awZ3