I’m having a super busy day today in my sales , marketing, and operations role! And I just had a realization…

I continually think (and am told), gotta get on the phone, gotta get on the phone, no progress being made!

And I realized, times have really changed. 3-4 years ago we judged our day and successes on how many calls were received, how many calls were placed, who did we talk to?

Yet today, how different it is with email! Using it as a crutch in sales, definite negative. But responding to customer needs and questions…. sure seems like email is now the preference. Phone calls coming in have dropped considerably and I stop and think – DANGER! But is it? Or is it the “new way”?

Personally I have 3 quotes in process today, received 2 new business opportunities, and started a potential project/collaboration. ALL via email at the preference of the clients. They are as busy as I am and don’t have time to “gab”. We are at our desks, on our phones, on our iPads or laptops continually… and we just “get it done” and can move on.

While it can become a crutch, it also can be a sign that you are already communicating well via your marketing efforts, customer service responses, and yes even your sales pitches and many people prefer that method.

So ask yourself, Why Doesn’t the Phone Ring Any More?

The answer may not be as negative as you think!

If it is, then it may be time to start building your marketing efforts and customer service feedback to your clients.

Let us help. Contact us today.

Nimble – THE Social CRM (Customer Relationship Manangement) platform.

What does this mean to you?

• Solving customer facing problems?
• Meeting customer expectations?
• Communicating with customers over the web?

Social CRM can be overwhelming to new users, but once you learn to utilize social network tools such as Nimble, you will find the Social river will provide new leads and new partnerships.

Wondering how this is possible?

What if you could read what the potential customer is looking for, such as the following?

• What is this potential client trying to achieve?
• What do they expect from the company they work with?

Being able to read what your customer wants can help you close sales faster. Rules and guidelines should be placed with your team so that they understand what can be used and what can be discussed publicly in the social channel and forums. Its important to give guidelines about which sites your employees should frequent.  Better yet, be clear on the type of sites you do not want your message posted to.

TeamAutomation uses the social media stream to assist with creation of a favored business atmosphere and to extend client, customer and vendor relationships. We look to these channels and forums to help us build relationships beneficial to not only TeamAutomation but in favor of our clients needs.

Using Nimble helps manage social and business contacts to build customer relationships. Nimble as a social media tool can turn casual contacts and social connections into business leads and sales opportunities. Nimble enables users to efficiently manage e-mail, social conversations, marketing and sales leads. It can assist in management of the sales pipelines by tracking the deals, probabilities, action items, follow-ups and other conversations.

Try Nimble FREE today as a single user and experience how it can change your business operation and profits!

Happy New Year and best wishes for a prosperous 2012

All of us at TeamAutomation want to wish our valued clients a happy and profitable New Year. The last few years have been challenging for many businesses, and we at TeamAutomation have continued to add products and expertise to help your business grow and expand in 2012 and beyond.

TeamAutomation was founded in 1989. Since that time, we’ve seen CRM, helpdesk and customer service products evolve from strictly “on-premise” products (on your computer and servers), to complete “in the cloud” products (SaaS – Software as a Service on the internet). There’s something for all business models, with most focused on reducing costs while increasing productivity.

Through the years, we’ve assisted our clients and partners by keeping up-to-date with the expanding technologies and capabilities being offered. We’ve been able to provide some of the best “on-premise” and “in the cloud” products. We are proud to announce our newest partnership with industry leader SugarCRM. We can now provide our clients with both choices (“on-premise” and “in the cloud”) within the same product. We’ve watched, monitored and tested this product over the last few years, and found it to be an excellent product.

We’re proud to represent SugarCRM, Zoho, RedHorse CRM, Nimble, vTiger, QuoteWerks, TeleSupport HelpDesk and a number of other business automation services. Although we are no longer a FrontRange/GoldMine Sales Partner, we continue to service those who utilize GoldMine products through Version 8.x.

The CRM and business automation products world has changed dramatically in the last few years. If you have not reviewed your operations from a software and internal systems viewpoint recently, we may be able to help you save money and increase functionality for greater profits. We also offer consultation services to help you use your existing software and systems more effectively. Give us a call or e-mail, and we’ll set up a review with you.

Here’s to a New Year full of peace and prosperity for you, your employees and your families.

