Denis Pombriant, one of the most influential executives in the CRM industry, makes the case for a combined SFA + SM implementation, which, despite that lack of brainpower that one needs to discern that these are inextricably connected functions that underlie an effective sales strategy, is not always the norm.

Sales methodologies and sales force automation (SFA) are a combination that should be a natural fit. In practice, however, method support is poor in most current forms of SFA. Sales managers want their representatives to follow the company's defined methodology, but often salespeople veer off course, wasting time and resources. Most importantly, when salespeople go off on a tangent, their data trails leave little hint of what they have accomplished, making it harder to coach them later.

In my experience, those companies who realize and capitalize on this link are far more successful in their sales technology and sales strategy execution than those that treat SFA as software, and hold someone like the 'training department' accountable for their version of sales methodology. Looking at companies like Siebel, who have baked the Targeted Account Selling (TAS) process into the workings of their SFA/CRM package, we can get a glimpse of the future 'best-practice' where all things technology and methodology are part and parcel of a comprehensive 'sales [sales management] operating system.'

For a bit more of a 'jumpstart' on the need to embrace both technology and process, have a gander at Tom Peters' "Minimum "New Work" ... SurvivalSkills2005."