It seems like the ideal introduction of CRM would be in a “green field,” a new sales organization built from the ground up to use CRM as a core tool to manage and create a more collaborative environment - and led by someone who understands the benefits and pitfalls. Pity that this describes an infinitessinal percentage of the real world scenarios…!

“Conformism is an application of the least effort rule and most often supports stupid ideas, those that do not require too much effort at researching and thinking. Politicians love it as an opportunity to pander to the crowds. Microsoft bashing is conformism. Human cause of global warming is another. The Web is the strongest conformism spreader ever but it also is the greatest opportunity to fight it and, as individuals, we should.”

Candidus

IMO CRM entities are not as process oriented and detailed as other business units, and as such they don’t set up goals as specific as needed. Customer Support pillar of CRM usually fairs much better then Sales and Marketing because they focus on SLA, workflows, and other specifics, where the Sales and Marketing are too conceptual and don’t often articulate their needs in terms which can drive accountability. They surely do not like to tie more sales commitments to CRM investment, even though it can work if applied organically.

Do you think this is the same dynamic as in the software world, where sales sets crazy expectations that developers can’t meet? Or is CRM a little deeper than that, where sales AND other entities in the equation (marketing, consultants, the CRM media, etc.) are unwittingly setting the bar too high?