I almost can’t believe it! Podcast #20. That’s so cool! Thank you for those who have been with me since the beginning and my biggest fan, Charlie Smith. Welcome to all you new folks. This is the sales training podcast that will give you specific ways to improve your business and your customer interactions. It’s not just about motivating you, but grounding you and helping you build a sales career to be proud of.
Today we are going to talk about getting organized. Take a look at your planner? When you look at it do you feel peace or chaos? We need to take control of our plan! There are three major components I am going to go over today. The first has to do with your sales data, the second has to do with your schedule, and the third is your CRM. My what? If you don’t know what a CRM is, you aren’t alone. It’s a customer relationship management system. Basically once you enter your customers or prospects, it will keep everyone organized so you aren’t constantly trying to remember who to call when, or having a planner full of post its. I’m going to break down getting your life together into 4 steps.
Step 1: Know your sales stats.
Grab a piece of paper from your printer and start tracking the following information. Put the month at the top. Make 5 columns. The columns will be for the date, name of customer, sale or no sale, order size, and miscellaneous notes. I would not overcomplicate this by trying to make a fancy excel spreadsheet. Heck, one of my clients did this on the back of a receipt and it still totally helped her get a handle on her business. In the notes you can write their motivation to buy, or reasons they didn’t buy. Once you know your sales stats, you will know what skills you need to develop.
Step 2: Build a schedule.
This starts with having a goal for revenue, and breaking it down into activities. Let’s use an example of someone in direct sales who wants to host 2 classes a month, and do 4 1-on-1s. So grab your Planner Pad, or Passion Planner (these are the only 2 I endorse) and write down when you plan on doing those. Keep the same schedule every week if possible to give yourself and your family a rhythm. Pick two 1 hour time blocks to make calls to set up appointments or follow-up.
Step 3: Enter your customers into the CRM and then call them.
Remember, CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. I use and advocate the Hubspot CRM, which is free. Let me explain how it works. You enter your customers, or prospects. It will give each person a record, where you can schedule tasks and write notes about your interactions. This way you don’t forget who you talked to when. You should enter things like their goals as it relates to your product, what they bought, what they need to buy in the future, if they gave referrals, etc. You can also set up reminders to call them, which get emailed to you on the day you are supposed to do it!
Click here to sign-up for HubSpot’s free CRM.
You will need a website of your own to get this. If your company gives you an extension on their main website name, that should work. I was able to create a HubSpot CRM account for mydoterra.com/tashasmith15 and it’s working just fine.
Step 4: Use these in conjunction.
While working in the CRM, you will set callbacks or tasks for only the days you are planning to work and make calls. That way when you aren’t working, you can focus on the other important things in life.
Here is a short video on how to use the CRM.
To sum up, you have 4 possible action items. Pick one to help you get your life together and focus on that for the next couple of months. Don’t stress about doing all 4 at once, you will freak out. Just start at the top and work your way down. If your life is already together, congratulations!
If you need help with any or all of these things, these are great topics to personalize in coaching. You can sign up for your first coaching session for free, and then you can decide if you would like to continue working together.
Talk to you next week!
Tasha