If you’re considering contact management software, consider what’s new before what’s old.

For the most part, contact management, or CRM, has not met the expectations that were set for it when it was first introduced more than a decade ago. The major reason is that management bought it based on the fact that it would make salespeople more “accountable.”

HINT ONE: Salespeople don’t want to be accountable; they wanna make sales.

Contact management encourages salespeople to keep their customer information current and document all their sales activity.

HINT TWO: Most salespeople who have contact management software don’t keep it current and consider it a pain rather than a tool.

The reality is CRM works. It can be a vital tool to salespeople’s success (IF it’s compatible with their sales activity and selling style), it can help them gain vital information, and it can help them close the sale.

Otherwise, it doesn’t work. Oh, the software works. But the hardhead who’s supposed to work it doesn’t. Salespeople will tell you a variety of reasons why not:

• It’s too cumbersome.

• It’s too complicated.

• I use some of it, but not all of it.

• I’ve been doing this for 20 years. I don’t need it.

• I don’t have the time – I’m out selling.

The truth is salespeople don’t consider it valuable. If they thought it was key to making more sales, they would stay up late, get up at 5 a.m. and skip watching American Idol (well, let’s not go too far) to make time to use their CRM software.

HINT THREE: Every salesperson needs some form of sales organization. Names, e-mail addresses, cell numbers, sales strategy, status of the sales cycle, people of influence, barriers to the sale, proposals, timelines and other information vital to the selling process. Information vital to beating the competition. Information vital to building a relationship. Information vital to making the sale.

If you’re considering getting CRM, here’s what to look for:

1. Make certain the software is compatible with your style of selling.

2. Make certain the software is compatible with the product or service you’re selling.

3. Make certain your salespeople have tried it and are willing to use it.

4. Make certain it’s compatible with the e-mail program you’re using.

5. Make certain the software allows data transfer from what you’re using now to what you’re buying.

6. Make certain the software is ASP-based (Internet-based) so that global access is possible at any moment, and all information is available to everyone when it’s entered.

7. Make certain the CRM software connects and interacts with your other software: accounting for invoicing, Word for drafting letters and proposals, inventory for product availability, and all your other vital information while in the selling process.

8. Make certain your salespeople are trained to take advantage of the software’s power, not just “use” it.

9. Make certain that the reports you need are available, or EASILY created.

9.5. Make certain your salespeople BELIEVE it will help them make more sales.

If all of the above elements are A-OK, now comes the hard part: getting everyone on board. But there’s only one true measure of the merit of the software: RESULTS.

HINT THREE POINT FIVE: If there’s a positive impact, word will spread – not as fast as negative, but the news will get out there pretty fast.

If you would like to see what I wrote on the subject in 1996 (I think it will help you understand the evolution and power of CRM), go to www.gitomer.com, register if you’re a first-time visitor, and enter the word CONTACTS in the GitBit Box.

Jeffrey Gitomer can be reached by  phone at (704) 333-1112 or by  e-mail at salesman@gitomer.com.  © 2007 Jeffrey H. Gitomer