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March 1, 2018

The Nominees Are In

“This year’s award for best regional sales manager goes to…”

It’s safe to say that these words have never been spoken at any red-carpet event in the history of Hollywood. And, perhaps rightfully so. The general population could care less about your company’s sales revenue or top-performing contributors. (Their loss, right?)

Despite the public’s lack of concern, you and your team spend every waking moment thinking about the business. What is contributing to success? How can last year be beat? Which competitors are posing new threats? Thanks to your star-studded team, no question is too difficult to solve.

So, as “awards season” draws to a close in the entertainment industry, perhaps it’s time you instituted an award season of your own. Last year was a great year, so why not show your team how much they really mean to you? There’s no better time than now.

Here are a few possible awards to hand out:

Leading Sales Performer

I’m sure you have a suspicion of who your top-producing sales rep is. Thanks to your CRM, you don’t have to operate based purely on gut feelings. Because your company has been using Insightly for years, everything you need to identify your leading actor (I mean, sales performer) is just a few clicks away.

In fact, there are several different ways to access the same data. If I were in your shoes, I’d probably just jump into the “Reports” tab and begin customizing the standard “Opportunity Report.” As you can see in the following screenshot, I’ve decided to look at all closed opportunities for last year, grouped by the “Won” field.

By adding “Owner Name” into the report, you’ll arrive at a filterable view for last year’s deals. Apply additional groupings or export to tabulate last year’s top revenue producer.

Best Supporting Admin

The sales process doesn’t magically happen on its own (although you’re trying to automate as many things as possible with workflows!). Several years ago, you made the strategic decision to supplement the sales process by hiring virtual assistants for each rep. (A “supporting actor” of sorts.) This arrangement has worked out nicely. Sales reps are able to hand off many “back office” tasks, allowing them to stay focused on prospecting, proposals, and deal closures.

Your sales administrators perform a wide variety of tasks each day. From transcribing audio meeting minutes, to linking records, to proofreading proposals, your VAs are very busy people. It might seem overwhelming to determine which one is most deserving of special recognition.

Luckily, your virtual assistants are tracking all of their work as Insightly tasks. Much like the sales report we just built, last year’s productivity is fully queryable. With a few drags and drops, you’re able to see all of last year’s completed tasks, including which team members did the most work.

In some cases, simply looking at the number of tasks completed might not tell the entire story. For example, perhaps some of your VAs work more hours than others. Or, perhaps some crank out a ton of work but at a lower quality. These are all factors that should be considered before finalizing the award criteria.

Rising Star

Shifting attention back to the sales team, last year was a year marked by several new hires. In fact, somewhat to your surprise, you added a dozen additional sales reps. It might be smart to recognize the newbie who best exemplified your corporate mantra.

Clearly, you could go a lot of different directions with this award. Some reps were onboarded earlier in the year, so basing it purely on revenue wouldn’t seem fair. A better approach might include a variety of criteria, such as:

Lead-to-Opportunity Conversion Rate: What percentage of a rep’s leads end up converting into viable opportunities? Is this metric relatively consistent across all reps, or does one rep stand out from the pack?

Close Rate: How effective are your reps at closing deals? In theory, close rate should increase as your reps become more confident with the subject matter and customer segment. A rep who demonstrates a strong close rate early on might wind up becoming a leading performer in the future.

Average Value per Deal: Are some reps more effective at mixing in upsell and cross-sell messaging to clients?

When determining your “rising star” award, it might be wise to use a weighted average of these (or other) data points. It all depends on your business model.

Best Writer (or “Marketer”)

Without a compelling story, a film is nothing more than a moving picture with noise. The same could be same about business. To supplement the efforts of its sales cast, today’s growth-minded organization needs a skilled team of writers and marketers.

Like most companies these days, your business relies on a blended team of in-house marketing staff and freelancers. Between ongoing SEO efforts, email campaigns, and CPC promotions, your marketing team has its hand in many things.

The following data points could be useful for refining your marketing nominee list:

Top Blog Post(s): Log into your web analytics software and sort all of your blog posts by web traffic and/or lead conversions. Of the top-performing posts, which were written by whom? Do you notice a common thread?

Most-Opened Sales Emails: Your newsletters and promotional campaigns are likely sent via a bulk email system. Be sure to review open and click-through data in there, but don’t forget to also review the same information in your CRM.

Impactful Ad Campaigns: Who seems to generate the best ad campaign concepts? If you’re using projects to sequence and track campaigns, you can quickly build a report to uncover this information.

It’s Time to Spotlight Your Superstars

At face value, your business might not have the same glamour as that of tinseltown. But, in reality, your team members love their jobs as much (if not more) than the actors and actresses in Hollywood. Providing ample recognition, in whatever fashion, can be an effective way to show your appreciation, boost employee morale, and even improve future results.

It’s time to roll a red carpet of your own…

Or, beige would probably work, too.

Matt Keener is a marketing consultant and President of Keener Marketing Solutions, LLC. Matt specializes in content marketing and strategic planning, having helped numerous Saas (software as a service) companies and other small businesses worldwide. Read more of Matt’s work, get his book, or connect on LinkedIn.

November 9, 2017

Why Baseball and Sales Have a Lot in Common

“No thanks, we’ve decided to stick with our current vendor.”

Such words are never easy for a sales rep to hear. Despite your hours of preparation, proposals, and in-person meetings, the prospect decided your solution wasn’t the right fit. Was it something you said? Could you have done something differently? How did you not see this coming?

