Filling your sales pipeline is one thing. Controlling it is another.Have you ever forgot an appointment? Forget to make a follow-up? Not fulfill a promise? Lose a lead? Not record a vital fact? Dropped balls in sales are costly. Loss of credibility, trustworthiness, reputation, and oh yes, lost orders. Real costly.
Contact management -- a 21st century buzz word for keeping in touch, is no longer a luxury -- unless you don't care about losing sales. When you have no contact management program, you're at a loss -- or should I say, you're at a lost. Lost revenue, lost opportunity, lost goodwill, lost market share, (strengthening of competition -- they got the order), lost referral opportunity, lost temper (angry boss), and sometimes -- lost job.
Information is power. But, like all power, it must be harnessed to have any value. How are you controlling yours? If you're like me, it's often the tail wagging the dog. Come on. Admit it. Your information control could be better (or couldn't be worse).
At some point, loss of control leads to loss of sales -- certainly loss of selling opportunities. A missed appointment, a forgotten follow-up, a not (but should have been) written thank you letter, a missed deadline, or even a lost phone number can be expensive -- and lead to sales decay.
You can shrug it off the first few times, but if you let enough decay occur, eventually you will rot (or get fired by someone you think is rotten).
Since 97% of all sales are NOT made in one call, effective prospect follow-up contact and information management is essential if you want to get maximum results -- make the sale. The problem is juggling calendar, prospects, existing customers, follow-up commitments, correspondence, promises made, and a million other details that are essential to the sale.
If you have a program or a system......use it bubba!! It is amazing to me how many sales people that have tons of tools , and tons of information at their disposal , don't use them just because they feel like its a waste of their time.
How much information can you retain in your head? start out with your personal life and personal contacts , family , friends , add phone numbers , addresses ,birthdays , anniversaries ....get it? write it down baby!! and refer to it as many times as you are going in front of a prospect, bring that file with you, record any information.
Stay in front of them , stay positive , stay informed , make them like you , make them trust you and maybe they will buy from you.
Remember to study your profession.
Now go out and have a great sales day!!
