Let’s be real—just because you've got a CRM, or a hodgepodge of tech tools that make up your CRM, doesn’t mean that they're being used in your favor.
Way too often, people invest in a platform only to struggle with how it works, their team using it, and how everyone thinks it's SUPPOSED to be used.
If you’ve ever wondered why your setup isn’t creating the results you expected, it might be making because one (or more) of these common mistakes are at play.
The good news?
They’re all fixable.
Let’s dive in:
- 5 Most common mistakes we've seen with client systems
- The exact methods we've used to fix those issues
- (Plus a free CRM audit to see what YOU uniquely need)
1. Poor Tracking & Not-so-steller Lead Managing
The Mistake: Leads are coming in, but there's no follow-up process and leads that come from marketing are constantly slipping through the cracks. Reps don’t have a clear system for tracking their lead qualifying tasks, and potential deals get lost due to messy pipelines and inconsistent follow-ups.
How to Fix It:
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Set up custom deal stages that reflect your sales process.
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Implement lead scoring to prioritize high-intent prospects.
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Use automation to trigger follow-ups based on lead behavior.
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Make sure your team is actually logging activities and updating deal statuses (hello, accountability!).
2. Data Inaccuracy & Lack of Accessibility
The Mistake: Your CRM is cluttered with outdated, duplicate, or incomplete data, making it impossible to trust reports or make strategic decisions.
How to Fix It:
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Schedule regular database cleanups to remove duplicates and outdated contacts.
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Enforce required data inputs for essential contact and deal properties.
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Set up data validation rules to ensure accuracy in form submissions.
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Train your team on consistent data entry practices (because bad data in = bad data out).
3. Misalignment Between Sales, Marketing & Service Teams
The Mistake: Sales and marketing operate in silos. The marketing team generates leads but they're not quality and there's no clean handoff to sales, while sales struggles to convert because they’re missing context. On top of that, customer service lacks visibility into past interactions for the best client care.
How to Fix It:
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Implement a shared reporting dashboard for full visibility into the customer journey.
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Leverage your CRM's customer journey stages (these are your Lifecycle Stages if you've got Hubspot) to track how leads move through the funnel.
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Align on Service Level Agreements (SLAs) between teams for lead handoffs and follow-ups.
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And if you have HubSpot, you can use the Conversations Inbox to centralize communications and ensure no one’s working in isolation.
4. Underutilizing AI & Automation
The Mistake: Reps and marketers are bogged down with manual tasks—sending emails, logging notes, updating records—when they could be focusing on big-win activities.
How to Fix It:
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Use workflow automation to streamline lead nurturing, sales sequences, and post-sale engagement.
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Enable AI-powered recommendations (like what's in HubSpot) to optimize messaging and follow-up timing.
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Set up chatbots to engage website visitors and qualify the right leads at the right time.
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Automate deal creation from form submissions and trigger notifications for reps to take action.
5. Failure to Customize Your CRM to Fit Your Business
The Mistake: You’re using your CRM out-of-the-box without tailoring it to your specific sales cycle, industry, or team structure. As a result, the system feels clunky, and organization adoption is low.
How to Fix It:
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Customize pipelines, contact properties, and dashboards to reflect your business needs.
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Create personalized email templates and sequences that match your brand’s voice.
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Build custom reports to track the exact KPIs that matter to your team.
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Get expert help (hi 👋🏾) to optimize your setup for long-term success.
Your CRM — and honestly any of the systems you use in your marketing tech stack— is only as effective as the strategy behind it.
If your team is running into any of these hiccups, now’s the perfect moment to jump in and make some real changes to tap into your CRM’s potential. By spotting and fixing these common bumps in the road, you'll turn your CRM from just another tech tool into a revenue booster that powers up efficiency, deepens customer connections, and gives your bottom line a lift that snowballs.
Don’t let these challenges slow your business down; instead, grab the chance to fine-tune your CRM strategy so it fits your business goals and makes your team reach new heights of success.