Stop beating yourself up and face a simple fact: We all strike out once in awhile.

My goal with this post is to make you feel a little better about your recent strikeout. So, let’s explore the many similarities between two of my favorite things: baseball and sales.

Failure is More Common than Success

In today’s busy world, it’s hard to find three hours to watch an entire baseball game. Granted, DVR technology can help speed things up. Even then, I usually fall asleep before the last pitch is thrown. When this happens, I’ll typically watch the highlight reel the next day.

Highlight reels are great – they allow us to know what happened in much less time. However, they also present a false sense of reality – home run, triple, exciting play at the plate, more home runs. Highlight reels only show, well, the highlights. By necessity, they cut out at least 90% of the rest of the game. What gets cut out? Boring things like:

Foul outs
Balks
Pickoffs
Ground outs
Pop ups
Errors
Passed balls
Failed bunting attempts
…and, of course, strikeouts

In retrospect, these events seem forgettable to the average fan (which is why they don’t make the highlight reel). Yet, in reality, they account for most of the action. They also tell us an important fact about baseball: failure is more common than success.

Take batting average for instance. What is a “good” batting average? In the big leagues, very few players are able to maintain an average above .300. In fact, Ted Williams, arguably the greatest hitter of all time, was the last person to hit above .400 for an entire season (during the 1941 season).

In other words, today’s best baseball players get out seven out of ten times. And, the best batter of all time, was only marginally better than that (six out of ten).

It’s clear to see how success in the batter’s box relates to what you do in sales. If you call ten cold leads, you might be ecstatic if three bought from you. Like your baseball brethren, you’re accustomed to dealing with failure. It just makes your next “hit” even sweeter!

Not Every Hit is a Home Run

Swinging for the fences can get you into trouble. Sure, you might get lucky and occasionally hit one into the upper deck. You’ll probably also experience more strikeouts in the process. Smart hitters know when to adjust their approach, choke up, and settle for a hard-hit single or double.

Likewise, your pipeline always has a few potential “home runs” waiting for you to close. That six-figure contract you’ve been working on is the perfect example. If you close that deal, your quota will be looking good for months.

Being the sales professional that you are, you know better than to focus only on big deals. It would be nice if they happen, but there are many factors outside of your control. You can’t force big deals through, just like baseball players can’t force themselves to hit home runs.

So, how do you “choke up” and improve your batting average? For starters, you need a way to size up deals. A CRM, such as Insightly, can be a valuable resource for doing exactly that. Insightly makes it easier for you to tell a potential single from a grand slam. When adding an opportunity, Insightly prompts you to specify the deal’s potential value:

Using Insightly’s opportunity report builder, you can then filter deals based on revenue potential. Need a few quick infield hits? Set your filter, identify your targets, and hustle down the first base line.

Slumps Happen (& Pressing Doesn’t Help)

Even Ted Williams went through slumps. All baseball players do – batters and pitchers alike. Unfortunately, there’s no magic cure for a slump. A batter can’t make the ball drop in between two fielders. A pitcher can’t snap a losing streak simply by willing it.

Although slumps are hard to shake, there’s one thing that makes them even worse: pressing too hard. Now, I’m certainly no Ted Williams, but I’ve played in my fair share of baseball games. During that time, I’ve endured slumps that seemed to never end. Going twenty at-bats without a hit certainly makes you question your abilities. Why are my teammates still getting hits? What am I doing wrong? Do I need to practice harder? Is coach going to sit me on the bench if I don’t get things going?

A slump is certainly a humbling experience. It’s also a test of your self-confidence. Worrying yourself silly doesn’t help matters; it only makes things worse.

In sales, you’ve probably gone through several dry patches. For whatever reason, you can’t seem to move the needle. You feel like nothing has changed, but clearly the results show otherwise. When is it time to worry?

Most slumps are caused by nothing more than the law of averages. Ditto for when you’re knocking it out of the park. Good times and bad times tend to average each other out. Just remember that the next time you go on an “o-fer” streak.

It’s a Team Sport

At the peak of my career, I could only get my fastball into the mid-80s. But, for the sake of conversation (and my ego), let’s imagine my fastball hovered around 102 mph. Let’s also imagine that my splitter, slider, and changeup were virtually unhittable.

Even with such a lethal pitch arsenal, it would be impossible for me to single-handedly impact my win-loss record. Throwing a perfect game is pointless unless your team provides run support. It’s a team sport.

The same is true in what you do. Being a superstar deal closer is great, but you also need a superstar team to deliver on the promises you’ve made. You may not have control over hiring decisions, but you can choose where you work. If management doesn’t have your back, then perhaps it’s time to take your talents elsewhere. If they do, you still need a way to hold others accountable. Connecting the sales and delivery functions is a step in the right direction. Insightly can help you do that.

Since Insightly is an all-in-one CRM and project management tool, the transition from sales to delivery is completely seamless. The moment a deal closes, the opportunity can be immediately converted into a new project.

As you stride confidently to the locker room, you can rest easy knowing the team has everything necessary to deliver. All emails, notes, files, and links are preserved, providing a 360-degree view of your valiant effort. “Now go out there and get me some run support,” you think to yourself.

You Need the Right Equipment

Obviously, a hitter must have a bat in hand before stepping up to the plate. What’s less obvious are the many factors involved with choosing the perfect bat.

