In researching CRM success in distribution I found an article written by my colleague, Brian Gardner, wrote an article earlier this year about CRM implementation, where he said: “Business leaders often get started on a CRM project, choose the solution with the most bells and whistles, follow directions to a T, and then wonder why they’re met with lackluster results.”

Brian nailed the post-implementation training challenges that crush CRM projects. I’ve seen firsthand how his insights about ongoing coaching, addressing resistance, and making training play out.

Reading his piece got me thinking about something key that takes place even before his training framework kicks in — a foundational crack that appears during the planning phase – sales and marketing teams that never actually agreed on what they’re trying to accomplish together.

The Problem Nobody Talks About

Here’s what happens in most distribution companies: Someone decides, “We need a CRM.” Fair enough.

As plans come together, Sales hopes they’re getting a tool to manage relationships and track their deals. Marketing hopes they’re getting lead scoring and campaign attribution. If there’s an IT team involved, their hope is that they’re getting something that won’t break their existing systems.

Everyone gets trained on their specific role or responsibility. Everyone follows the protocols. And six months later, the excitement has worn off, and people go back to old habits.

Why? Because it’s likely the system wasn’t planned out and designed for how these teams need to work together.

All the parts are in the right places, and technically, everything works like it’s supposed to, and still somehow it just feels wrong.

Brian’s Training Framework is a Must-Have for Success

When you layer in sales and marketing alignment from the start, selecting “Super Users” from different departments ensures that these users are thinking about how sales and marketing connect. It’s not just about learning new technology. It’s about learning how to make the most from your new technology using sound methodology — something that ideally should happen before you put your CRM in place.

The best implementations I’ve seen start with these Super Users first mapping out the real customer journey together.

1. How does someone go from downloading a white paper to having a productive sales conversation?
2. What’s the definition of an MQL (marketing-qualified lead) vs an SQL (sales-qualified lead)?
3. What does Sales want to or need to know about that person’s digital behavior?
4. How does Marketing find out which activities actually help close deals?

If you want ongoing buy-in from key players, this collaborative mapping is where that buy-in really takes root.

Making Training Relevant

Brian’s “Day-in-the-Life” approach works beautifully, and it can be even better when those scripts show how departments work together rather than just how they use their individual features.

For distributors, this means walking through scenarios where marketing hands off a qualified lead, from which sales can see precisely what the prospect cared about, what they downloaded, which pages they visited, etc. Then, gathering feedback from sales helps marketing understand what good leads actually look like in practice.

Brian’s gamification ideas work great for this kind of cross-functional training. Teams start seeing how their individual success connects to collective results.

Following Up After Launch

Biweekly check-ins for the first few months, as recommended in the article, should include joint reviews between the sales and marketing teams as well. These aren’t blame sessions. They’re discovery meetings. These meetings are where you’ll discover

• What’s working?
• What’s confusing?
• Where are handoffs getting dropped?
• What would make both teams more effective?

I’ve watched organizations use these reviews to spot patterns they never would have seen individually. Marketing notices certain lead sources convert better. Sales realizes prospects who engage with specific content types close faster. These insights improve everyone’s results.

Explaining the Why and Calming Fears

Implementing a CRM will almost always be met with resistance. From the get-go, you’ll have salespeople who worry about losing control of their relationships and their leads. You may even see members of your marketing team worry about their work becoming invisible in a sales-focused system.

But when you explain how CRM enhances customer experience, it becomes even more powerful when both teams understand their role in creating that experience together. And my favorite benefit of using a CRM — helping the sales team make more money — is a powerful carrot as well.

Building Alignment Into the Process

Here’s how I’ve learned to prevent CRM failures before they start:

Before You Buy Anything

Bring your sales and marketing teams together. Hash out the basics:

1. What makes a lead worth pursuing?
2. How should prospects move through your combined process?
3. What information does each team need to do their job well?
4. How will you measure success as one organization?

While You’re Setting Everything Up

Design workflows that support both teams instead of forcing them to work around each other:

1. Lead scoring that makes sense to both marketing and sales
2. Handoffs that include context from both perspectives
3. Reports that show the complete picture, not just departmental metrics
4. Content organization that serves both campaigns and sales conversations

Training That Brings Teams Together

Use Brian’s proven methods on scenarios that require collaboration:

1. How marketing intelligence helps sales conversations
2. How sales feedback improves marketing targeting
3. How to read reports that span both functions
4. How to solve problems together instead of pointing fingers

The Real Competitive Advantage

Organizations that get this alignment piece right aren’t just more efficient with their CRM. They’re fundamentally better at understanding and serving their customers.

When sales and marketing teams truly understand how their work connects, they begin to identify new opportunities for their messaging to reach and connect with their customers. Marketing creates content that addresses real objections salespeople hear every day. Sales provides feedback that helps marketing attract better prospects. The CRM becomes a shared intelligence platform instead of just another tool.

What This Means for Your Organization

Brian Gardner’s training framework is essential. Every CRM project should follow his recommendations. And there’s an earlier step that will make his excellent advice even more effective.

Start with alignment. Get both teams thinking about your shared customer journey before anyone touches the technology. Map it out together. Build the envisioned workflows. Then use Brian’s proven training methods to make sure everyone succeeds together.

The difference is dramatic.

Instead of training people to adapt to disconnected systems, you’re training them on processes they helped design. Instead of managing resistance to change, you’re reinforcing collaboration that’s already working.

If you’re planning a CRM project or struggling with adoption, alignment is your secret weapon. Brian’s comprehensive approach to CRM success – from configuration to training to ongoing optimization – combined with upfront alignment, is how you actually get the results everyone hoped for when the project started.

I’d love to hear about your experiences with CRM projects in your organization. Every situation is unique, and the best solutions always align with your specific team dynamics and customer relationships.

And definitely read Brian’s complete article – his framework on post-implementation success is exactly what every CRM project needs.

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