Got Good Phone?

Learn how to use consultative style cold calling! The Art of Consultative Cold Calling is a five-week webinar program.

Begins March 14, 2012. Sign up by March 4 and save $100.

This particular program is customized for financial planners and offered in partnership with Horsesmouth. Almost anyone involved in selling intangibles will find it easy to apply. However, to make sure our non-financial advisors get what they need we hold special small-group coaching sessions just for you.

The program is described in two places. Here on Savage and Greene’s site: See Cold Calling Training (I’d Rather Have a Root Canal…).

And on www.horsesmouth.com/call – click through from there to enroll.

Note: Those who enroll receive a CD set covering how to generate referrals. Again — directed at Financial Advisors yet fully-applicable to almost all consultant-types as well as bankers, and insurance brokers.

Each of the five sessions is recorded and posted online, along with the slide deck. You can listen at your convenience.

Got questions? Drop me a line so we can discuss the potential fit for you.

How Your CRM is Secretly Driving You Crazy

I get a lot of requests for CRM recommendations, often from people who already have one. “Our CRM is driving us crazy,” they say. “Can you recommend one?”

Well, I can’t give you a surefire recommendation – no one can – because the way you want and need to use CRM is unique. But I can clue you in on the real sources of aggravation and that will help you make the right choice.

(more…)

How to Shop for CRM

Most of our problems with CRM begin in the way we shop for it. We get a handful of recommendations, cruise through the CRM company websites, and choose.

I’m not suggesting this is a casual effort. To the contrary, most people put in a lot of time and careful consideration. Unfortunately, looking at potential CRM puts us on a dangerous path right away because what the CRM shows us has a strong influence on what we think we’re looking for.

A different sort of effort will help you choose more wisely. I wish I could tell you it will be an easier effort but I can’t. In fact, this brief article turned into enough pages that I decided to divide it up as follows:

Selling B to C or to single contacts?

Start with this post.

Everybody else: Work through these steps and articles

1. Create a list of the kinds of prospects and contacts you have.

2. See if you can map your list to the CRM. (Not yet posted.)

3. See if you can adjust their sales process to match yours. (Not yet posted.)

4. See if you can streamline. (Not yet posted.)

5. Add a rating system. (Not yet posted.)

Want to see if you can be happier with the CRM you’ve got?

Work through the same steps and articles shown above with your current program.

Pass the Aspirin Please

Before you get started, I want to acknowledge what a pain in the rear this kind of analysis is. If you frequently find yourself wondering if it’s worth it I suggest the answer may be “no.”

Even if you’re selling very high-ticket items and that involves a complex sale, you may not need a complex and many-layered CRM. One designed for B to C may do a great job. Or…you may not need CRM at all.

Shopping for CRM: Step One

In overview, the idea is to flip the usual shopping process on its head. Most people look at CRM and think about how they’ll fit their prospecting and sales to it. Instead, clarify what your prospecting and selling look like and then see if the CRM maps to it. (more…)

Shopping for CRM: Step Two

Have you created the list of groups of contacts you deal with? Now it’s time to see if you can map your general groups to theirs.

Once you’ve got your list on paper, fire up the CRM and see how easy it will be to fit your groups into their groups or “modules.” (Or not.)

As you do this, also evaluate how well the CRM supports your prospecting and selling flow. You don’t necessarily need to clarify the flow in advance if you keep this in mind:

Remember that the idea is to let YOUR groups and YOUR flow rule. As soon as you realize you’re trying to force those into the CRM’s mold, stop. I mean it literally—stop. Step away. Take a break. And then call support to see if they can help, or take the CRM out of consideration. (more…)

Shopping for CRM: Step Three

So far you’ve listed your contact groups and mapped that to CRM under consideration. Next up is seeing how well the sales processes fit. Or not.

Most CRM include an illustration in the shape of a funnel. That funnel represents a sales process—how things typically flow as you and the prospects evaluate the fit. This flow is a major element in CRM for sales-use and it’s the default funnel/sales processes that most make me want to gnash my teeth. The fit with most actual, productive, sales process is so poor that this article and step begin with ripping apart what you’re likely to see. (more…)

Shopping for CRM: Step Four

Most CRM allow for at least some customization at the user-level. The goal is to find one that does the most for your needs with the least amount of compromise on your end. This article covers the kind of things to look for. (more…)

Shopping for CRM: Step Five

Not one single CRM I’ve seen offers a good rating system—not even close. What you’re shopping for is how easily the CRM will let you add one. (more…)

My Favs

You have heard of the big CRM companies like SalesForce and MS Dynamics. Check ‘em out because they may be a good fit! Here are a couple you may not have heard of and why I like them.

LessAnnoyingCRM.com

A truly less annoying CRM that may be perfect if you’re selling to consumers, or if you usually deal with one contact in an organization.

LuxorCRM.com

They bill themselves as “the most customizable” and it may be true, especially compared to CRM costing about the same. If you like the basic format of the big CRM companies, you may like Luxor even better.

Selling B to C or to Single Contacts?

If you sell exclusively or mostly to consumers, or to a single contact in an organization:

Any CRM that has a contacts module or group and an organizations module or group will probably not offer the best fit. So skip over the big-name CRM and try some of the small ones. As you do this, apply a ten minute rule: It should take you no longer than ten minutes to figure out the basics.

Check out www.LessAnnoyingCRM.

Or, if you don’t need mobile access you can always set up your own database in Excel or Word.

I also suggest you read the article on Step 5 once it’s posted. The article is about adding a rating system to the mix.