Ash or maple?
Large or small grain?
Painted or natural finish?
Cupped end or rounded?
Long or short?
Heavy or light?
Pine tar or no pine tar?
Gripped handle or not?
Well-known or lesser-known brand

With limitless combinations, how do batters choose the right bat? Some rely on recommendations from other players. Others do plenty of research, scouring the web for just the right fit. Still others order several different makes and models, testing each in batting practice before making a final decision.

Much like a batter, your company has countless options when it comes to “equipment.” CRMs are no exception to the rule. With dozens of cloud-based platforms to choose from, how can you help your team pick the right CRM software?

Take a page out of the batter’s playbook and start by asking colleagues for suggestions. What do they like / dislike about their current CRMs? Which CRMs have they tried but abandoned? Which features are must-haves? Have they noticed an uptick in “home runs” since implementation?

It’s also wise to do your own homework. What are people saying online? Read plenty of real reviews from real users (check out some of Insightly’s ratings here) and drill down into specific pros and cons. No solution is perfect, but some CRMs definitely stack up better than others.

After building your shortlist, take advantage of free trial offers before making a CRM buying decision. (If one of your shortlisted tools does not offer a free trial, you might want to reconsider it. What are they hiding?)

The Diamond Awaits

I hope this article has, in some small way, softened the impact of your recent strikeout. Stop worrying about it! Let it go! Trust your skills and turn your attention to the next at bat, the next pitch, and the next big play. Your team is counting on you – you can do it!

April 10, 2017

Turning Your Contact Management System Into A True CRM System

There’s a difference between high school and college, just like there’s a difference between the minor leagues and major leagues in baseball. Both represent a whole other level of performance. A high school diploma is good, but a college degree opens many more doors. Playing in the minor leagues is an accomplishment, but being a major league baseball player is a truly remarkable. The same goes for your CRM system.

Most of our clients own CRM systems, but they’re not truly using them as CRM systems. They’re basically just advanced contact managers. They’re databases – glorified roledexes, that in the best cases have not only demographic information about customers and prospects but also track some activities, notes and emails. A few, however, use their CRM applications like a true CRM system. One of these companies is called Smith Supply (I’m changing their name for the purposes of this piece, but they are real).

Smith Supply distributes parts to industrial equipment users and manufacturers and also provides maintenance and repair services. They have taken their CRM application from one that is used by just a few people to a mission-critical system that is relied on by their entire fifty-person company. How did they make the leap from contact management to true CRM? They did these three things.

They use CRM for both sales and service.

Many people think that CRM systems are just sales and marketing tools. They are right – a good one gives a sales team the ability to track contacts, accounts, opportunities, quotes and forecasts. But smart companies, like Smith Supply, know that only using a CRM system as a sales tool is just like using half the system. CRM is customer relationship, not prospect relationship. Of course, Smith has prospects in their database. But they also have customers, active or inactive, there as well. At smith, every interaction by anyone in the company is recorded. Customer issues, complaints and questions are logged into the database with worfklows designed for follow-up and resolution. The system is used for maintenance and service calls. Alerts have been configured if customers have certain problems or there are delays. Reports are generated daily that show management customer calls and resolutions.

A great CRM system is used by the entire workgroup to provide a 360 degree level of communication and service to the customer, from the time of first contact to the time of last thing done. Nothing falls through the cracks. Everyone in the organization has access to every customers’ interactions.

They have a quarterly plan for their CRM system.

The executives at Smith know that their system is constantly evolving. To that end, they’ve assigned a CRM “owner” and a three-person team representing sales, service and administration to work with that leader. They meet twice a quarter to evaluate how the system is going and to set objectives for things they want to do with the system in the next quarter. They look to expand the use of CRM for sales, service and marketing. They review how users are doing and focus on those that need more support and training. Throughout the quarter they query users about their use of the system and how it can be improved. They attend conferences and stay current on what other companies are doing with their CRM system. They bring in their CRM vendor and outside consultants once a year to review changes in the product and solicit advice for making the system better.

CRM systems aren’t static. The more people that work with the system the more issues, suggestions, improvements, problems and opportunities will be created. Smart companies know that their systems will evolve and put in infrastructure to support those changes.

Finally, they invest in the system.

A college degree is expensive. A major league career requires a lifetime of investment. A true CRM system requires resources to make it valuable for a company. Smith Supply knows this. They spent money to get their system up and running. And they have an annual CRM budget, shared by their sales, service and marketing departments, to ensure that the system not only continues to run but grows and evolves with the company. They’re paying for the time incurred by their CRM administrator and team. They’re paying for continuous training and consulting. They’re paying to integrate their CRM systems with other systems. They pay to send their CRM team to conferences and to subscribe to materials. They understand that for a workgroup system to properly serve the team, they must provide the resources and time needed.

Like anything good in life, CRM systems require investment.

Do you use a customer relationship management system or is it just for contact management? In either case, as long as you’re getting value and you’re satisfied, you’re fine. But if you want your team to be using your CRM system at a major league level like Smith Supply, you’ll have to make sure you’re using it in all aspects of your business – sales, marketing, service – and that your investing and evolving the system throughout the year. Just remember – a college degree is expensive and takes a lot of work, but the long term benefits significantly outweigh a high school diploma.

At Insightly, we offer a CRM used by small and mid-sized businesses from a variety of verticals. Learn about all of Insightly’s features and plans on our pricing page or sign up for a free trial.

