Ross & Ross International

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Top 10 CRM Complaints that a CRM Administrator Can Fix

Barry Ross

Updated: July 2018

Many companies and sales organizations do not know the proper level of System Administration resources they need for a Customer Relationship Management (or CRM) System. This page will help explain why a Systems Administrator is so critical to your short and long-term sales success:

10 Typical Sales CRM Complaints

Over the years, we've listened to a very high number of Sales Reps, Sales Managers and Executives complain about the following:

  1. CRM gets in the way and reduces my selling time
  2. It takes too long to enter notes
  3. It takes too long to update a forecast
  4. It takes too long for find the correct prospect or customer record
  5. Every weekend, I need to copy my sales forecast data to Excel, update the deals and email it to my boss
  6. My CRM system doesn’t sync with MS Outlook (or Google mail) ...or sync just doesn't work
  7. Sales Managers spend too much time over the weekends to prepare reports for their bosses
  8. CRM doesn’t link with the order system, inventory system, support system, phone, social, marketing, etc.
  9. There are too many duplicate records in the CRM, so I just add another new record rather than figure out the correct record
  10. I was never trained on the original or new version of the CRM system

Most of these complaints are related to the lack of a properly staffed Sales CRM Systems Administrator.

What does a System Administrator Do?

These are some of the projects a System Administrator should complete on a regular basis for sales teams. All of these projects will improve sales productivity.

  • Group Training / Workshops
  • One-on-One Coaching
  • New Employee Coaching
  • Small Maintenance Requests
  • Big Projects: Integration with other systems
  • User Help Desk Questions by phone, email or Help Desk Apps
  • Online Documentation & Updates
  • Regular Database Quality Projects
  • Upgrades and Modifications to CRM Settings
  • Implementing Add-on Products and Systems
  • Creating Custom Reports  for Business Intelligence (BI)
  • Configure 2-way syncing with Marketing, Service, Financial and Office systems
  • Importing New Lists i.e Trade Shows, Conferences

If you have underfunded this position, it is highly likely that your Sales Team is not achieving their highest sales potential.  If you have an untrained sales manager or an office administrator doing these jobs part-time, you can also expect that person to be frustrated and not succeed over time.

How many Systems Administrators Do You Need?

Take a close look at the ratios.  I'm guessing that many of you are way understaffed in this area.

  • 1-30 Users --  <1 Full-Time Administrator
  • 31-74 Users -- 1+ Full-Time Administrator
  • 75-149 Users -- 1 Sr. Administrator; 1 Jr. Administrator
  • 150-499 Users -- 1 Salesforce Analyst; 2-4 Administrators
  • 500-750 Users -- 1-2 Salesforce Analysts; 2-4 Salesforce Administrators
  • 751+ Users -- Determined by Multiple Variables

Source: Hire-On Demand

Options for Systems Administrators

You have several options for providing the proper level of systems administration resources for your team:

  1. CRM support directly from a vendor i.e. from Salesforce, SugarCRM, NetSuite etc.
  2. Outsource support to a 3rd party CRM vendor for a minimum number of hours per month (on-going)
  3. Staff resources from within the IT Department that reports to a sales operations manager
  4. Outsource support from a 3rd party CRM vendor when you need them (on demand)

Estimated Costs

The estimated cost of your CRM systems administrator help is:

  • Off-shore Freelance Worker - $15-$50 per hour 
  • US-based Freelance Worker - $50-$150 per hour
  • Outsource Contract: $125-$275 per hour (typically requires a minimum of 15-20 hours per month)
  • Hire Full-Time Person: $75k- $250k per year + benefits

Benefits Summary

In summary, most organizations underfund their systems administrator function. This directly reduces your sales productivity in the short and long-term. A well trained, experienced CRM systems administrator provides the following benefits to your team: 

  • Sales team stays focused on sales
  • Sales managers have correct and timely reports to management
  • Increased sales productivity
  • Reduced time creating sales reports
  • Reduced time entering data
  • Increased morale
  • Increased CRM skill sets for all sales team members
  • Increased sales 

Contact us for a free consultation or to help assess your CRM technology and improve your sales productivity.  

 

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