Stop Blaming Your Tools: The Real Reason Your Sales Are Stalling

Hello, and welcome to the podcast. Today I'd like us to talk about why your CRM tool is not the savior that you think it is. And the reason why we're talking about that today is because I'm currently having conversations with people who are supposed to be the first cohort of the sales training program that my partners and I have come up with for the year for 2026 this January. Now the focus of the course is to teach people how to sell effectively over the phone and in the course of interviewing the candidates.

Because before I take your money, I want to be sure that this training that we do, or any other kind of training or coaching engagement, I want to be sure that I can solve your problem because I love money. But I'm not charlatan. I don't want to collect your money unless I think I have a reasonable shot of solving the problem that you have. So we've been talking to people who want to know if the course covers CRM, if it's focused on CRM.

CRM is a customer relationship management tool. And no, the course is not covering, but we will talk about using CRM. We'll be talking in the sense of general principles like how to schedule meetings, how to gain advancements in sales, and then data hygiene. Data hygiene just means you're using the right kind of information in your CRM tools, the relevant information that you need so that you can close the sale. But of course, there's some people who want to just learn CRM and then that's it.

And of course, that's the whole point of having conversations with people because in that case, there's no point in me collecting your money if you're looking for a detailed CRM course. I cannot. I mean, that's not what this course is designed for, so I'm not going to take your money. But I had this really interesting conversation with this individual. Oh, by the way, sorry, forgive me. My name is Tavish Maia, the legal professional, former lawyer turned business consultant.

And over here on the podcast, what we talk about is how to solve business problems, especially problems that can be solved from a sales and business development perspective. So that's what we do over here. So if you love these sorts of things, how do you grow your business? How do you increase revenues? How do you gain more effective at sales and selling? Then subscribe on Spotify, YouTube, Apple, or any player of your choice.

Also, if you'd love to connect with me because you have questions, comments, queries, or you want us to collaborate on one or two things, then you can call, send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140 and then apologies. I'm making today's recording at home and you know, kids are back. So there's going to be noise in the background and then the neighborhood kids are running around, you know, all over the place.

So there'll be some noise here and there. So back to this interesting conversation that I had with this guy. Now this guy is he considers himself a veteran in sales because he has an 11 year career in telecommunications and banking in sales. And yes, that I mean that that's is not something sneeze at because to be honest, most sales people come in last for about, you know, two or three years and then they disappear and then do something else because selling is hard anyway.

So this guy keeps going on and on about CRM and in particular he's talking about Zendesk. Now, first of all, when the guy says Zendesk, the thing kind of confuses me because I know, I mean Zendex, you know, isn't that more like a customer service kind of thing? Not necessarily a CRM tool per SE. But yes, whenever you have a CRM tool, you know you can use it for customer service. And if you have customer service tools, you can use them as CRM.

And of course, I have been advocating over here on the podcast that for those of you who want to get new into CRMS, you know you can and you don't know which one to pick. You can start just by using Google Calendar and use that to schedule your meetings, schedule your appointments, get information about your clients, you know, things like that. So I just noticed that this guy's fascinated with Zendesk. So I decided to see what he's already using.

So that, you know, even though I'm not taking his money, even though the course is not fit for him, at least let me be able to give him one or two tips that was send the guy on his on his way. Because my focus is I like to make sure that every single person who comes across my path, I make sure that you, you get value from me, whether you drop money or you don't drop money. I don't want people to go away empty handed, collect something or value from me.

So as the guy now what he's been using and I'm shocked to find out that in Nigeria in 2025, sorry, we're currently in 2026, in 2026, we have professionals in the field who've been doing this 10-11 years and they don't even use pen and paper to move their deals forward. I was shocked. So this fellow thinks that currently he's not using anything to track his sales. He does not even use pen and paper. People who use Excel sheets,

those people confuse me. I won't like because I don't see how you can use XLS a CRM tool. But in talking to this, in interviewing people for this program, and that's the beauty of these sorts of things. I spoke to somebody who is an investment and operations manager for Oak Tree Wealth Management. And you know, when I mentioned the Excel thing, you know, she laughed and she was trying to show me how, you know, she uses Excel and you know, I'm shocked for people use Excel.

But what I'm just trying to say is it blew my mind. Now we have somebody who's been selling for 11 years and the person does not even use pencil and paper. He does not even use a diary. And somehow the person thinks that his solution or the thing that will save him is if he starts using Zendesk. Ladies and gentlemen, I am here to tell you boldly for free. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, if you have not even been using pencil and paper to track your deals, it doesn't matter which software you buy or which software you download, it will not save you.

You have not even gotten into the habit of using something to track your deals. You have not even been using pencil and paper. You've not even been using post it notes. You've not even been using anything to try and track. Who did I talk to today? How many people did I talk to today? Who am I supposed to talk to for the week? What stage of the relationship are we at? What stage of the conversation are we at? What is this deal size worth?