A new realm of contacts and mail synchronization has arrived. RedHorse and Gmail have been connected to offer a new easy handheld device synchronizing in the palm of your hand. I don’t know about you but I’m kind of an application junkie. I love to use new applications and see how they work. 3 main key points of this software is:

• 2-Way Contact Syncing- GSEngine can synchronize contacts two ways: from RedHorse to Gmail and from Gmail to RedHorse.
• 2-Way Calendar Syncing- GSEngine can synchronize appointments and activities two ways: from RedHorse to Gmail and from Gmail it RedHorse,
• 1-Way Email Syncing- GSEngine can synchronize emails one way from Gmail to RedHorse.
One thing I cannot stand with these new applications and software are when you sync your contacts, everything is either doubled and your precious memory depletes or you have to manually go into your android or Apple device and change all your contacts individually to make it the perfect way you prefer your contacts. With Google sync this is all done for you with just a few customizable settings.

Just to name a few of these features:

• Gmail contacts can be updated with the contact information from RedHorse when a match is found.
• RedHorse can be updated with the contact information from Gmail when a match is found.
• The calendar allows you to approve a setting that will allow you to choose what kind of event you will have such as an appointment or call.
• Allows the user to place an event in the calendar in a priority type-setting such as urgent.

I’m a very organized person but with contacts and calendar events I have a hard time keeping it all in one place. I have some in my phone, in my email, in a calendar book, etc.  With Gmail sync it will automatically link everything to my phone and computer. A couple of clicks and BOOM everything is in an organized fashion.

With e-mail it’s the same. I like having my mail sent to me quickly. I use internet so much that I get constant e-mails. It needs to be organized and easy to understand for me to enjoy it. Having your inbox up-to-date no matter where you are or what you’re doing means I can choose whether it’s important to read while I’m involved in something else or can be left until later, but I know that it is always there waiting for me to choose an option. Sync works with your phone’s native email application so there’s no additional software needed.

With this amazing option I now won’t have 3 different applications ringing me incessantly telling me I received one email. The BEST part of this new application? Google Sync allows you to sync just your contacts, calendar, or Gmail, or any combination of the three. Don’t need one of them? Then customize to include just two or even only one!

You can’t go wrong with the RedHorse Gmail sync feature – included with RedHorse CRM.

Give it a try

Contact TeamAutomation for more information, I did.

As a salesperson, it can be overwhelming on how to build your pipeline, ESPECIALLY when it dries up entirely and we didn’t see it coming.  Day to day, if we don’t do something sales oriented, how do we expect the pipeline  to look different tomorrow?

How many times have you reviewed your pipeline and thought – what is happening?? They just drop and don’t build lately.  I don’t get it!!

Well, I started asking myself just that after reading a very short sales book recently and it is working for me! 

Cold Calling Techniques That Really Work by Stephan Schiffman. 

Simple, short, but very accurate!  A couple hours of reading time.  

While I don’t do a lot of cold calling in my position the one thing this book did make me realize is the above “What is going to be different about tomorrow?”   And I’ve been reciting that to myself every day since.  Nothing I didn’t already know…. but how many days go by in a salesperson’s role where we “think” we are being productive, we “think” we are making progress, only to find…. What did we do to build the pipeline yesterday?  And WHAT will we go after tomorrow “again”.

Take this simple test over the next 2-4 weeks and you’ll be surprised.  At the end of each day, “what did I do today that will give me a potential tomorrow”.  At the beginning of each day “what will I do today to meet JUST today’s goal” ?

Rather than thinking of it in closing the next sale (which of course we all want!), think of it more in the simpler terms:

Send 1 quote
or
Do 1 presentation
or
Close 1 Sale 
****** PER DAY *****

Now hopefully we will all do more than that, but if not… simple works!   At the end of the day, a bit of fullfillment, at the beginning of the day, a goal and plan, and soon the pipeline builds again.

Often our only goal is to close a sale, but nurturing, proposing, presenting are all key aspects to reach that final goal.  

Need to increase sales?   Try it 1 day at a time… 1 quote or 1 presentation or 1 sale per day. 

SIMPLE SELLS!

If you’d like some other quick pointers and/or someone to discuss recreating your sales processes and efforts, contact us. 

TeamAutomation
http://www.TeamAutomation.com | Twitter
Growing Businesses with Data Management & Process Expertise
Offering a Full Suite of Cloud Based & On-Premise CRM Solutions! 
RedHorse CRM | ZOHO CRM  l TeamScope CRM l vtiger CRM    

Re-embarking on productivity!  Yes, even with all the tools, calendars, CRM systems, assistance – virtual and real, if you are like me, you find yourself overwhelmed and under performing.   When that happens, you suffer, your organization suffers, your customers suffer and in the end, it is your fault – really.