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About the Author: About the Author: Gene Marks is a small business owner, technology expert, author and columnist. He writes regularly for leading US media outlets such as The Washington Post, Forbes, Inc. Magazine and Entrepreneur. He has authored five books on business management and appears regularly on Fox News, Fox Business, MSNBC and CNBC. Gene runs a ten-person CRM and technology consulting firm outside of Philadelphia. Learn more at genemarks.com

March 13, 2017

Avoid Turf Wars Between Your Sales & Marketing Departments

As a business owner, you just want to achieve your goals. Increasing sales revenue, expanding the number of inbound web leads, and maintaining strong customer satisfaction are a few of your top priorities.

To support these initiatives, you’ve invested in your sales and marketing operations. In fact, you’ve even established separate teams to focus on each function.

In theory, sales and marketing seem like interchangeable disciplines. In practice, these two departments can sometimes have less in common than human resources and IT. For these reasons, entrepreneurs are often surprised by the headaches associated with business development efforts.

In this post, we’ll explore why sales and marketing don’t always mesh – and, what to do about it.

(Disclaimer: This article is written by someone who is more of a marketer than a sales guy, although I have done both. Sales professionals – please excuse any unintentional bias!)

Understand Common Friction Points

Most disagreements can be traced back to some type of misunderstanding.

This is certainly true when it comes to your sales and marketing teams. All things being equal, both departments want what is best for the company. The path to victory, however, is usually where wires get crossed.

Stop and think about the various times conflict has developed among team members. Do you see a common thread? If you’re like most businesses, the following friction points have led to at least a few undesirable outcomes.

Personality types: There are exceptions to every rule, but salespeople are often known to have hard-driving, Type A personalities. There’s rarely a situation that a good sales rep can’t handle. Marketing staff, while also highly motivated, tend to be more analytical and methodical. When presented with a challenge, a marketer will likely ask for the opportunity to review metrics and follow up.

Misaligned goals: Marketers are usually salary-based or hourly. An occasional bonus may be possible, but the majority of their income is predetermined. Conversely, sales reps are usually incentivized by their performance against a quota. I’ve seen situations where marketers grow jealous of the commissions earned by sales staff. Likewise, I know sales reps who consider marketing’s efforts to be a bloated waste of money.

Work patterns: Salespeople can have crazy work schedules. All-day meetings, weekend text messages from clients, and early morning networking events are quite common. Marketing staff tend to have more predictable (“office hour”) schedules. If you’re not careful, this dichotomy could create serious resentment within your organization. Salespeople begin to feel underappreciated, while marketers feel out of the loop.

Communication styles: If allowed, a marketer (especially a content marketer) could use three paragraphs to get a single point across. A sales rep, on the other hand, might not even use a complete sentence.

Key Performance Indicators: Sales reps like leads, but they love closed deals more. Marketers also love closed deals, but they usually spend more time thinking about lead generation. As a result, some members of your marketing staff may rarely (if ever) come into contact with a paying customer.

Terminology: Given your marketing team’s laser focus on lead generation, they’ll probably advocate for a very liberal interpretation of the word “lead.” Demo requests, whitepaper downloads, newsletter subscribers, social media followers – where will you draw the line? Your sales team would probably tell you to only count those that ask for a proposal. You can see where this is headed…

Make Known Your Vision

Here’s the good news – as the business owner, you’re still in charge of the situation. That is, if you choose to take control.

What should you do to reduce the inter-departmental friction? For starters, consider dusting off that vision statement you created a few years ago. If you’ve never bothered to create one, perhaps now is as good a time as any. Starting with the “big picture” allows you to create a central theme for all departments to look toward.

Not feeling creative? Allow me to provide a few simple vision statement examples. Remember, a vision statement is forward-facing and somewhat lofty in nature. If tasked with creating vision statements for the following business types, I might recommend something like:

Software company serving pet food stores:

“Making it easier for pets to be fed.”

Tire retailer serving Kansas truck dealers:

“Keeping Kansas truckers rolling longer – for less money.”

Physician’s office in Boise:

“Striving to improve Boise’s standard of living.”

With your overall vision well-understood, it may be worthwhile to then develop department-specific vision statements. Of course, each department should model its statement to support the company-wide goals. Depending on your management style, it may be best to let department leaders formulate their own recommendations. Or, if you’re a more hands-on owner, you might just share your thoughts on how each department can best support the company’s vision. Either way, invest time exploring how sales and marketing should coordinate their efforts individually and collaboratively to achieve the greater good.

Get Buy In for Each Other’s Value

With the touchy-feely stuff behind you, another worthwhile exercise can be to directly ask for input on how the other department can support the greater mission.

To get things going, you might ask your sales manager questions like these:

What can marketing do to make your job easier?
Is there certain collateral that can be developed to help close more deals?
In what ways do competitors beat us from a branding standpoint?
Which types of web leads generate the warmest opportunities?
Which types of leads are a total waste of your time to pursue?
How can marketing enhance your cross-selling initiatives?
Are there automated email campaigns that could streamline sales?
What does the marketing department do that really annoys you?
From your perspective, how can we improve the value of our marketing efforts?

Ask your marketing manager these questions:

How can our sales team make your job easier?
Is there any information that sales could provide to enhance our marketing?
Would it help if you could communicate directly with customers?
Are there any sales metrics that would be useful when making marketing decisions?
What ideas do you have for streamlining sales efforts through marketing?
In what ways (if any) do you feel out of the loop?
What does the sales department do that really annoys you?
What can we do to improve our sales efforts?

Asking these types of questions might generate some initial discomfort with your staff. However, after the initial surprise passes, you may uncover some very valuable findings.

