Written by: Geoff Ables, C5 Insight

It’s a question we hear all the time: “why do I need to track my activities in our CRM solution?” And it is often accompanied by other questions like, “why do we need to have a goal about the number of activities we’re tracking?” and, “for that matter, why do I have to use CRM at all?”

It’s a fair question. You’re a professional. You’ve been doing this job for years, and you’ve been meeting or exceeding your numbers. Why change?

For today, let’s focus just on the question about tracking and measuring activities.

To start with, I want to ask you to take some action and attempt to answer the question for yourself. Why do you think it is important to track and measure activities in your CRM solution? Use this article for individual brainstorming or, better yet, share it with your team and make the brainstorming an interactive exercise.

I’ll give you a little bit of help – think about why tracking and measuring CRM activities is important to four different groups:

CRM Activities – WIIFM

Everyone’s favorite radio station is WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?). Why might tracking and measuring activities in CRM be important to you? How might it help you get your job done better? How might it help you form better relationships, win more sales, provide better service, and strategically do your job?

Reason 1: _______________________________________

Reason 2: _______________________________________

Reason 3: _______________________________________

CRM Activities – Collaborating

What about your colleagues? Those who are in the same job as you, and those who are in different jobs but that also use your CRM solution. Why might it be important to them that you track and measure your activities in CRM? How might it help them improve their own performance, deliver better service, win more deals, or market more strategically?

Reason 4: _______________________________________

Reason 5: _______________________________________

Reason 6: _______________________________________

CRM Activities – Coaching

And now, think about your manager. This individual needs to drive results for you and your peers. Why might tracking and measuring your activities help with this? Even if you’re at the top of your game and can’t possibly improve your results or complete more activities – why might this still be important? (Hint: when you answer this question, it may also help you to brainstorm more reasons why under the “Collaborating” heading, above).

Reason 7: _______________________________________

Reason 8: _______________________________________

Reason 9: _______________________________________

CRM Activities – Leading

Finally, think about strategic organizational leadership. How might your company be able to make better decisions when you track your activities in CRM? Who might those decisions benefit? What kind of analysis might they do?

One bit of advice: When answering why activity management might be important for coaching and leading, try not to be cynical. Many users of CRM feel that CRM can feel like “big brother is watching you.” My personal experience is that: (1) this is rarely the case, and (2) if it is the case, your organization has a cultural issue that is far bigger than CRM. Give your manager and leadership the benefit of the doubt and assume that there are good reasons why they need you to track and measure activities – try to discover those reasons.

Reason 10: _______________________________________

Reason 11: _______________________________________

Reason 12: _______________________________________

CRM is a Collaboration Tool

Haven’t done your brainstorming yet? Stop and do it now.

The fact is, you’re a part of a larger group of people that wants to create great experiences for customers, and deliver great results for the organization. The things you do, the data you collect, the way you communicate all play a part in a bigger picture. Everything you do informs, influences and inspires the people around you.

If you didn’t come up with at least 3 reasons for each of the four areas, go back and do some more brainstorming until you do. Push yourself. If you do, you’ll get much more out of CRM than if someone just tells you why.

The end.

“Wait,” you’re saying, “I thought this article would tell me the reasons why to enter CRM activities – not make me do the work myself!” Nope. Not yet anyway.

Take the time to think this through first. Consider a team brainstorming session to get a larger group together to answer this question. Do the work yourself first. I promise, you’ll be glad you did.

Then, when you’re done, you can click here to download our list of Why Activity Management in CRM to put the final touches on your list. But don’t cheat – try it on your own first!

[Original Post: 12 Reasons Why: CRM Activity Management Adoption]

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