Your leads, your accounts, your contacts are your life blood (at work). You must take care of them.
In my last post, I spoke about identifying the right prospects for your product offering and researching those prospects. I am going to assume you are working with some type of CRM as I go into my second piece of advice regarding fundamentals, which is how you organize and take care of those prospects.
First, you need to fill your CRM with not only the best information on your prospects — direct work email, direct work phone number — but as much detail as you can regarding your relevant research. For example, how is this account related to existing accounts you are already servicing? This is something you can bring up immediately. In my current position, where we are selling to Universities and private schools, I have my team enter into the CRM the names of three relevant paying clients to mention on their first call or email.
Second, you need to keep your data up to date. Enter notes EVERY TIME you attempt to contact. Even when the call goes to voice mail, or the email goes unanswered. There are many automation tools which can log your activity automatically, and I highly recommend them, but if you don’t have those tools, you must do this manually.
Third, use as much of your CRM as possible to organize your leads. Establish statuses that are sensible to your process and continuously update them. If there are interactions, log them in the CRM in detail. Set tasks for yourself for follow up.
Finally, keep up to date on your work. Finish all of your tasks, and if you cannot, make sure you are setting an achievable number for each work day.
NOTE: If you are getting inbound leads, those are your top priority. Do not leave the office or go to sleep with open leads in your CRM. Minimally, the must be tasked for the next day. Optimally, they should have been contacted already.
Scoop on Sales 