Foster Regular, Open Communication

Aside from the occasional company party, how often are key decision makers from your sales and marketing in the same meetings?

No one likes extra meetings. As the owner of the business, your calendar is already jam-packed. However, a monthly sales and marketing meeting might be a wise investment as you attempt to align resources.

What should be on the agenda for this standing meeting? Don’t spend too much time worrying about the formalities. The main point is to get both groups talking, sharing ideas, and discussing mutually beneficial tactics. To increase engagement, you might try covering these basic topics.

Marketing update – a quick update on what marketing is working on and has completed
Sales update – a brief summary of notable deals won and in the pipeline
Discussion – plan on a specific topic for each meeting, such as a new initiative (for example, coordinating a webinar)
New ideas – open the floor to anyone with new ideas, specifically those that relate to both sales and marketing

The first meeting may not go exactly as you planned. It can take a while for people to warm up to this type of forum. However, if you stick to it, you’re likely to build new synergies between formerly isolated departments. You’ll probably also come across some of your best business development ideas, thanks to the creative genius of your team.

Continuously Look for Mutually Beneficial Goals

Webinars are a perfect example of mutually beneficial endeavors for sales and marketing teams. From a marketing perspective, webinars are a great way to generate buzz on social media and through email. Buzz usually culminates in the form of clicks and goal completions, which makes marketers happy. From a sales perspective, your reps will appreciate the opportunity to showcase products and services to the masses, rather than doing individual discussions. The net result? Both departments are happy.

Aside from webinars, what other types of projects can both teams get excited about? Seek out projects that involve not only cross-functional input but actually require collaboration. Here are a few to consider:

Case studies are great for building collaboration. Case studies ease the sales cycle, while simultaneously generating online interest. Sales and marketing must work together to schedule client interviews, follow up on action items, and gain final sign off.

Competitive intelligence projects combine the unique skills from both departments. Marketing can own the tracking documentation and online research, while your sales staff can provide reports from what they hear in the field.

Effective nurture sequences require both content marketing and sales know-how. For example, you might develop a drip campaign for leads stuck in the pipeline. Sales staff can help formulate the timing and general messaging. Marketers can craft the final copy and implement into your marketing automation software.

Developing sales collateral also requires a team effort. The marketing team can make it look and sound nice, but the core message must be cultivated by your team on the ground.

Defining (or refining) your buyer personas is a task dependent on multiple perspectives. A sales rep can usually rattle off several “typical” buyers he or she deals with. However, this may not be consistent across an entire sales organization, which could serve a variety of industries and geographic regions. Marketing can play an instrumental role in aggregating all of the feedback and synthesizing it into something meaningful.

Create Accountability with Technology

Finally, it’s important to leverage your existing technology and ensure your staff commits to the newly formed departmental alliance. Your team is busy, which means without the right tools, they may fall back into old habits.

Here are a few suggestions for creating accountability.

Calendar invitation: Once you’ve defined a reasonable meeting cadence, send a recurring calendar invite to all participants. It’s better to have that time blocked out several weeks in advance, rather than coordinating a last-minute meeting. As the meeting approaches, your team will automatically receive an email reminder, which is one less thing you’ll have to coordinate. For good housekeeping, consider linking the invitation to a shared meeting agenda document. Also be sure to include dial in (or web conference) details.

CRM: If your cross-functional team plans to review metrics regularly, your CRM is a great place to start. Insightly users gain access to a number of prebuilt and customizable reports that could prove very useful for marketers and sales reps alike. For example, discussing sales revenue by lead source would help both groups refine their efforts.

Marketing analytics software: In addition to reviewing CRM data, consider pulling a few metrics from your marketing analytics package. For example, reviewing which landing pages generate the most leads could help the group identify new conversion-friendly content.

Project management system: After each meeting, there are usually many follow-up items to work on. Make sure tasks are promptly assigned to individual team members with clearly defined due dates. (If you’re already using Insightly, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to know you can manage tasks within the app. Click here to learn more about project management in Insightly.) Appoint a project-minded person to circle back and ensure all tasks are completed prior to the next discussion.

Stop the Constant Battle Between Sales & Marketing

Your team is counting on your leadership.

As with anything else worth doing, healing the divide may not be the easiest goal to accomplish. Just keep it simple and take a step-by-step approach. Start by understanding the common points of conflict and continuously encourage open communication. Then, align a portion of your resources around mutually beneficial projects.

In doing so, you’ll grow one step closer to less division – and greater productivity.

At Insightly, we offer a CRM used by small and mid-sized businesses from a variety of verticals. Learn about all of Insightly’s features and plans on our pricing page or sign up for a free trial.

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March 6, 2017

Twitter Chat: Sales Tools to Help Grow Your Business

Join us on March 15th for a live Twitter Chat with Melinda Emerson–known to thousands as the SmallBizLady– and sales expert, Dianna Geairn, creator of The Irreverent Sales Girl.

This dynamic pair of business experts will lead a discussion on how you can use all of the great sales functionality built into your CRM to help you get a handle on how to create sales processes that are highly effective and repeatable. #LoveYourCRM. Save the event to your calendar!

At Insightly, we offer a CRM used by small and mid-sized businesses from a variety of verticals. Learn about all of Insightly’s features and plans on our pricing page or sign up for a free trial.

Share love, share Insightly: Refer Insightly, Receive a Reward.

