Picking up the tab can be risky

Published: Wed, 08/28/24

Updated: Thu, 08/29/24

August 28, 2024

TOGETHER WITH

Good morning. We wanted to let you know there are only three (and a half) days left in the month, because you didn’t know that, and your manager hasn’t reminded you, and the impending end-of-month push hasn’t led your smartwatch to remind you to take a deep breath and relax. Let’s oblige your wrist-tech with this week’s issue, where we’ll take a look at the history of CRM, share a Sales Fail about picking up the tab, and give some advice to a rep struggling under new management. Enjoy.

NUMBER OF THE WEEK

Sales representatives dedicate only two hours daily to active selling

Source: HubSpot

SALES ROUNDUP

Here’s what’s happening in the sales world this week:

A Lenovo computer salesman was fired from his job after he says a bladder condition forced him to relieve himself in a lobby of his Times Square hotel. Richard Becker, 66, is seeking at least $1.5 million from the American subsidiary of the Chinese computer giant after being dismissed for the wrongful wee, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in New York State Supreme Court. You can read more about the unfortunate mishap here.
Amazon is teaching its salespeople to trash talk the likes of OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google, according to a recent report. Talking points created for Amazon Web Services’ salespeople guide them to emphasize the distinctions between its AI offerings and those of its rivals. While that’s not out of the ordinary, Amazon’s sales strategy includes highlighting the shortcomings of each individual company. You can read more about the report here.

FEATURE

Image: Brett Hondow/shutterstock.com

A Brief History of the CRM

The modern sales CRM (customer relationship management) software you use today has origins that go back farther than you may have realized. Let's take a brief look back at the history of CRM and how it has transformed sales.

The Origins of CRM

While the term "CRM" emerged in the late 20th century, the fundamental practices can be traced back to some of humanity's earliest trading activities. Even 20,000 years ago, traders in places like Papua New Guinea were keeping track of their buyers and sellers, their locations, and what they wanted to buy or sell.

As trade expanded across the ancient world, more advanced record-keeping and accounting methods emerged to manage these customer interactions. Names, locations, and financial details were all meticulously documented — the beginnings of a customer database.

One of the most fascinating precursors to the CRM emerged from the world of politics in the early 20th century. It was known as the Farley File, and it was developed by James Farley, the campaign manager for President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The Farley File was a comprehensive set of records meticulously maintained by Farley. It contained detailed personal and professional information about the people that FDR and Farley encountered through their political activities. Using the Farley File, Roosevelt was able to impress the people he met by recalling seemingly obscure details about their lives. This allowed him to build stronger, more personalized relationships — a core tenet of effective CRM, even today.

In 1956, Danish engineer Hildaur Neilsen invented the rolodex as a way for business people to store important contact information. The rolodex rose to popularity, and became the de-facto way for business professionals to store the contact information of their clients and partners. Individual rolodexes that had important contact information became valuable. This became the subject of countless lawsuits between companies and employees who attempted to bring their rolodexes with them to new jobs.

The Modern CRM

The concept of the modern CRM can be traced back to the 1970s, when businesses began using basic contact management software to store customer information. These early systems allowed salespeople to log customer details, account histories, and interactions. However, they were quite rudimentary, often little more than digital rolodexes.

In the 1980s, the first dedicated CRM software programs began to emerge. Companies like ACT! and Siebel Systems led the way, developing more robust platforms that could track not only contact info, but also leads, opportunities, and sales pipelines. This allowed sales teams to get a more comprehensive view of their customers and prospects.

As computers and databases became more sophisticated in the 1990s, CRM systems evolved as well. They began incorporating features like sales forecasting, marketing automation, and customer service tools. The goal was to provide a central hub where all customer-facing departments could collaborate and share information.

The Rise of Cloud-Based CRM

The 2000s saw a major shift in CRM with the emergence of cloud-based platforms. Rather than installing bulky on-premises software, companies could now access CRM tools through their web browsers. This made the systems more affordable and easier to deploy across an organization.
Leading players like Salesforce pioneered the cloud CRM model, and it quickly became the industry standard. Cloud-based CRMs offered several key advantages over traditional software, like lower upfront costs, automatic updates, anytime/anywhere access, and the ability to scale up or down as needed.

Alongside the cloud, the rise of smartphones and tablets has had a profound impact on CRM. Mobile CRM apps allow sales reps to access customer data, update records, and even make sales—all from the palm of their hand.

