We didn’t always have sales automation and recruiting automation. There was this time when you just had to keep a ‘date book‘ or a calendar of some sort, or just simply to remember to call Mary over at Acme Inc. to see how everything was.

Old school sales was following up. Letting you know I’m still here. I still want your business. Give it to me and not someone else.

Like a CRM the goal is to eventually wear you down, and it works. It’s worked since the beginning of time.

CRMs can do it, and do it very effectively, but in some cases not as well. I can ignore the CRM. I know the CRM game, so when you see those messages they are easily ignored.

I can’t ignore the lady who has made nine calls to my voicemail. I can’t. You might be able to, but I can’t. I respect the craft too much. The effort. I know how hard it is to pick up the phone the first time, let alone 2 – 9. That doesn’t get easier, it gets harder.

You guys know I love technology. I’ve done it both ways and having the automation helps immeasurably. There’s a bit of art to the old way of following up, over and over. Some poetry to it.

You might get sick of “Steve” calling you every single month, but eventually you find yourself in a jam and “Steve” comes to mind. Steve was the one that was there when you didn’t have anything. Any “Johnny” come lately can call on you when you just landed a $50 million dollar contract, but where were they when you had nothing?

Companies fail when they take the human out of the CRM. It’s not one or the other, it’s both in combination. The plow helps the farmer do more quickly, but not without the horse.

So, the next time you see your phone ring and recognize the number, or delete that email that you know was personally sent without reading it, know a real person put in time for that recognition. The Human CRM was at work and didn’t stop!