This week’s topic hits too close to home for comfort. But, since I always say “look in the mirror,” this week it was my turn!  Why is it that we get ourselves into a sales crisis when we know better?

I spent the better part of yesterday getting all my leads organized; opportunities followed up; and sales plans written for all the prospects in my sales funnel.  But, why did it get to this state in the first place?  Easy, poor organization and time management!!!

For nearly a decade I managed sales and customer relationship management (CRM) system implementations for companies that varied in size from 3 – 3,000 employees.  And what I did yesterday was what was nearly always needed before the systems ever became useful for the company.

Why is that?  Because it isn’t having a CRM system that gets you results.  It’s being organized and taking action that creates sales success!!!

Before CRM systems companies successfully sold.  There were top performers that sold more than the rest of the sales force and they didn’t use a computer.  What was it that made them successful?  A system of organizing there sales assets (leads, prospects, and opportunities) so they could consistently working them in a systematic manner!

This sales success formula hasn’t really changed today.  You just keep your leads, prospects, and opportunities in a computer, probably in a CRM application, instead of a rolodex or a notebook.

See the only thing that has changed is the tools we use to organize our stuff.  The system is still very much the same- you need to be organized.

Even with a CRM system, if you don’t schedule time on your calendar to do your prospecting and follow-up days and weeks go by and nothing happens.  Before you know leads have gone cold, prospects have gotten stale, and opportunities have been lost to others.

So, how did I fix my problem?  Very easy, I am a system guy.  I have a system for everything (if you haven’t figured that out already).  I went back through my CRM system and appropriately classified everything. Then I sent out follow-ups to every opportunity still hanging out there.  Guess what? A couple got hot right away!

Next, I put together a sales plan for each prospect and started working the ones that I could. Finally, for those leads that were still hanging out there, I categorized them.  Then I prepared marketing campaigns for each category.

Lots of people do this part.  It is the next part that creates the success – ACTION!

I actually scheduled 1 ½ hours a day on my calendar every day to work these plans.  Once the plan is built you have to execute it.  If you don’t make time for it other things will get in the way and nothing gets done.

I’ve used this system with dozens of companies and it nearly always results in additional sales.  This is a great place to apply coaching.  If you’re having sales crisis contact me.  I look forward to providing the accountability is will take to get the results that you want!!!