What is the next step that I need to do? What are the things that are lacking from my own point of view? What are the things that this person has to do for me? If you have not even been using pencil and paper to track these sorts of things, it does not matter which tool you buy, you download. It doesn't matter. Even if they dash you for free, it will not save you. You have not gotten into the habit. You haven't gotten into the habit of tracking your deals.

If you are like this individual and that is how you've been selling, you've been selling from selling from your brain for a decade. Well, first of all, those of you who have been successful doing that, you know I carry bom Bom for you because it shows that you guys have wonderful brains and you guys actually are quite good at selling. But honestly, if that is what you've been doing, the CRM tool is not going to save you.

You have not even gotten into the habit of tracking your deals. Sorry, 1 moment. OK, I'm back. Sorry about that. I had to attend to the kids. There was a bit of a Crawford fool going on here. That's what people will say. All right, so basically what I'm trying to say is this. If you happen to be like this individual and you haven't even gotten into the habit yet of trying to track your deals, trying to talk, trying to track the number of people that you're talking to in a day, in a week,

in a month, not even talk of in a year. Trying to track your deal size, trying to track where you are in the conversation, trying to figure out what you need to do to move the deal forward. If you haven't even been doing that with something as simple as a pen and paper, the CRM tool is not going to save you. It is not Zendesk that will save you and make you more effective. It is not begin, it is not auto, it is not Zoho, it is not Salesforce, it is not was the only one hotspots.

It is not any of these tools that are going to save, save you and make you the superstar salesperson. So this is my honest advice and the most practical advice. If you're like this individual, you have never used anything to start tracking your sales process. Start with the diary. Start with pen and paper. Start there. Get into the habit first, because if you have not even built a habit, it does not matter what it is that you're going to use.

The guy was already complaining about how he's in the field. What he does is practical, that he's not one of those boys who sits down behind the computer every day just to be typing keyboard. He already has a disdain for the computer. Somehow he thinks Zeandesk is what is going to save him anyway, gave him some advice about how you can use physical Diaries and we spoke a bit about my own legal career. You see, that's why it's also good to have experience of your own so that if somebody says me,

I have 10 years, you you can say me too, I have 25 years. You said you can raise shoulder. So oh, by the way, I don't have 25 years. I'm not that old. So we spoke a little bit about my legal career and how back then, because when I started off, because I got into O Buffalo University, gosh, I can't remember what's my metric numbers of is it 96? And I can't remember. But back when we got into OAU, computers in Niger, but not a thing.

So of course graduating, no computers were gaining some currency. So, yeah, there was some big high tech law firms, but for most of us, a lot of the postings that we got your, your principal, principal is like your guy in the law firm. The principal, the, what's it called, the practice manager. I mean, of course, individually everybody will have their own laptops. Busha, there was a diary. Individual lawyers would have a diary.

The firm itself would have a diary. All the partners will have a diary. And all of us were keeping track of these sorts of things. The customers that we had conversations with, when did we have the conversation or what did we discuss? What is the next step? If you went to court, you will put it in your diary. You went to court today. Which court did you go to? OK, some people might even put the judge that sat. You know what it was that was deliberated.

What the next thing that you're supposed to do or shall we got into the habit of using the diary to be tracking things Small, small, small, small, small. Now somebody who has gotten into the habit will now be able to migrate from. Oh, I'm tired of carrying diary. Let me use my phone. And for me that was the migration. So from law to wedding photography I carried to that same habit of using diary. But then I started running through some problems.

Sometimes I will leave the house, I've left my diary at home and then I have one or two meetings. I'm trying to carry things in my head before I get back home to update diary. Then by the time you get home, you know, you meet your wife or you know I meet wifey and then maybe we quarrel or maybe was a nice evening or you know, something. Whatever I show you, don't put it in the diary. And then you wake up tomorrow and then you're now wondering after I wake up the next day.

Oh, OK. The meeting that we had, what did we discuss? What was the next step as I found out that my diary was never up to date? That, ladies and gentlemen, was how I now got into the habit of using my phone as ACRM tool. Using the simple calendar on my phone, using the simple note taking functions on my phone, starting off with things like Evernote and all these other things. That was how I got into CRM territory. So please, if you're like this individual, I know I've said it,

but let me say it again because I'm surprised at the number of people that I've been talking to from December of 2025 into January of 2026 who happened to think that if they can find the right CRM tool that they won't have any more problems. I'm sorry, I'm not trying to shake way for them. I'm not trying to swear for them. It's not like I don't mean them well. I'm just telling the truth. If you haven't gotten into the habit of tracking your deals with something, it doesn't matter what we use.

Even if the angels come down and give you the perfect tool, it still will not work for you. You haven't gotten into the habit. So if you're listening to this podcast, you've never heard of CRM tool, but at least when you talk to somebody, there's somewhere on your phone or a piece of paper that you have been writing things down so that you can remember, so that you know when the next meeting is. No things like that. Good.

