Mary found she was spending a lot of time trying to find new leads and not generating enough sales to make quota. The existing base of customers hardly bought a second time and many went to competitors to purchase the same quality products.
Mary and the owner discussed and implemented an automated sales and marketing system.
Once a business automates their sales and marketing, many experience increased sales.
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The US Postal Service announced in September that it still adds about 2 million addresses each year. However, the volume of mail dropped by 9 billion pieces for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2008.
In this economy there is a silver lining to reach more customers and it’s by using direct mail! Sending your direct mail offer has a better chance of being seen by more people because they receive less stuff each day in their home or business mail box.
More eyes see direct mail offers than email!!
September has been interesting for us. We have seen some clients make a commitment to using new or upgraded software to automate their sales and marketing. Others are in the Chicken Little mode of the “Sky is Falling” and not looking ahead or long term to position themselves for growth.
However one prospect we met was interesting. They have the pain to install a system to track and automate their sales and marketing.
The reason isn’t lack of an automated system but because management lacks the commitment to put policies in place. Management isn’t really looking within to correct the problems and establish polices for working with leads and clients. They think the software will cure the problem.
Before any company purchases a new system or upgrades an existing system they need to first look within and review their sales and marketing process. Put into place policies that not only make employees accountable but management as well.
Look for a system that will be flexible and take advantage of how your company sells and interacts with existing customers. It’s your business and you really need to take ownership of it.
If your company is ready to commit to a new system or need help with your sales process please call us at 508-226-4565.
Recently I read an article in The Boston Globe about Xobni Software. 
Xobni (inbox spelled backwards) was originally designed as a plug-in for Outlook that makes searching your email easier. After frustrating searches for a particular email I practically gave up searching all together because Outlook lacks any kind of logic for searching.
Xobni really shines as a search engine for Outlook. I’ve tried others but found them clunky and not efficient. After the initial indexing it runs in the background and doesn’t hamper my Outlook performance.
Using the search box will give you surprising results. As the creators would tell you it adds an “intelligent filter” that not only searches more efficiently but can display the sender’s telephone number if it’s in their signature of the email. It also shows you all the correspondence between you and that person and any attachments are listed separately.
Since I have been using it, I have also found that it creates a social network within Outlook of related contacts from emails received.
For example: Bob, Mary, Jack, Carole and Isaac all know me and know each other. As email correspondence is captured and indexed for future search by Xobni it relates the contacts together by reviewing how emails are addressed between each other. It looks for multiple To:’s , CC:’s and Fwd’s to relate people to one another.
When you search for one of the emails of the people you know it shows you who that person is networked with in your Outlook.
But here is how it becomes a sales tool as well!
As the book states on it’s cover
“A Little Story About A Powerful Business Idea”.
The Go-Giver is a parable about a salesman named Joe who is struggling to make his sales quota.
Joe hears about a legendary consultant called the Chairman who has made millions and is retired. Seeking this consultant Joe hopes to use him to assist in closing a BIG DEAL.
However, Joe agrees to spend a week with the Chairman who introduces him to go-givers and at the end of the week the connector who puts them all together. The Chairman teaches Joe “The Five Laws of Stratospheric Success”,
Bob Burg and John David Mann have written only 133 pages but don’t be fooled by the small number of pages. As it has been said great things come in small packages.
The writing style of a parable made it not only easy to read but easy to understand and assist in envisioning how I can use what I learned immediately. I highly encourage you to read it soon and take action to become a go-giver and meet your connector. You will see how giving will lead to many returns in your business.
What happens when you go to lunch and an employee receives a call from the BIG DEAL you have been trying to close this month.
They may write down a message and forget to hand it to you because the employee doesn’t know it’s the BIG DEAL!
You come back from lunch and proceed with your day while the BIG DEAL gets impatient waiting for your call and closes the sale with your competitor!!
So it’s all in your head which now is frustrated because…
YOU LOST THE BIG DEAL OF THE MONTH!!
This example may be a simple one but it illustrates why you need to have a contact management system in place.
If your business was using a contact management system your assisant could have assigned a high priority alarm to call the BIG DEAL when you came back from lunch. You would have made the call and closed the BIG DEAL!! That’s a great ending to the story!!
Why is a contact management system
better than having it all in my head??
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