At those times I take a “back away for a bit” approach.  Even though that approach annoys those in my organization, my frustration and annoyed attitude seems worse than backing away.

As I back away, I review what my options are and normally find myself back reading and practicing the Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology. A great book and philosophy by David Allen.

I have used this methodology for organizing my workload and those around me – even though that part can be as hard as pulling your own teeth.  As I restart and make it obvious,  those around me notice and get a bit miffed at my rigid attitude but I believe in the long-run they’d agree that the benefits outweigh any un-pleasantness.

GTD essentially comes down to “get it together” (Collect as David Allen puts it), “make sense of it” (Process as Mr. Allen states), “get it sorted out” (Organize), “check it out regularly” (Review) and of course DO IT!  For short I just remember CPORD….

Getting it together means exactly what it says, not some minimal version, a MAXIMUM version of it.  Leave no stone unturned!  Gather all of your “stuff” into one place, be that an inbox or a cardboard box…. it is critical to get it ALL into one place.  This can take minutes to hours, yes the 1st time will likely be an hour or even more.  You will gather notes, documents, letters, brochures, file folders, hanging folders, things behind doors, in the car, in the trunk, VIRTUALLY EVERYTHING.  No cheating here!

Now the fun begins…. You get to trash a bunch of it, handle some of it, and finally delegate or schedule NEXT ACTIONS.

If you are tired of drowning in “things to do”, I’d appreciate the opportunity to discuss how we might assist you in clearing your head and maximizing your efforts to success.  Success being the ability and reality of growing your business while maintaining a healthy life style.

We can assist you with the GTD processing and then the tools and methodology adoption in your environment.  Note that YOU must adopt first and then we can assist you with the team adoption.

Contact us for additional information.

Being new to Twitter over the last 60 days, I’m happy to say I succeeded in setting up my account, started following certain people of interest, and even got a few new followers myself!

Now comes the hard part, what is the proper “Tweet” etiquette and how much is too much?  Being very different than a Facebook status “Off to watch the game – go Broncos” periodically, Twitter is intended for those quick messages that will be beneficial to others and interesting enough to gain followers.  Or is it?

Trying to determine what to tweet, how often to tweet, and finding new people to follow has been the most difficult thus far!  Last thing a new member of Twitter wants to do is look like a twit! [Read more...]

Amazing!  We have so many tools at our fingertips every day.  We know what we have, get comfortable with what we use, and we “stay there”.  Whether it works for us or not!  We’d many times fight with our existing tools over changing to a better, more modern, more capable toolkit.

Just this week, I experienced this frustration -  I am an avid “note taker” during the day on my laptop,  so I utilize notepad.   How many times have I lost a note when the system shutdown unexpectedly?  How many times did I save OVER untitled, only to find I lost other info I needed?  But yet, that is the “easy” way to take notes!

As a salesperson, VERY detrimental.  What DID we talk about?

But late Friday that all changed.  [Read more...]

Business is similar to life. Everyone has their “role”. Parent vs child, CEO vs employee.

Take for instance the business man who’s tired of working and the hustle/bustle. Business isn’t as strong as it used to be. It’s time! A new direction is needed. And this time, one that he will enjoy and will take his business to the next stage. And if he doesn’t do it, NO ONE WILL!

So he buys a yacht, determines himself the Captain (CEO), and 100 people (Customers) pay to join in on a “FUN” trip to a luxurious island!

He can’t wait for the FUN to begin. He knows he needs some strong assistants (Team) so he doesn’t have to do the day-to-day in his new mode. His job is merely to get to their destination and figure out the next $$ venture, so he brings on his trusted crew and makes his goals clear. One crew member’s primary responsibility will be to STEER the yacht (Support), the other will continually pace the yacht (Operations) and make sure there are NO holes that will let water in and will keep the voyagers (Customers) safe, calm them when concerned (Customer Service) and sell them new services such as fun events onboard, drinks,& extras (Sales)! If those holes are not plugged to keep those customers safe & new sales made, NO ONE would be safe, current or future, including the Team. (#1 – No sales, no customer service, no customers!)

So the Captain gets the guarantee from his trusted crew that they will be there to support him. They agree fully and everyone is very excited about the trip and the Captain collects the money from the voyagers!

Off they go … all is great!

They are out on their second day [Read more...]