You're already establishing the habit. Small, small. Look for previous episodes of mine where I talk about the CRM or go to YouTube. Because the video that I sent this guy about Zendesk, I got it from YouTube because, you know, I don't go into details on any particular system. So to help this guy, I found some videos from Zendesk from some other business commentators and then I sent it to him. So go to YouTube and you will find videos that will put you through on how to start using whatever CRM tool of your choice.

But honestly speaking, first of all, establish the habit. If you establish the habit, where should you start? Honestly speaking, right now you don't know enough to decide on the perfect CRM tool for you. But there are some CRM tools that are for heavy enterprise use. Enterprise use means big business, big business. So Zendesk and Zendesk and what's the other one? Salesforce. And what's the other one again? Zendesk, Salesforce guy, what is it called?

Again, these people that that started this whole thing of talking about attraction marketing or inbound marketing, HubSpot, all those things are heavy enterprise enterprise. Enterprise just means big business. If you're a one man gang or it's just two or three or four of you that are selling in your business, you don't need any of those big, big, big, big things. You don't so many things that are you're not familiar with so many things that are beyond your level of sophistication.

So like some of these things, the the e-mail automation and blah, blah. I mean, like what I worried about e-mail automation when right now it's just you and your boys are selling these things. You are not automating anything. So like was your eye choking on e-mail automation for? So right now, since you can't pick the best CRM tool for you, just pick the one that is free or that is around or they've been here, your homeboys or your home girls talk about.

There are lots of free options. Zoho is free, although is free. I think that one is an is an African company. I know that for sure. I just can't remember which company that there is now out of Or you can just check CRM tool in your App Store. There are a bunch of them that are free. Start with that one first. Get into the habit. Eventually you will see that OK, this one is good, but it doesn't perform this and this and this.

You will now start asking around that I have a CRM tool, this is how I've been using it, but I want to be able to do more. I want to be able to do e-mail automation. I beg which kind of CRM handles e-mail automation? Well then people will now be recommending other ones for you. That's how you now be stepping up in the game. Sorry, forgive me for the rant, but bottom line, what I just wanted to say was that too many of you running around who think that the reason why you didn't do well in 2025 is that you didn't have CRM.

So in 2026, once you start using CRM, your business will blow the habing. The is it Habinger be habinger, the Habinger of bad news for you guys. Unfortunately, I know that's not the case. The reason why the business was not moving was because you didn't even have the habit of tracking your deals in the 1st place. You need to instill the habit first before you go and get a fancy tool because the tool is not going to help you if you do not have the habit.

So let us instill the habit every single time you're face to face to the potential customer and you guys have a conversation, go and write it down somewhere. If it's in your diary, if it's in a note on your phone, even if it is, you open your phone and then in your address book, on the address book, if you are an Android user, if you scroll to the bottom, you see one box there that says details. Click inside details. You can write and write and write.

I don't know how much you can write, but so far I've not been able to exhaust it. Put everything there. Put it there. 1st of January. So, so, so and so met with Missus Ogadenbay. Missus Ogadingbey is interested in designing a building for tomato processing factory. Let's say you're an architect tomato processing factory in Ogun State. Dimensions are this dot dot dot dot dot dot agreed. Next meeting for January 23rd to do site visits before we start discussing at the price for plans.

You know something like that. You put it down there in your phone, you put it on that details, then you now want to schedule a reminder in your Google Calendar or write it in your diary or your whatever. Good. You are now getting into the habit of tracking your deals. That was all. That's all. Make your business blue. Get into the habit. First of all, after a while you will get tired of using your phone and using diary.

You now ask around what is better or what is more efficient or what is more sophisticated or what is more XYZ. You continue to move up and up and up and then eventually we'll get there. We listen to all these foreign podcasts and we hear people talking about Zendesk, about Salesforce. You know, we all these big, big, big, big names and you know they're attractive to us and you know it's good. Eventually your business will go to that level where you'll be using Salesforce.

But right now, don't fall in love with the tool. Anyways, 20 minutes. Let me bring it to a close. Let me just wrap up this rant. In fact, I think this is my first rant for 2026. So yeah, that's it. This is your first time listening to the podcast. I'm terribly sorry, and I must have been talking too fast and I've said some things that might confuse you, but sharp, No, no problem. Just send me a message on WhatsApp or SMS.

No, don't call me. Not now, not now because I'm currently I'm still interviewing people for the program. Basha, reach out. Send me a message 08064662140. Ask your questions if you're confused. I was talking too fast. You don't know what the CRM tool is. You don't know what this means. You don't know what that means. You know, ask. We can have a conversation. You'll also give me ideas for a follow up episode after this.

Also saw that people were discovering it for the first time and who didn't catch some of the things that we I was talking about, you know, so that I can explain it for them. So thank you very much for your time and attention. I'll catch you all some other time.