Your CRM is Killing Your Productivity. Here’s Why.
How many apps do you have open on your work computer right now?
That’s a serious question. If you’re anything like us, you might be more than a little surprised at the answer. Now, go ahead and tally up how many apps you use during an average workweek.
A little overwhelming, huh?
We thought so. In a tech-first world where there’s an app for everything, our business application clutter is out of control—and your team is probably paying a greater price than you realize.
Let’s just take a quick look at the tools most organizations use in 2019:
- Customer Relationship Management
- Messaging and Team Communication
- Project Management and Collaboration
- Data Reporting and Organization
And that’s just off the top of our heads! There are plenty more.
Don’t get us wrong. A powerful piece of software can add a lot of value to your team, save your employees time, and help them get work done faster and better.
Historically speaking, though, most apps don’t. And the biggest culprits of all are CRMs.
Is Complex Really Better?
Your CRM software is meant to help you accomplish just about everything, from sales and marketing to analytics. But in order to achieve that robust set of functions, most tech companies have overdeveloped their software, resulting in CRMs that are frustratingly complex and boring to use.
A person doesn’t need ten different applications to sap their productivity—they just need one that does it really well. And CRMs do it really, really well. Your team loses minute after minute and day after day navigating a bulky tool. Or maybe it’s the exact opposite. Instead, they lose time switching between leaner apps that do only one thing well.
We’ve grown so accustomed to the myth that for a CRM system to be powerful, it must also be complex. On the contrary, some of the most powerful tools, messages, and moments in modern history have been the simplest.
The Tech Startup Approach to CRM
Most CRMs start with some good old-fashioned R&D, but that usually slows once the tech company launches the tool. After launch, their focus switches from development to iteration—either making small tweaks or building add-ons.
As much as they might claim otherwise, no tech company is going to completely revamp their software once they’ve finished building it. Even if they discover a fundamental issue with the way their product works, going back to development just isn’t on the table.
Think about it:
The goal of most tech startups is to create one big, shiny, cool idea that earns a lot of people a lot of money. And if you realize your idea isn’t as much of a game-changer as you thought it was, but you’ve already raised $100 million in funding and you’re eying an IPO—would you really burn millions on more product development and risk your own equity?
Of course you wouldn’t.
The CRM Dilemma You Don’t Deserve
This tech startup mentality is exactly what makes most CRMs inflexible.
The result? Your company is using software that no longer handles all your business needs, and you’re faced with a decision. Do you jump to entirely new software or accept one of the following:
- You’ll pay month after month for a CRM system that isn’t serving your company’s needs.
- You’ll add apps (at additional costs) to bridge the gaps in your CRM software, cluttering your team’s workflow and reducing accuracy.
- You’ll wait until your current CRM adds the features you need, which may take years and will almost certainly make your system more expensive and cumbersome.
In short, most tech companies focus on launch first and sales second, while leaving improvements to their tool a distant third.
(That’s why we didn’t create Ledger at a tech company; we spent years developing it at a financial firm. Read more about how that influenced its design.)
Unleash Simplicity. Unlock Productivity.
After years and years of clunky interfaces, unintuitive processes, and confusing designs, Ledger makes your CRM simple again. It puts time back in the hands of its users, and it helps them to do what they do best—while doing it faster, more accurately, and more peacefully than ever before.
Yes, it enables meaningful communication across your organization. Yes, it provides you with powerful insights into your data. Yes, it helps you manage your customers and their projects. And yes, it does a lot more. (Trust us, a whole lot more.)
But here’s where Ledger is different than most CRMs: It doesn’t make you choose between a system that can do it all and a system that is lean and simple.
Your current CRM has been killing your productivity and hurting your numbers for far too long. It’s about time you changed that.
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