The Future of the CRM

In recent years, CRM has become even more sophisticated, incorporating emerging technologies like AI and machine learning. These advanced capabilities are enhancing CRM in a variety of ways, including AI-powered chatbots to automate customer service tasks, natural language processing for call transcriptions, and predictive analysis tools to forecast sales pipelines and identify high-value leads.

As a result, today's CRM platforms are serving as increasingly central hubs, connecting all customer data, communications, and workflows. This empowers sales teams to build deeper, more valuable relationships with their accounts. And no, we’re not going to end this article by encouraging you to open your CRM. Go out and grab yourself a nice iced coffee instead!

Try Pipedrive: the easy and effective CRM for closing deals

Speaking of CRMs, our friends at Pipedrive are giving The Quota subscribers an exclusive offer of a 14-day free trial (no credit card required) and 20% off for 12 months!

Pipedrive’s easy and effective CRM lets you track your sales pipeline, manage deals and automate the whole process so you can focus on one thing: selling.

Join over 100,000 users worldwide driving business growth with Pipedrive.
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Try for free!

MEME OF THE WEEK

Source: Instagram -- Sales Humor

QUIZ

What does the sales acronym AIDA stand for?

A. Attention, Interest, Desire, Action
B. Attention, Intent, Desire, Affordability
C. Always, Impress, Describe, And Close
D. Attention, Interest, Develop, Activity

SALES FAILS

Each week, we bring you the most cringe-worthy sales moments from across the web. To submit your sales fail story for consideration, click here. (Don't worry, you'll remain completely anonymous).

I had this customer who was coming up for a contract renewal. I had a good relationship with the guy, and he even gave me a heads up that his boss had him talking to some of our competitors just to see what was out there and if they could save some money.

Well, I was out at a restaurant one night with a prospective client and saw the guy at a table at the other end of the restaurant with (who I assumed) was his wife. My dinner meeting was going well, and it was going on the company card, so I decided I would pick up my existing client's dinner bill personally to try to build some good will.

I told the waiter, who left and came back to my table to let me know that the bill would be $600. Apparently, the guy had ordered two bottles of really expensive wine. I was shocked but tried to hide it. I couldn't back out in front of the prospective client I was with so I nonchalantly said it was fine and paid the bill. My existing client left first, and the other guy came over to introduce me to his wife and thanked me for picking up the tab, saying that it wasn't necessary but that he really appreciated it.

Well, you can probably guess what happened next. He of course ended up not renewing the contract, saying that his boss decided they wanted to go with a different vendor. I did end up closing the prospective client I was with, so, in my eyes, it was basically a wash. I've bumped into other clients at restaurants since then, now I just buy them a round of drinks.

Anonymous Location withheld

GRAPH OF THE WEEK

Source: LinkedIn Poll -- August 2024

WORTH A PEEK

How do you land a sales job when you have zero personal connections? Is it even possible? This was the topic of a recent reddit thread, where readers weighed in with their own suggestions. Check out the conversation, with some great tips, here.

ASK THE QUOTA

Want to submit a question and be featured in our advice column? Click here. (Don't worry, you'll remain completely anonymous).

Dear Quota Team

I'm an AE responsible for a small territory in the midwest. I've been doing it for 4 years now, sharing the territory with 2 other reps. The company has been growing pretty quickly, and they recently brought in a new private equity partner. They gutted a lot of our leadership, including the VP of sales, and brought in some new guy who has experience running bigger companies.

As a result, they changed the comp plan (it's much worse). Our insurance benefits also changed and now it's going to be more expensive for me to get good coverage for my family of four. The icing on the cake is that the new VP brought in 3 new reps that he's worked with before, one of them is his brother-in-law (lol), who he assigned to my very small territory. He's giving his reps preferential treatment, and I'm getting way less leads and the ones I get aren't as good as they used to be. I missed my number this month for the first time in years, and it's definitely because there's too many reps in our territory and I'm low on the totem pole. I do have a good book of business here and I get incentive bonuses if I retain my existing clients. I want to jump ship, but I don't want to leave money on the table. What should I do?

Neglected in Illinois

Dear Neglected,

It sounds like you had a good four years, but it's probably time to go. While the name of the company might be the same, you're working for an entirely different organization now, and it's highly unlikely things will ever go back to the way they were. Don't focus too much on leaving money on the table, as you’ll likely be leaving money on the table if you stay. Start interviewing and put in your notice only after you've secured a solid offer. Good luck!

Quiz Answer: A. The acronym AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action (you can read the source article here)

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Today's email was written by Ken Kupchik, Erica Furgiuele, Steve Rado, and Emily Hill.

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