CRM systems are one of the most critical tools for sales organizations, and there is no shortage of options. However, most industries look for something that fits their specific workflows. For broadcast media sales, a CRM system needs features that make it a useful tool. In looking at the solutions, it’s easy to gravitate toward an industry player like Salesforce, but is Salesforce the best fit for a broadcast media sales CRM system?
In deciding what CRM tool to choose, there are many considerations. Things like functionality, ease of use, customization, cost, integrations and time to deploy all factor into the decision-making.
While no one would argue that Salesforce isn’t a leader in the CRM technology market, it may not be the right solution for several reasons. Let’s look at how it might not align with your needs, budget or timeline.
Salesforce Isn’t Broadcast-Centric
Salesforce has CRM users in every industry. They seek to appeal to the masses and offer a full buffet of features that can be useful or overwhelming. However, this is a case where more may not be better. If you want a CRM tool that aligns with the sales cycle, you may find that Salesforce doesn’t flow this way. It could be that there’s functionality that doesn’t apply to your situation or that you need different fields, which means customization is necessary.
Conversely, a CRM system purpose-built for media companies is ready to go. Those with experience and expertise in your market design these with the specific end-user in mind.
But Salesforce Can Customize, Right?
One thing many companies love about Salesforce is the ability to customize just about everything. Well, that sounds great, but if you need customization, you’ll have to pay for it.
If you want to reap the benefits of a centralized system that follows your workflow, you’ll likely have to work with specialists on custom programming. That comes with a price tag and will take time to fine-tune, which means deployment could take weeks or months.
Customization Doesn’t Always Equal the Right Features
The customization options are plentiful for Salesforce, but that doesn’t mean they can include every feature you want. There may be very specific things you need in a CRM tool, like the ability to tie customers to proposals and past orders.
That may be possible with some integrations in Salesforce, but you might just get a no from them. After all, they develop features based on broad appeal and needs, not industry-specific ones.
The absence of certain features means you won’t have streamlined workflows. Instead, you’ll have to find workarounds, which negate the benefits that CRM systems should provide, like productivity and efficiency.
Again, this won’t likely be an impediment for CRM tools designed for broadcast media sales. You’ll be able to link other parts of a revenue engine, including proposals and orders.
The Upfront Investment Is Steep
Besides the cost of customization, Salesforce isn’t cheap. They hold such a market share and have strong brand equity, so they can charge what they want. For smaller media companies or even those with tight budgets, it’s going to be a stretch.
Cost is a factor in every decision you make on technology. If you go with Salesforce, you may have to remove other products from your tech stack that you were considering. It could quickly eat up your entire software budget.
However, companies that are more niche and cater to broadcasters will likely have a more reasonable price tag.
Deployment Won’t Be Simple with Salesforce
Salesforce isn’t just a tech company; it’s an industry. There are hundreds of companies that are Salesforce consultants and implementation specialists. That’s their entire business, which illustrates that deployment of the Salesforce CRM system isn’t easy.
First, if you’re customizing, that’s going to take weeks to configure and develop. Then, you’ll likely need to hire a consultant to implement and train your team. That’s more money and time before you even start using it.
Second, the adoption of the CRM tool may falter. If the learning curve is broad and training is long, some of your reps may lose interest or think it’s too hard to use. According to a worldwide survey of executives, they cited employee skills, lack of senior management awareness, organizational culture, and complexity issues as reasons employees don’t adopt technology.
You can work on some of those things internally, but removing the hurdle of the complexity of technology starts with the platform you select. When comparing Salesforce to other options, the central question to ask would be, “Is this easy and user-friendly?”
Salesforce invests considerably in user experiences, but again at the high level of what an enterprise would need in a CRM system. They aren’t necessarily thinking about a media organization. The rollout of a broadcast media sales CRM tool can be more inviting when it’s simple to use and mimics the way your reps work. The more they can naturally integrate into their workflows, the better.
