Your customers
Why does nobody use our CRM?
By Doug Taylor and Jake Mayell, Co-Founders · Last reviewed 16 October 2026
Because nobody trusts what's in it. The same customer appears three times, the details are wrong, and the real notes sit in personal spreadsheets. The fix starts at the source: decide which system holds the true version of each detail, stop bad data at the door, and make the CRM worth opening for the people who use it.
One customer record everyone trusts and uses · 1 min
36%
have a CRM system that is not really used
45%
have no CRM system at all
What the video says
You paid for a CRM system. Is anyone actually using it?
The same customer is in there three times, the phone number is wrong, and the real notes are in someone's spreadsheet.
So nobody trusts CRM, nobody opens it, and every report built on it is out by the same amount, while the real data is siloed away in those personal spreadsheets.
The fix starts at the source. Decide which system holds the true version of each detail, stop bad data at the door, and make CRM worth opening for the people who use it.
Every other part of the business stands on the customer record. Get the record right, and everything built on it gets easier.
One customer record everyone trusts and uses. Let's build that.
So what would you like to know next?
How we fix it
What we do
Decide which system holds the master version of each customer detail, set the standard every record must meet, design the clean-up, and make the CRM worth opening for the people who use it.
Where bad data gets in
Every entry point in the other five workstreams. This is where the source gets fixed.
What it breaks further down
Everything. Every other workstream rests on it.
What moves
Accuracy of the customer details the business relies on, duplicates, and weekly CRM users.
Usually owned by
Operations Director or CRM lead
An example
Example
Harpar Grace International
The challenge. A UK distributor of professional skincare brands. Sales staff were trained to “loosely take the CRM as truth”, 61.6% of trade accounts had no owner, and those accounts held over £600,000 of a year’s sales. Two attempts to connect the CRM to email marketing had already failed.
What changed. We worked with their teams to give every account an owner and a standard, then carried one trusted customer record from the CRM into their email platform and switched on retention journeys for trade customers.
The result. Every trade account owned, one record driving every message, and retention running across the brands, including 532 customers already buying from more than one brand who can now be grown on purpose.
