Distributors tend to limit use of CRM to the outside sales team, but broad-based support across your organization early in the CRM selection process generates better buy-in down the road, according to Brian Gardner in ROI from CRM Remains Elusive.

Gardner's article, which analyzes the responses of a CRM survey that MDM conducted with readers last fall, examines how distributors use or plan to use CRM. Specifically, it looks at the strategies employed by companies that reported ROI with those that didn’t to uncover best practices that lead to success, as well as common problem areas that may sabotage initiatives.

"Unfortunately, for most CRM users, customer-facing teams such as inside sales or customer service were far less engaged in CRM than outside sales teams or not participating in CRM at all," Gardner writes. "Buy-in levels were low or CRM wasn’t used by nearly half of inside sales teams, more than half of customer service teams and more than three quarters of service/repair teams, according to the survey."

Half of CRM users in the survey said it’s too early to tell whether they are getting a return on their CRM investment, but at the heart of successful CRM implementation – and deriving maximum ROI – is team selling.

"If those team members who speak with customers the most (your service representatives or repair associates, for example) don’t document it, that knowledge isn’t available for outside sales to leverage," Gardner writes. "Getting more departments on board is a huge area of opportunity that most companies aren’t leveraging."

Read more about how distributors are using CRM and how to maximize its role in your company in ROI from CRM Remains Elusive.