CRM Saved My Sanity

Let me ask you a few questions about your day-to-day, week-by-week business activities:

  • Do you make appointments to meet with clients or referral partners
  • Do you use your phone to connect and communicate
  • Do you send at least 1 email a day
  • Do you make to-do lists
  • Do you have projects in various stages of completion
  • Do you make notes on prospects, people, projects, etc.
  • Do you have a contact relationship management system

If you answered yes to all of these questions and NO to the last one…you might want to think about the time, energy and even money you are wasting on a daily basis.

In this whirlwind of a world of activity it is easy to drop the ball or forget where you put it! When this happens you not only lose the possible sale but credibility, trustworthiness, reputation, opportunities, referrals, and the list goes on and on.

That is crazy when there is such an easy fix!

There are literally thousands of CRMs on the market today. They all work better then your memory, old-school rolodex, and a few post-it notes. Some are even FREE!

In todays world knowing someone’s name and phone number is just not enough.

You have to know their ‘handle’, their social media profiles, their email(s)…and that is just the ‘digits’! We do business now not just with who we “know, like & trust” but people we connect with and value, people that have the same core values as ourselves, have similar interests and interesting personal qualities.

This goes beyond just the KLT factor and enters into the closer connection world of actually being friends…at least in a social and business setting. 

People want to really understand who you are, what you (and your company) stand for, not just ‘know’ you.

They want to connect with you over and above just ‘liking’ you.

And trust these days takes a visible, social proof heavy, level of credibility.

So…if they want to know all that about you – then you probably also want to know all that about them and be able to remember it! You need instant access to all the information you have learned from and about them in a click of a few buttons when they contact you. You don’t have time to research back in your email, and your 3-4 social media direct messages feed to find the information you are looking for.

We live in an instant-accessible-information world, and you need to embrace it for your business.

Information is power but you have to not only harvest it but contain it in such a way that you can realize its value. Loss of information results in missed appointments or deadlines, forgotten follow-up, lost contact information, and lost sales and referrals. Way too costly!

CRM’s, no matter which you use, allows you to contain the information – saving time, frustration, and it will enable you to impress your contacts with your organization, your ‘memory’, and your ability to operate effectively and efficiently.

Spreadsheets don’t do it.

Word programs and One-Note can’t compete.

Rolodexes are simply just big paper-weights.

Sticky-Notes and scrap-paper-piles are not the way to growth.

Here are some of the cool features CRMs provide over and above the instant-access that is GOLDEN to your business:

Cleaner workspace: no sticky notes, or scrap pieces of paper, or business cards piled around your desk (or worse yet on the floor next to your desk). Talk about a healthier-lower-stress environment to work in. Admit it, you have spent time in the past re-organizing all those piles because they are staring at you seemingly screaming, “Don’t forget about me!”

People don’t fall through the cracks: you enter their information once and it magically appears everywhere you need it. Your phone, your email, your CRM, any pipelines you have placed them in, etc.

Your daily task/to-do list is right there – at your fingertips! You can even set up automatic tasks to be created based on other functions you enter for each contact. It allows you to see it all – in one place – which allows you to prioritize.

Your circle of influence increases dramatically. Think about it, before using a CRM (like now perhaps) you probably meet several people in the course of a month, many of which never make it to the “list” (your sales pipeline/spreadsheet, your calendar, your phone, anywhere) – they are lost in the wind. With a CRM every person you meet is now a part of your circle. As you meet more people, as your business increases, your circle of influence continues to increase. It is no longer meet 10, add 4 (losing 6). One of those 6 might have been the next big client or referral partner.

Finally, it allows you to relax about all that you have to do and remember to do, every detail you are trying to juggle, every nuance you are trying to remember about your prospects and frees your mind (and energy) to focus on building your business rather then staying stuck in the trenches of the mechanics and poor processes of the business.

So how do you choose from the multitude of options out there?

Think about what you want it to do for you….

  • Contain all your contact communications
  • ONE place for all your notes! Hallelujah!
  • Control your follow-up processes
  • Manage your sales pipeline
  • Create and distribute value-based emails (hands-free!)
  • Remind you of tasks and to-do to keep your day inline
  • Generate Proposals
  • Generate Client reports or sales reports
  • and…and….and…

Here is the bottom line: staying organized and having everything you need just a keystroke away allows you to exponentially grow your circle of influence, your opportunities, and your business.

We use Active Campaign. It is actually a CRM and a marketing automation tool…not sure what the difference is?  Here is an oldie-but-a-goodie video Rodger made a few years ago that might help:

Marketing Automation VS CRM – Which is Right for YOU?

Active Campaign might be too powerful for you, or it might not be powerful enough. If you want to check it out we have an affiliate link:  Active Campaign Free 14-Day Trial 

OR…Just GOOGLE “CRM” and you can find the right fit for the needs you have.

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