CRM: Understanding the Real Challenge Beyond the Tool

Somewhere along the way, we convinced ourselves that giving Account Executives access to information is the same as giving them intelligence.

The Tool vs. Intelligence Problem

Your CRM isn't broken. Let's be clear about that. It's actually excellent at what it was designed to do- track pipeline, store data, keep leadership informed about forecast health. The executive dashboard looks great. Finance loves it. Your board can see everything they need.

The problem isn't the CRM itself. It's that somewhere along the way, we convinced ourselves that giving AEs access to information is the same as giving them intelligence.

It's not even close.

Here's What Actually Happens

If your AE has a call in 30 minutes with a mid-stage opportunity, they open the CRM. They see the deal stage (obviously), some notes from two weeks ago that say "follow up on pricing," and maybe a recorded call they don't have time to watch.

So what do they do?

They open LinkedIn to check if there are new stakeholders. Then Google to see if there's recent company news. Then Slack to ask if anyone else has talked to this account. Then back to their email to find that one thing the champion mentioned. Now they have 10 minutes left and basically just wing the call.

The information existed. The AE still did all the cognitive work.

The Puzzle Pieces Are Already There

Here's what makes this so frustrating: the puzzle pieces you need are already sitting in plain sight.

The prospect's new CFO? On LinkedIn.

Their funding round? In TechCrunch.

That revealing job posting about "scaling go-to-market operations"? On their careers page.

What your champion said about budget timing last quarter? In your notes.

Every single piece of information exists somewhere. That’s amazing! But you're forced to hunt for it, connect the dots, figure out what it means, and then do it all over again for every account, before every meeting, every single day.

That's busywork masquerading as preparation.

What AEs Actually Need

Modern AEs don't need more data. They're already drowning in data.

What they need is someone (or something) to do the synthesis work for them.

They need to know:

• What changed while they were focused on closing other deals

• Why it matters for today's specific conversation

• What they should actually do about it

That's the difference between a tool and intelligence.

Tools store information. Intelligence tells you what it means.

We Built Systems to Track the Work, Not Do the Work

Your CRM isn't making AEs less productive because it's broken or poorly designed. It's making them less productive because we're asking it to do something it was never designed to do.

We built systems to track the work- to make sure deals are logged, stages are updated, and managers can run their forecast calls.

But we never built systems to actually do the work- to synthesize scattered information, surface what matters, and tell AEs what their next move should be.

That gap between "here's where you can find the information" and "here's what you need to know" is where AEs are spending hours every week. And honestly? It's where a lot of them are burning out.

The Real Cost

Think about how much time your AEs spend preparing for calls. Not strategic thinking time. Just information gathering and context building.

Now multiply that across every call, every day, for your entire sales team.

That's not productivity. That's friction disguised as process.

The tools we've built are phenomenal at answering "what happened?" They're just not very good at answering "what should I do next?"

And in sales, that second question is the only one that actually matters.

Check out our Co-Founder's, Jeff Yoshimura, recent LinkedIn post sharing more personal insights from his work at Salesforce on this topic.