In small markets, that is. Like Slovenia, at two million people, yet institutional wise we rarely stack up to 100 of each. Like hospitals, we have like 10. Like veterinarian clinics, we have like 20. Like video rental stores we have like 20. Like schools, ok, we have 400 of those, but hey, there needs to be an exemption.

The point is that Slovenia is small. And in small countries CRM does not make sense. Why? Well, proper CRM, that is not just a fancy contact management tool, is supposed to be of help to the whole organization, and not just to the call centre. As such proper CRM is complex, big and expensive. And it helps sales organizations manage thousands of clients. Yet that doesn’t happen in Slovenia. Here, managing clients is much more about informal and deep relationships, and much less about what someone might have written down in a CRM. Writting down details when one is actually capable of knowing everyone personally simply doesn’t make sense. This is why foreign companies complain about opaqueness of the market here, this is why we often appear as irrational when it comes to business decision making, but this is also why Slovenian companies perfect their products beyond reason. And this is also why it is so hard for Slovenian companies to go abroad. They simply don’t have the proper sales methodology and knowhow developed to thrive in lowtouch sales environments of international markets.

Slovenians need deep connections with their clients. With such connections in place they are brilliant. Yet, they need to get over the sales skills gap that they all have from growing up in this beautiful country. And, yes, CRM is there to be bought, trained and used as soon as they decide to go beyond their borders. Truly, some Slovenian companies get it.