February 22, 2017

5 Ways to Celebrate National Salesperson Day

In this day and age, it seems like there’s a holiday for everything. National Rubber Duckie Day, National Gum Drop Day, Tell a Fairy Tale Day – you name it, there’s probably a date dedicated to it. Perhaps one of the lesser known, but one of our favorites, is National Salesperson Day.

Thanks to sales training guru Maura Schreier-Fleming, the first Friday of March has been dedicated to celebrating salespeople throughout the U.S. for the last 17 years. Dishing out some well-deserved recognition can help to boost team morale, while also serving as an opportunity to improve performance.

Here are our top five ways to show your team appreciation this year:

Recognize the greatest.

Who are some of the greatest salespeople you’ve heard of? For those in the industry, Mary Kay Ash or Joe Girard might ring a bell.

You don’t have to be the creator a billion-dollar cosmetic company to possess (and showcase) some of the same characteristics of some of the well-known industry salespeople. Take a minute to read up on some of these sales tips to help you and your team better your skills. Here are a few:

Despite being more than 100 years old, Dale Carnegie’s book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” is still a top read for sales trainees and is used in college curriculums throughout the country.
Love to laugh? David Olgivy was a big fan of “wise-cracking” to make a sale.
Joe Girard holds a Guinness Book of World Records title for selling more than 13,000 Chevrolet models in 15 years. Legend says he found his sales inspiration at a funeral.

Brush up on your selling skills.

Do you know what kind of salesperson you are? Regardless of your “selling style,” there are four traits every successful salesperson should embody. Whether it’s being direct with your prospects or having the speediest response time, there’s always room for improvement. For some additional sales tips, listen to our VP of sales Mark Ripley’s two keys to success on The Sales Whisperer.

Incentivize and reward your team.

Ever notice those pink Cadillacs rolling down the street? You can thank Mary Kay Cosmetics for that. To increase morale, Mary Kay Ash was known to give her employees an incentive for meeting or surpassing their goals.

While lavish gifts simply aren’t in the cards for most businesses, there are other ways to motivate employees. Consider holding a contest where the person with most sales or most creative pitch wins a free lunch or extra day of paid vacation.

Thank your customers.

Onboarding and retaining repeat customers is a difficult feat. However, those sales teams that can do so are on the fastest track to success, so don’t forget to thank your customers. After all, sales wouldn’t go through and revenues wouldn’t increase without them!

Treat yourself.

Disclaimer: We’re not saying you should go crazy like Tom Haverford and Donna Meagle from “Parks and Recreation” (your wallet might regret those velvet slippers and cashmere socks).

Praise from colleagues is great, but the most rewarding recognition comes from yourself. To celebrate your own successes, make sure you’re giving yourself some time to unwind. Take a brain break and go for a walk, meet some colleagues for lunch or spend a few minutes catching up with your friends and family over the phone.

To all the sales teams out there, happy National Salesperson Day.

Learn how Insightly can make your sales soar.

At Insightly, we offer a CRM used by small and mid-sized businesses from a variety of verticals. Learn about all of Insightly’s features and plans on our pricing page or sign up for a free trial.

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January 31, 2017

Are You a Task Master or Task Avoider?

Turn It Up Tuesday: Tips from Insightly to Take Your Business to 11

Welcome to Turn It Up Tuesday, where we bring you 4 weekly tips—a tip on running your business, a tip on using Insightly CRM, a tip on improving your sales, and a tip on improving your life. Enjoy this week’s tips!

