As an
old-school Computer Science student with experience in eCommerce
and Finance, I’ve always had a bias toward clarity, data-driven
thinking, and functionality over hype. That’s why — even in 2025 — I
still prefer sales staff who can work with Excel sheets for sales
tracking rather than rely solely on CRM tools.
Most CRM
platforms, including popular ones like Hubspot, Salesforce,
or Zoho CRM, are unnecessarily complex — especially if you actually know
what you're doing. Yes, they offer sales dashboards, marketing
automation, workflow integrations, and a bunch of other customer
relationship management features. But ask yourself: how many of those
features does your team actually use efficiently?
In reality,
the only real advantage of a CRM system over Excel is automated
alerts, sales notifications, and pipeline syncing. That's it. Excel,
combined with proper discipline and logic, can offer 80% of what a bloated CRM
does — with 10% of the friction.
The deeper
issue? Most modern SaaS CRM systems are built to lock you in.
They make it easy to onboard but a nightmare to leave. You customize sales
workflows, build your pipeline views, create lead capture forms
— and then you realize: exporting your data, changing platforms, or even
simplifying the system becomes a project by itself.
❗ In this
article, we’re not rejecting technology or suggesting a return to the
pre-digital era. We mean building a hybrid CRM strategy — one where
platforms are used wisely, not worshipped. You need a sales manager who
isn’t fully dependent on digital tools to make decisions. On the flip
side, you also need platforms that reduce distractions, not increase them. If
your CRM dashboard feels more like a toy than a tool, your team is
wasting time.
🔍 Signs
Your Manager Actually Knows What They’re Doing:
- Holds structured weekly
meetings to realign and track progress
- Makes sure the sales team
uses CRM minimally — and generates reports via organized spreadsheets
with client tabs
- Defines clear sales targets,
KPIs, and conversion goals
- Assigns team leads when the sales
team scales, ensuring control is distributed
- Insists on weekly data
audits to clean duplicates and fix stale entries
- Knows what sales reports
actually matter and asks for them regularly
- Has a follow-up system for
leads and a strategy to resolve bottlenecks quickly
If your team
is huge and you truly need a CRM software to manage hundreds of sales
reps, find a good one, but don’t chase fancy CRM features or colorful
sales dashboards. You need a simple CRM, robust, and minimalistic
sales tool that just works. The fewer the features, the fewer the
distractions.
I know this
goes against what most in the tech-driven sales industry preach. CRM
companies are excellent marketers. They sell you dreams of efficiency,
AI-powered sales insights, and pipeline automation magic. But
behind the curtain, they often create software dependencies — not empowerment.
Many of
today’s sales managers are MBA graduates who have learned to
value software names more than software logic. They know the
jargon: CRM, ERP, KPI, CAC, sales funnel, customer
acquisition cost. But many of them don't know what to do if the tools fail.
They’ve never had to sell with just a phone, an email list, and an Excel
spreadsheet for lead tracking. That’s a big red flag.
Final Advice:
Find a
manager who knows how to run your sales operations if your CRM system
collapsed tomorrow.
If your tech stack disappeared, would your business collapse with it? Or
would your team adapt?
Digital
maturity in business is not
about using more tools — it's about knowing how to lead without them.
Farhad
Hafez Nezami
May 2025
#CRM #growth #strategy #growth.exe #businessstrategy #Saas
#startup #businessmind #creative #marketing #marketingmanager #marketingstrategy #excel #marketingtool
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