A new CRM and Sales Impact Report from SugarCRM has found that fifty two percent of sales professionals in Australia believe that their CRM systems are unfit for purpose, while customers churn is costing mid-market companies an average of US$5.5 million per year each.

Fuelled by a lack of visibility into customer data, companies are facing a customer relationship crisis. The research reveals that many businesses lack the necessary tools to provide the kind of customer experience that will keep them competitive.

Besieged with status quo CRM systems, sales leaders are struggling to ensure their sales teams are spending enough time with customers and can access the data required to build and maintain these vital relationships.

The report surveyed 1,000 sales decision-makers in the US, UK, Germany, and Australia, and found that fourty-nine per cent of Australian sales professionals believe their CRM systems are costing them revenue – demonstrating the extent of the issue.

“Customer behaviour has fundamentally changed and businesses around the world are facing a customer relationship crisis,” said Craig Charlton, CEO of SugarCRM.

“Sales teams are bogged down with administration and stuck with an inaccurate picture of the customer with little advance notice or insight into customer churn. These findings are a wake-up call for companies relying on the market-leading incumbents in CRM with software that is tuned to steady-state and known customer behaviours.”

The research found that fifty-three per cent of sales leaders are fatigued and frustrated with the CRM admin burden placed on their sales teams, which is taking them away from customer-facing activities. Indeed, sales reps are only spending fifty-four per cent of their time selling.

The CRM and Sales Impact Report also revealed over half of sales reps in Australia fifty-two per cent reported their customer churn increased in the last 12 months, with fifty-two per cent of respondents having trouble predicting when customers would churn.

And upon reflection, almost half (fourty-eight per cent) of those sales professionals reported not knowing why customers churned.

In addition, fifty per cent of Australian sales leaders admit that they cannot access customer data across marketing, sales, and service systems, leaving customer-facing team members without a clear picture of their customers.

The gap in customer data, the millions of dollars lost to churn, and the lack of insight, prevents sales and business leaders from acquiring the intelligence they need to make both vital strategic and tactical decisions.

Companies that close the data gaps and improve the accuracy and completeness of their customer data, stand to improve retention, increase revenue, and gain more predictable business outcomes.