Everyone is always talking about how to effectively use a CRM system. Truth is, one of the easiest ways to figure out how to use a CRM system correctly is to first identify how NOT to use a CRM System. This can come from trial and error, or you can breeze through these common mistakes in this handy top five list.

1. Don’t use your CRM system to begin with –

Say you just found out a juicy tidbit about a prospect. Why would you ever put it into your handy CRM solution? You are much better off just writing down the information on a piece of loose leaf paper. You’ll never lose it (not you!), we know you better than that.

2. Don’t create a follow up date with your prospects –

Whatever you do, do not schedule a follow-up call with your CRM. Besides, your head will get way too fogged up if you try to click all the buttons on your CRM system. How could you possibly forget your big meeting next Wednesday with Dunder Mifflin? Creating follow up dates is foolish and is not worth time in your busy schedule. As a matter of fact, you’re probably already the best salesmen in the world.

3. Don’t look at your calendar (example from SugarCRM) –

Don’t ever look at your calender in a CRM system. It is much easier to just remember dates and times, when to call prospects and meet with coworkers than putting them into your CRM software. If you must fill in a calendar for later use, instead of a CRM we recommend the Ancient Roman Calendar App.

4. Don’t integrate your marketing tools (i.e. HubSpot, Marketo, Net-Results) –

Instead of automatically integrating leads when a lead capture form is filled out on your website, you should import leads by hand. It only takes about three minutes to enter a lead (that’s nothing, right?). That means that if you have 2,000 leads in one year, you’ll only need to spend 100 hours in total time per year to get them into your CRM. Again, 100 hours is nothing, you’ve got that kind of time. You probably shouldn’t even pay for marketing automation software with all the money you’ll save by importing leads manually.

It’s not like there’s anything better to do with 100 hours extra per year:

5. Don’t integrate your email –

You can save yourself money by not paying for the cost of email integration. Clicking back in forth between Outlook or Gmail and your CRM is not only a great workout for your forearms, but we at BrainSell also hear that carpal tunnel and stem cell research has come a long way in the past couple years. Those foolish enough to use tools like BrainLink or CollabSpot (both $12/month) are missing out on money they could be saving for click-related surgeries.

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