	How to Set Up a Repeating Task
	Sometimes, simply remembering to enter a task can be as challenging as completing the task itself. Luckily, Insightly has a neat solution for this problem. When creating a task for yourself (or other team members), you can set it to repeat on a schedule that works for you. Here’s how to enable recurring tasks in Insightly. Step 1: Open your task menu – From your computer or smartphone, log in to Insightly and click on the tasks menu option (it’s the one with the checkmark in a box). If you’ve never used this Insightly feature, it may look something like this: Step 2: Create a new task – Click the red “new task” button. Adding a task is relatively straightforward. Get started by filling in the form fields with relevant information. Step 3: Pick a due date – Here’s where the magic happens. Assign yourself a due date using the “date due” field. Once selected, you’ll notice the “repeats” field now appears under “additional information.” Step 4: Define your recurrence pattern – Insightly offers a number of repeating options, ranging from daily to annually. Pick the one that best fits the particular task. Step 5: Let Insightly create future assignments – After inputting the repeating task, navigate back to your task page. You should see the new task along with an upcoming due date. Once completed, check the box to the task’s right. Insightly will automatically create the next one on your behalf.
	Make a List of Stuff You Forget to Do
	Speaking of recurring tasks, what are all the things you do on a regular basis? Do you find yourself forgetting to do some of them? To keep things running smoothly, you have a lot of responsibilities to juggle. You’re only human, which unfortunately means that some things occasionally slip through the cracks. With the topic of repeating tasks fresh in your mind, now is a great time to get everything into Insightly. Here are a few ongoing tasks you might consider putting on autopilot: *For business owners* Monthly accounting work Payroll activities Reviewing website analytics Writing new blog content Quarterly estimated taxes Budgeting Year-end tax work Paying sales tax Invoicing clients Prioritizing new product ideas Spending time on recruiting Comparing forecasts vs. actual demand *For sales reps* Reaching out to stale leads Cold calling Submitting your work hours Preparing expense reports Updating opportunity revenue forecasts & probability information Circling back on proposals you’ve made Ensuring your bonus has been accurately paid on time Asking customers to leave online reviews Making time for ongoing continuing education By automating the creation of tasks like these, you can free your mind to focus on more value-added activities. And, in time, you may find that doing so reduces the likelihood of forgetting an important activity.
	Track Your Loved Ones’ Birthdays
	Your business isn’t the only thing that has a definitive ebb and flow. Many aspects of your personal life also happen in predictable patterns. Paying the bills, driving the kids to school, and checking social media are just a few things you do as reliably as the sun’s rising. Although you do many things without prompting, it’s common to overlook the things that happen less frequently. A good example? How about remembering your loved ones’ birthdays. Sure, it’s easy to remember your spouse’s and kids’ birth dates. Those are etched into your psyche. But what about your widowed grandmother who lives a few states away? Or, how about your great-uncle Roy who always appreciates a friendly call? Spend time making a list of your important friends and family members. If you don’t know someone’s birthday, ask around until you have the right information. For starters, spreadsheets can be a good place to keep this information. Or, if you’re an Insightly user, you could enter a repeating task for each person’s birthday. Add a “reminder” to receive an email on each person’s special day. Now, you’ll never miss another birthday. In addition, your friends and family will be blown away by your thoughtfulness!
	Create a More Inquisitive Sales Culture
	Managing salespeople can sometimes feel like herding cats. With so many moving parts, simply staying up-to-date on deal statuses can be a full-time job, leaving little time for professional development. But, it doesn’t have to be that way. Our friend Adam Honig at the Spiro blog recently pointed out, “As the team leader, you are in the driver’s seat…You are a valuable resource to your sales reps. Take advantage of your sales experience and help drive the conversation in your weekly one-on-ones.” So, how do you refocus sales rep conversations to be more productive? Start by asking the right questions. Rather than just asking for a rundown of the hottest deals, shake things up. For example, try kicking off your next meeting by asking how you can lend assistance on stuck deals. You might even offer to join the rep on a sales call or two for added support. Remember, you hold your position for good reason. Your industry and customer knowledge is unparalleled and should be put to good use whenever possible. It’s also wise to encourage your sales team to bring their questions to meetings, too. The conversation should never be one-sided. You’re all on the same team and pursuing a common goal. With both parties asking the right questions, you’ll arrive at a much more fruitful meeting outcome.

Would you like to share your tips with Insightly customers? Send them to us! If we use one in our weekly feature we’ll send you a $10 Amazon Gift Card! Contact us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or send us an email.

About the author: Matt Keener is a marketing consultant and President of Keener Marketing Solutions, LLC. Matt specializes in content marketing and strategic planning, having helped numerous Saas (software as a service) companies and other small businesses worldwide. Read more of Matt’s work, check out his book, or connect with him on Linkedin.

December 27, 2016

Creating a Sense of Urgency Drives Sales!

Turn It Up Tuesday: Tips from Insightly to Take Your Business to 11

	Simplify Next Year’s Holiday Cards (with Insightly)
	Although the holidays will soon be a distant memory, it’s not too early to plan for next year. If you send customer greeting cards, there’s simply no reason to write them out by hand. Remember, you have Insightly for a reason – use it! As the next holiday season approaches (or whenever you send out mailers), follow these simple steps to prepare your mailing list with greater ease: Navigate to your contacts (or leads) in Insightly Refine your mailing list – it might be helpful to filter only those leads possessing a city and zip code. Or, if you’ve already tagged certain records, just click on the appropriate tag link. Filtering contacts within Insightly can save a few steps of spreadsheet manipulation. Select the contacts you wish to include. Then, from the “More” drop down, click “Export to CSV.” In a matter of seconds (or minutes, depending on your list size), Insightly will email you a download link like this: Use this sheet to build your mail merge labels. Print, stick, and go! Before you forget, set yourself an Insightly reminder for mid-November 2017. You might save yourself (or your assistant) several hours of frustration next year!
	Get More from Your Marketing Newsletter
	Most businesses send out email newsletters. The benefits are obvious: staying top of mind, providing thought leadership, and generating clicks are just a few compelling reasons. However, unless you’re intentional with your newsletter, you run the risk of just being another annoyance to recipients. Consider these tips for enhancing your newsletter’s value: Think like your recipients: Put yourself in the shoes of those on your email list. Would you really want to keep receiving your newsletters? Just because people rarely complain, it doesn’t mean that they enjoy your content. What style and content adjustments can you make to increase subscriber engagement? Use rock-solid tracking: All of your marketing activities need to be tracked. Email marketing is no different. Most email marketing systems offer their own reporting capabilities. Some even permit integration to popular web analytic packages. Look for ways to track subscriber activity and review the data regularly. Mix in a few CTAs: It’s OK to tastefully mix in a few call-to-actions (CTAs) for your products or services. Customers kind of expect it, so don’t be shy. Just be transparent and always give subscribers the option to opt-out. Create a sense of exclusivity: Your blog is a great source for newsletter content. However, simply regurgitating what’s on your website into email format may not be enough. Dedicate some real estate to original content, which can only be found in your newsletter. You’re likely to see a boost in open rates!
	Design a Continuing Ed Plan for Yourself
	Clients appreciate your expertise. Although much of what you know was learned through life experiences, a certain percentage of your knowledge originated from something you read online. Stop and think about a highly impactful video that you’ve watched or article you’ve read. How did you come across it? Perhaps you saw it on social media. Or, maybe a colleague forwarded it to you. There’s nothing wrong with this approach, but it’s very reactive in nature. You need to proactively seek information to stay competitive. But, how? Perhaps it’s time you implemented a simple continuing education system for yourself. It’s really not that hard. Here are a few ideas: Subscribe to relevant email newsletters and blog RSS feeds. A quick web search will likely turn up dozens in your area of expertise. Join relevant social media groups and check them weekly. Set up a Zapier app to aggregate stuff you care about. Hire a freelancer to organize and report on best practices. An important note here: be sure to actually make time to review the content you gather. Although you’re a busy person, setting aside a few minutes of continuing education time weekly can pay big dividends. Set a goal of learning one new thing each week, and you might be surprised by the outcome!
	Create a Sense of Urgency
	What are you doing to proactively create a sense of urgency with your prospects? If your answer is “I’m not sure,” then it’s time you took a step back and reevaluated things. As our buddy Adam Honig at the Spiro blog points out, “It’s not enough to build value for the customer if you can’t also explain why they need to move forward as soon as possible.” So, what can you do to start making your leads feel more inclined to buy? Here are a few quick ideas: Develop a special offer that expires by a certain date (promo codes work well) Design an infographic that shows the costs associated with not moving forward today (as compared to the upfront investment) Understand your prospect’s budgeting cycle and time your follow up accordingly Send an incentivized survey (packed full of thought-provoking questions), aimed at creating an emotional need for your product or service Share a case study that highlights the rapid payback period experienced by another customer Start adding expiration dates to your proposals (30 or 45-day periods are common) Build a marketing automation rule that follows up with a prospect if the associated opportunity is not already marked as “won.” Some customers simply need to be pushed. It’s not that they don’t want your products. Rather, they’re probably just too busy on other things.

