When people ask what I do, and I start talking about CRMs (customer relationship management systems), I often observe a slight twinge or look of panic, which makes me wonder if somewhere in their history they’ve had a bad experience with a CRM.

Unfortunately, many sales professionals have had a negative encounter with a CRM database.

Last week Salesforce announced the purchase of one of the leading integrations platforms/services paying a whopping $6.5 billion. While this post is not about the finances, and whether this was a good buy at the price or not, it was a very, very large purchase – even dwarfing Salesforce’s purchase of ExactTarget at $2.5 billion.

I meet with clients daily to discuss their marketing campaigns and activities.  Time and the lack of time is always brought up as a barrier to completing their marketing campaigns and goals.  At TopLine Results we work with clients on marketing solutions to save time.

Important vs. Urgent. How do you decide? According to Dictionary.com, Important means of great significance or consequence, while urgent means compelling or requiring immediate action. Both demand your attention.

Here are some examples of each:

Urgent Items

Meeting a crucial deadline for a key opportunity
Dealing with a critical HR issue
Responding to false online claims

Important Items

Developing your strategic plan
Identifying your quarterly goals
Developing (or updating) the incentive plan for your commercial team

One may argue, and rightfully so, that some items are both urgent and important.

Setting up security in your Dynamics CRM data may involve crucial decisions that can strongly affect the success of your system.  Our focus today will be on a high-level overview of some options that you have to hide and show records for individual users.

The Pareto principle is the very famous 80/20 rule from Vilfredo Pareto, the famous Italian economist of the 19th century. He observed that in his community 80% of land ownership (and hence the power base) was controlled by 20% of the citizens, the “vital few”. The other 80%, the “trivial many”, did not own or contribute much to the economy.

Simon Sinek, author of Start with Why, famously said, “People don’t buy WHAT you do; they buy WHY you do it.” The “why” behind your organization – your purpose, cause or belief – should ultimately define everything else. WHY does your company exist? And WHY should anyone care?

If you can answer the most important WHY, then it will be easier to articulate your vision, your mission, and to define your strategy.

Your database is populated with great information about your customers – how you engage with them and how they engage with you as well as any sales results – but how do you interpret the data in a context that is accurate and meaningful? 

In a CRM system, reports are used to better understand your data.

Sometimes to go fast, you need to slow down first. Abraham Lincoln once said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” The same is true for sales. Sometimes you need to slow down to deliver new product or service training.

Dreams should be BIG! In fact, BHAGs – big, hairy, audacious goals – can be the substance of personal dreams or corporate visions. They are still remote and theoretical until they are broken down into smaller executable goals with roles, responsibilities and timelines.