Why you should not let your tech-savvy account executive set up your CRM

Being tech-savvy is not the same as having the ability to set up an effective and scalable go-to-market engine in HubSpot (or any other) CRM. 

Even though more and more companies are starting to realise this, often after having their first attempt ending up in their CRM being little more than a fancy spreadsheet, it's still a common discussion I have with prospects. 

Using a CRM and setting one up is like driving a car vs engineering it. One requires operational skills, and the other demands technical and strategic know-how.

The technical part is rarely the cause of implementation failures and a poor-performing revenue team.

In a recent study, the following reasons were given as the main reasons for failure with the implementation:

• Processes (44%)
• People (knowledge & skill) (42%)
• Strategy/deployment (40%)
• Technology (35%)

Focusing on technology alone addresses one of the four areas that will decide the success of the setup—and the least impactful one at that. 

The cost of this approach will show itself in several ways: 

Misallocation of talent

The first issue is that one of your top revenue-generating team members (or worse, the sales/marketing leader or CEO) is now spending a significant portion of their time on tasks where they lack experience and relevant skills.

Let's assume that your top sales rep, who should be closing deals worth €500,000 a year, is now spending 30% of their time on CRM setup. That's €150,000 in lost revenue potential right there.

On top of the time waste, they generally lack the skills needed. 

This means you're not only underutilising their sales skills but also risking a poorly implemented CRM setup and, in turn, less output for every person.

Opportunity cost

This misallocation results in an opportunity cost. The designated "CRM expert" is now less focused on generating revenue and is busy trying to figure out how to hit their revenue target and set up the CRM.

Additionally, the time spent in meetings, training sessions, and chasing team members to update the CRM adds up quickly. And not to mention the inevitable refactoring six months down the line.

Bloated and inefficient systems

When CRM setups are done on an ad-hoc basis—using various blog posts, GPT prompts, and LinkedIn advice—the result is often a bloated, poorly aligned system.

This increases the friction cost across your entire revenue organisation, making your go-to-market engine less effective and scalable.

So, instead of building a lean and effective revenue engine set up in a scalable way based on your current company maturity level, you get a bloated and ineffective system that the team members don't use.