What's your best trick for getting reps to actually update Salesforce? We've tried all the usual stuff: required fields, Outreach/Salesloft, dashboards, passive aggressive Slack reminders etc etc. Feels crazy that there's no solution for this with LLMs... I've ended up building a Chrome extension that suggests updates based on Gmail threads using GPT 5.2. It's really helped, but I'm curious what's working for everyone else?
Hi George, ah, yes, I’ve run into this same issue many times, it’s a challenge on the CSM side as well, possibly moreso as there is even less time to update systems. I ended up looking at account plan automation / LLM systems that just connect to all the data sources like Gmail, Zoom, Gong, Slack, etc. and passively transcribe all the conversations and then constantly update opportunity progress and account plans. Have a look at BackEngine, that’s what I’ve used very successfully. If you are interested, I got to know their founder quite well if you’d like a deep-dive demo.
George C. The real between the nose answer?
Pick the most important information that's required to move a deal forward. A balance between everything the leadership team wants and the sales rep don't want ~ I'm talking <15 data points that require manual creation/updating. (Automation/integration should do the rest)
Simplify the tech stack. More tools isn't going to help your wallet or your data quality. It's especially going to get in the way of sales folks who are trying to hit quota who now have to fight 30 tools to figure out where to update their commit/notes.
Share the WHY. If you've done step 1 correctly, these metrics actually help them do their job better. (ICP fine tuning, insights into deals that close fast, scoring metrics to understand intent and timing, etc.) If you want buy in they need to know WHY it's important to fill in the information. If it's not important... why are you making them fill it in?
Lastly and most importantly... gate-keep commissions. If it's not updated in Salesforce, you can't close a deal (Validation rules). If the deal isn't closed, you're not getting your commission (approval processes if needed).
That's it. There are 0 reasons this should be a problem going forward if you follow these steps. If you've bought a new tool, scheduled wasted check in sessions, hired a deal-desk person to babysit, or updated the information yourself, you've taken a wrong step.
George C. I like your notion of auto-populating notes and activities using LLMs. Correlating pipeline velocity with adherence to workflow can now be [more easily] tracked and analysed using the unstructured data already in our CRMs. Next thing is the "naughty board" - a report that is generated with repeat offenders and correlates lack of compliance with intra- and inter-stage conversion rates + overall win / loss rates. Subliminaly tying tracking compliance to performance.
George C. Marylou Tyler as more of a sales people leader than a GTM leader, I am not a big fan of "passive aggressive Slack reminders" or "naughty boards". Jeremy S. nailed it with his #3 the WHY. treat AE's like adults, not children. we ALL appreciate a WHY for our jobs/tasks...so let's provide that to our teams...it's the least that we can do.
George C. just DM'd you, I built Auditory.co to attack this (and other sales process challenges). We essentially use the call/email data to autofill and update the CRM removing a lot of the burden from the reps. Happy to chat through it.
Pick the most important information that's required to move a deal forward. A balance between everything the leadership team wants and the sales rep don't want ~ I'm talking <15 data points that require manual creation/updating. (Automation/integration should do the rest)
Thanks Jeremy S. what do you think are the most important fields for SaaS sales? I've typically worked for two-sided-marketplaces where all the datapoints are custom.... Do you think we overcomplicate things with loads of custom_objects__c and fields??
This is an interesting problem and software/SaaS face a different issue than field sales. At least if you're on a zoom meeting, you have meeting notes and higher chance of input since your reps are already at their computer. The problem gets harder for those who are updating on their phone cause they're on the go (Salesforce app sucks)
This problem is as old as CRM itself. Thus my most recent post. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jhulina_revops-salesops-crm-share-7412983440767385600-[…]m=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAAP0RUB4W-n-7PTteIEKsfHNgHhPAHOinE
The answer is auto populating the fields from your notetaker transcripts and email traffic. There are many tools that do this. My favorite is GTM Engine. I am a partner and can set up a demo for you.
Hey John H. may be interested. We've built hardware that is for face-to-face sales that does the note taking when you're not at your computer or phone and then sending to CRM. So the transcription and parsing is not really the issue, that being said always looking to connect with partners that do other parts of the process or integrations that make sense.
Rachel
