#224
Does contact management lead to sales?
Yes.
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, often it’s 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 followup, 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 followup contact and information management is essential if you want to get maximum results make the sale. The problem is juggling calendar, prospects, existing customers, followup commitments, correspondence, promises made, and a million other details that are essential to the sale.
Enter the solution contact management. Contact management are the words it’s known by, but what the software does is 1,000 times more powerful. Do you have a contact management program?
Who needs one? How do you know if you should have a contact management program? Two clues: you either have a desktop or laptop computer. Everyone can benefit.
The salesperson, professional person, or entrepreneur who could benefit from contact management is someone who says:
“My customer is more than a name and address.”
“When my customer calls, I need instant access to their information.”
“Most of my activities revolve around my contacts.”
“I need to prioritize my day around the things that help me to increase my business.”
“I am proactive my business requires me to get people to do things.”
“I need more information control. I gather information at different times, but need to keep it in the same file.”
“I can’t afford to miss an appointment or fail to make a deadline.”
If you’re in business, in a profession, in sales, make phone calls, write letters, keep a calendar, make appointments, make a todo list, have projects, keep records, make notes, have a Rolodex, or have an address book you need a contact management program (hint: this means you). OK which one?
The most successfully used contact management software is ACT! by Symantec. ACT! pioneered the product, and has been on the market since 1987. There are others, but ACT! is the clear market leader.
“Contact manager” is really an understated word, but it’s good for “buzz” purposes. There are five dynamic stages of information management support that ACT! software offers:
1. Initial contact manager (sales lead manager)
2. Pipeline manager
3. Followup manager
4. Customer manager
5. Relationship builder
But whoa this is just the start. Besides those five (and they are the heart of the sales cycle), there are lots of primary functions this software performs many simultaneously.
ROLODEX
day planner
appointment manager
calendar
alarm reminder
to do organizer and prioritizer
sales cycle measurement device
account history
sales report generator
follow up tool
letter writer
memo generator
idea catcher
project management aid
information control
I know, you want to know if it can pay your mortgage, too. Well, if you use it to maximum sales advantage, you will be able to pay off the whole house.
Time is money is a misnomer. It should say organized time leads to money contact management leads to organization.
A free offer you can’t refuse. ACT! will send you a full function test version with a 25 contact limit. A trial size version to let you see contact management capability and use in your world. Check out www.symantec.com/us.index.html.
Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, and Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless. President of Charlottebased Buy Gitomer, he gives seminars, runs annual sales meetings, and conducts training programs on selling and customer service. He can be reached at 704/3331112 or email to salesman@gitomer.com
1999 All Rights Reserved Don’t even think about reproducing this document without written
permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer 704/3331112