Send Us Your Tips. Would you like to share your tips with Insightly customers? Send them to us! If we use one in our weekly feature we’ll send you a $10 Amazon Gift Card! Contact us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or send us an email.

About the author: Matt Keener is a marketing consultant and President of Keener Marketing Solutions, LLC. Matt specializes in content marketing and strategic planning, having helped numerous Saas (software as a service) companies and other small businesses worldwide. Read more of Matt’s work, check out his book, or connect with him on Linkedin.

August 30, 2016

A New Life for Your Spare Smartphone

Turn It Up Tuesday: Tips from Insightly to Take Your Business to 11

	Embrace Your Inner Insightly Hero
	Here’s a hot tip. Join the Insightly Heroes program and spread the good word about your Insightly knowledge. In return, you’ll be recognized and rewarded for your contributions. Here’s what you need to become a hero: Posess a thorough knowledge of the Insightly product Have a willingness to share CRM and business best practices Be an advocate of Insightly Here’s how you’ll be rewarded for your efforts: 35% off existing paid Insightly plan or any paid Insightly plan Insightly badge that can be displayed on your website Insightly Heroes tag that’s recognized in the community Quarterly 1:1 sessions with an Insightly Customer Success Specialist, Product Manager, and Community Team member And a whole lot more
	A New Life for Your Spare Smartphone
	If you have a spare smartphone or tablet, you can use it as a free Internet-enabled security camera. Just install one of the free apps that use your device’s camera – such as Presence (iOS), Manything (iOS) or Salient Eye (Android) – and leave it plugged in, turned on and pointed towards something you want to keep an eye on. Now, from your primary phone or tablet, you can see what your older device sees, or set up motion alerts so you’ll be notified if any movement is detected.
	Virtual Vegas at Your Fingertips
	If you are on board for the Vegas adventure, but aren’t sure which experiences outside of gambling you might like to try, there’s a new virtual reality app (appropriately called the Vegas VR app) that transforms your mobile phone into a canvas for experiencing things such as a helicopter ride over the strip, an urban zip line ride, and more. Learn more at: itb.vrtv.vegas.
	Exercise Your Inner Confidence
	Confidence is key in sales. A salesperson who isn’t confident is like a lawyer who isn’t competitive. But confidence doesn’t come easy when you’re constantly dealing with rejection from prospects. Be prepared Doing the work to be prepared for a presentation is one of the best ways to become more confident. Speak assertively Speak confidently and assertively and you will feel that way yourself. Sell a product you love If you truly believe in what you’re selling, the confidence will come naturally. Change your posture Studies have shown that you can actually boost your own confidence by changing your body language. This week’s sales tip is provided by Adam Honig, CEO of Spiro Technologies. Spiro’s mission is to help salespeople make more money using artificial intelligence.

Check out Insightly’s features and plans on our pricing page or sign up for a free trial of the best CRM around.

About the author: Marta Bright is Insightly’s Content Manager. She’s been writing about the “business of technology” in the Silicon Valley for more than a decade.

Turn It Up Tuesday: Tips from Insightly to Take Your Business to 11

How to Set Up a Repeating Task

Make a List of Stuff You Forget to Do

Track Your Loved Ones’ Birthdays

Create a More Inquisitive Sales Culture

Turn It Up Tuesday: Tips from Insightly to Take Your Business to 11

Simplify Next Year’s Holiday Cards (with Insightly)

Get More from Your Marketing Newsletter

Design a Continuing Ed Plan for Yourself

Create a Sense of Urgency

Turn It Up Tuesday: Tips from Insightly to Take Your Business to 11

Embrace Your Inner Insightly Hero

A New Life for Your Spare Smartphone

Virtual Vegas at Your Fingertips

Exercise Your Inner Confidence