The old adage “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know,” may not be entirely correct but it still does hold some weight in the modern business environment. You might be the smartest, most shrewd businessperson out there with the best prices and a killer product, but none of this matters if your sitting alone in your basement, unable to make sales.

Reach Mass Markets With a Planned Budget

We all know the power of getting your name out there through the wonders of marketing and advertising. Through traditional means like print, radio and TV or through the new fangled conduits like the Internet, social media and pay-per-click-advertising we can reach mass markets with some smart planning and a healthy budget.

But it’s not enough to simply get your product out there to the masses. We need to network; meeting suppliers, professionals that can assist us, potential employees, contemporaries, customers and even competitors can help us to grow and shape our businesses. Trade shows, luncheons, seminars, meetings, casual get-togethers and just about any other form of social interaction you can think of are all prime spots gather the contacts you need.

Pick a Card, Any Card…if You Can Find It

If you have ever been to a mass gathering with other business people you’re often left with a giant grab bag of business cards, brochures, nick knacks, pins and the ever-present stress ball. It’s tempting to just put the bag away or forget about all but the major stand outs but this isn’t making the most of your networking efforts.

Keeping your existing contacts in order and updated as well as integrating new ones into your system is key if you want to make the most of networking.

• First you have to decide upon a location to keep all of your contacts. This can either be physical or digital but make sure all of your contacts are kept there. In my opinion digital is preferred because you can easily make copies, cleanly change or update information and print out copies. Always make sure to keep a back up of your information no matter in what form you keep it.
• Next make sure you gather all of your contacts in the same place. This means your personal and professional contacts should all be in the same location. Use separate categories or tags though to differentiate them though for easier use. Make sure you review cards sent to you, business cards collected, addresses off mail sent to you and any other information you might need. You never can tell.
• Verify contact information the best you can and stay up on any changes that occur.
• Integrate new contacts as quickly as possible so you don’t end up with a back log or a pile of contacts waiting to be put into your contact location.

A Customer Relationship Management system (CRM) is a great way to not only keep contacts in a safe place but also integrate them into your daily routine. CRMs like Karma are great at helping you track prospects, making notes and making the most out of your contacts.

You likely know just how important it is to follow up with your customers. Not doing so can have some seriously detrimental effects on your sales. But did you know that the wrong follow-up methods can actually harm your efforts? Not only does your customer leave with a bad taste in their mouth, but you can actually create a sense of buyer’s remorse, making that prospect rethink their position entirely.

Obviously, you want to engender a feeling of satisfaction in your prospect or customer – you need them to want to do business with you, not to feel that they could have done better. How do you accomplish that, then? It’s truly not difficult, so long as you have the right tools and methodologies in place. Here, you’ll learn a bit about how to kick your follow-up success rate into high gear.

Mail before You Call

Calling your customer or prospect on the phone is one of the most common forms of a follow-up. However, you should ensure that the person you’re calling has your company’s information in hand before you make that phone call. In order to do this, you should create a mailer and send it to each customer or potential customer prior to making that phone call. It’s a good idea to make several types of mailers, one for each type follow-up – previous customers, current customers and potential customers.

Script Quality

Don’t kid yourself; most follow-up phone calls are based on a script. This is the most efficient way of eliminating all the “ahs, ums, oh’s and hmm’s” that can occur during a phone call, and possibly cost you a client. This is incredibly important. Too many of the above and your customer will begin feeling uncomfortable. Therefore, that script needs to be the best it can possibly be.

However, your script should not be the “be all, end all” of communication with the person on the other end of that phone line. Take the time to customize the script for each call. This might include an accurate purchase history in the case of a previous or current customer. It might include salient points from an initial meeting with a prospective client. The possibilities are boundless, but one thing is certain – if you use a cookie-cutter script, the person on the other end of the line is going to know.

Timing

As with anything else in life, the timing of your follow-up is crucial. Too long and your customers will feel that you’re neglecting them. Too soon and they’ll think you’re desperate (that’s bad, even if you are). Set a time for a follow-up call with any prospective customers during your initial meeting and stick to that time. If you are unable to follow-up when you said you would, do so as soon as possible and apologize for not communicating sooner. An apology can smooth away a lot of ruffled feathers.

If you’ll be following up with a previous or current customer, give your mail-out time to arrive before making your phone call. Usually, three business days is sufficient for most mail, though in the case of coast-to-coast mail, you might opt for a week between mailing out the information and that phone call.

With these strategies in place, you’ll be able to tactfully follow up with each lead and turn them into long-term client.

Why in the world would we want to create another CRM system?

Simple. Because we are tired of feeling overwhelmed by features we don’t use, while missing the few simple features that we need in CRM Software. We aren’t trying to shoot for the moon, just provide you with a system that just works, leaving all the nitty gritty behind the scenes.

KarmaCRM is a simple yet powerful CRM (Customer Resource Manager) system designed to help you out-perform, out-woo, and out-shine your competition. We are hard at work providing you with robust features, without sacrificing visual ascetics and usability. We want to help you establish and maintain new relationships, while building on the ones you have. We need your feedback to make this the super-spiffy CRM system that solves the worlds problems, so request an Alpha invite if you would like to try KarmaCRM out.

A few features of KarmaCRM

• Send KarmaCRM your email correspondence with your contacts and it will automatically attach it to your contact.
• Use our KarmaPoints to tell which salesperson is using the system best
• Upload files and documents for each contact
• Create Deals and Track their Progress
• Assign Todos and Receive a Daily Email Summary

We will have screenshots, and the ability for you to request an invite coming in the next few weeks, so check back frequently, or signup for our newsletter. We look forward to helping you sell more, and have a great time doing it!