At Selling Lane, we’re all about focus and productivity. We’ve eliminated distractions like excessive meetings and micromanagement, creating a culture where our team can thrive and achieve their goals. We show up to work with one thing in mind: to get things done. This is why we call our Selling Lane Software, CRM Simplified. We think Selling Lane is the easiest CRM to use, and that our customers are the most efficient because of it.
DISTRACTIONS, A CASE STUDY
Avoid Distractions for a better work life
According to a study by the University of California, Irvine, workers who are interrupted by distractions take an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to regain their focus
So, when we started building Selling Lane, we drew a line in the sand early on, and planned to build something elegant.
“Selling Lane needs to be simple and free of bloat because I like software that is so fast and so efficient that I don’t realize that I’m using it.”
In other words, we like software that gets out of your way, and lets you do your job, without lag and without annoying distractions. Selling Lane needs to be CRM Simplified.
To Build Something Easier, CRM Simplified
In a previous corporate life, we were forced to use large scale CRM’s with so many bells and whistles that it was next to it impossible to use it while talking to a customer on the phone. We had to search around for features, click through menus and in general, waste time trying to “feed the machine.” Our CRM Manager was turning on features at mind-numbing speed, features that the sales team never used.
Why CRM Speed Is So Important
We visited a booth at a sales convention last month, and the sales lady, did a great job of explaining her product. We were impressed with her selling skills. But at the end of her demo, she pulled out a rolled up sheet of paper to write my information down.
We asked, why pen and paper, and she said, “Because it takes too long to load stuff in our CRM app.”
We felt so sad for her company, spending hard-earned profits on software that is unusable in the field. When we build Selling Lane CRM, one thing we focused on was ensuring the user could get basic info quickly.
Sadly, the sales rep went on to tell me that she takes her notes back to her hotel room at night and loads them into her Work CRM “to make the marketing team happy.” To us, this is the exact opposite of what a CRM should do. This poor sales person is “feeding the machine” instead of having the CRM help her do her job.
So instead, we showed her the QR code feature of Selling Lane so she could scan our business cards, and instantly our business information was added to her contacts. Now that’s CRM Simplified.
Why CRM Apps Need to be Lightning Fast
One thing we say all the time is that your CRM should be your trusted source of information. The team over at Evernote say it best in their logo, which is an icon of an elephant, because as you know, an elephant has an amazingly long memory. A great CRM should, not only help you load information quickly, but also help you find it when you need it the most.
When you’re out in the field with a customer, and you want to pull up the details of their account, it should be instant.
“Breaking eye contact to feed the machine, is antisocial and is against the point of Customer Relationship Management.”
CRM software should be fast and intuitive, allowing you to seamlessly access the information you need without compromising your time with the customer. When you’re in the midst of a critical sales conversation, the last thing you need is to fumble with complex software features or struggle to find relevant customer data. Selling Lane’s streamlined interface and lightning-fast performance ensure you stay focused on the customer, not on the software.
Benefits of CRM Simplified for Your Businesses
One thing about salespeople that we understand is that they love to succeed. And sometimes, intentionally, CRM systems make them feel unsuccessful, by providing negative feedback instead of supporting their sales tasks.
For example: we used to call our old bloated CRM’s to-do list “an amorphous mass of undo-ability.” Because we would come in the morning and have so many things to do that we felt like we couldn’t achieve anything. And God forbid you took a day off, it wasn’t smart enough to recognize that it was not humanly possible to catch up… Ever…
We always felt we were behind, and felt increasingly overwhelmed and underappreciated, -Bill a top performing salesperson in Automotive
While managers like to create stretch goals for sales teams, we at Selling Lane believe that goals need to be achievable, because as a species we like to win. We love it when teams feel accomplished, when sales people go home happy and fired up for the next day and next sale.
By simplifying goals, and making them achievable, by creating stretch goals that are accomplishable, you create two things in the work environment: First a motivated team, and second, actual sales results.
CRM Simplified, Increases Sales Productivity and Conversion Rates.
“When we ask for referrals for our landscaping business, Selling Lane allows us to plot the best appointment for their location… Brilliant.” Marco, Toronto Canada
Say you want to go to the store to get bread, and you have a choice of two vehicles to drive. A Tesla or the space shuttle, which one would you pick?
Logic tells you that the fastest of the two would make the most sense, so you hop into the space shuttle. But then you realize that you have an hour of pre-checks before you can actually take off. That’s what it’s like to use bloated CRM’s out there today, you have so many clicks before you get to the point that it takes forever to launch.
We vote that you take the Tesla, just get in it and go. That’s Selling Lane CRM, you just get there faster.
How Do We Have a Great CRM and Still Avoid Bloatware
“I wish our CRM had” is a common statement in sales meetings. Teams often blame the tools on mediocre performance. It’s like blaming the golf clubs because you’re a mediocre golfer. A new set of drivers is not going to improve your game unless you practice, just a new feature in your software usually won’t make you a better salesperson. With a few exceptions.
How to Avoid Bloatware
The first question we always ask is, “Will that new feature help you sell more?” And “Will that feature speed things up or slow things down?” And “will that new feature help you make more calls, upgrade your pitch or help you with marketing?”
As developers of a fast and efficient CRM like Selling Lane, we find that we spend a lot of time asking the questions above. But ultimately, we ask,
“will this suggestion improve the lives and speed of all of our users.”
If not, we error on the side of simplicity and speed. While many suggestions do lead to CRM improvements, most are just bloat and should be avoided at all cost.