Simple CRM Done Right: Pipelinedeals Mercury
Written by Jan Visser on October 17, 2007
Frequent readers know that we covered Pipelinedeals.com extensively before here at SalesTeamTools.
We reviewed the product for our list of online contact managers and in a few separate posts, here, here and here.
Pipelinedeals just got even better. We’ve had a chance to preview the Pipelinedeals Mercury release and it’s impressive.
Customer Feedback - Fast & Easy
Written by Brandon Hull on October 15, 2007
Most of us still live in spreadsheet-and-email land. But there are other great (and free) tools for engaging and getting feedback from either your own sales force or your customers. That honest, 360-degree feedback is crucial to confront the harsh realities of your business…or to simply engage your team and customers. For that, enter Wufoo.com.
TimeBridge Makes Scheduling Sales Meetings Easy
Written by Jan Visser on October 12, 2007
If you’ve ever tried scheduling a follow-up sales meeting with multiple attendees, you know what a hassle it is to get everyone coordinated.
The last time I went through that particular exercise, I ended up with a deep respect and appreciation for those who frequently take on the daunting task of putting the schedules of busy business people together.
Scheduling a meeting and sharing calendars through Outlook is relatively easy - but that only works if all attendees use Outlook and are on the same company network. Google Calendar is slick, but is unfortunately not used as often in corporate environments.
The result is that it can easily take hours to arrange a simple conference call, with email, voicemail, callbacks and confirmations. Not only is it busywork you could really do without, it also can take weeks before that important customer meeting finally takes place. Business is on hold and you’re at serious risk of losing momentum during the sales cycle.
TimeBridge, a personal scheduling manager that helps busy professionals find a time to meet, claims to have solved this problem for good.
Research Your Sales Prospects with Clipmarks
Written by Jan Visser on October 10, 2007
When doing sales pre-call planning and research, many of us use online bookmarking tools like del.ico.us.
Not too long ago, we wrote an extensive post about how that could work for you so if you’re unfamiliar with this free service, you may want to read that post first.
The problem with bookmarking as we know it today, whether online or in your web browser, is that you’re essentially saving a full page of text and images for later review.
And that seems a bit overkill if you consider that you’re often only interested in one sentence, a paragraph or a small section of the online article or news report you found. Think of a quote from the CEO, a two line announcement of an acquisition or the appointment of a new VP.
With a potentially high number of saved bookmarks related to each potential prospect and a long list of prospects you may be interested in pursuing, you run the risk of becoming a full-time researcher. And all of that takes away from valuable selling time.
Get the Word Out to Your Selling Team
Written by Jan Visser on October 10, 2007
Many companies have an awful internal voicemail system. First, the system is standalone — meaning it’s not connected to your cellphone voicemail, which most outside salespeople check and rely on more than their office line. Secondly, several systems are very static — they don’t interrupt you to let you know you’ve got a new voicemail; you’ve got check them as the day or week rolls by.
For busy people, that’s just one more thing on the checklist, and a waste of time when there’s nothing new for them to hear.
5 Great Plugins for Microsoft Outlook
Written by Jan Visser on October 9, 2007
Some time ago we wrote about a few alternatives to Microsoft Office that might be worth a closer look. But that may not be an option for everyone - you may be completely satisfied with the Office suite or your company may simply mandate its use.
Whatever the reason, if you use Office in a business environment it’s very likely that you spend more time using the email program Outlook than any of the other available components. So while you’re at it, you might as well try to get a bit more out of Outlook.
Here they are - 5 great plugins and add-ons for Microsoft Outlook.
Powerful Sales Referrals and Testimonials
Written by Jan Visser on October 8, 2007
Anyone that’s been around for more than a handful of years in sales knows the power of referrals and testimonials. But how far do you, personally, go with gathering and using these?
Some sales professionals we know have entire “credibility binders” stocked with letters written by satisfied customers on those customers’ letterhead. But have you ever thought about video or audio? Have you ever considered the power of a CD-ROM or DVD as part of a presentation that demonstrates your superior product or service.
CalendarsQuick Printable Calendars
Written by Jan Visser on October 4, 2007
If it’s not written down on your calendar or to-do list, it probably won’t happen. Whether it’s a scheduled appointment with a prospect, customer, or even yourself, I’m a believer that leaving things to your memory is a recipe for disaster.
While we all know of the Daytimers, DayRunners, and FranklinCovey planners out there, here’s an interesting alternative: CalendarsQuick.
How Google Alerts Can Help Your Pre-Call Research
Written by Jan Visser on October 2, 2007
This is part 2 of a series of posts about sales tools that make your pre-call planning and research easier. In a previous post, we reviewed the potential use of social bookmarking tool del.icio.us, up next is Google Alerts!
Pre-Sales Call Research With Del.icio.us
Written by Jan Visser on October 1, 2007
In our introduction, we spoke about the need for solid pre-call research. Here’s the first of a number of sales tools that can make saving and organizing your prospecting research far more effective and available: Del.icio.us.
