Yellow Dog Consulting

Sales & Marketing Consulting for solo-preneurs.

3 Cool Ways to Generate Leads with PSBJ

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As you all know once upon a time I worked at the Puget Sound Business Journal. Earlier this week I was catching up with Sarah Schosboek at PSBJ and she told me about a couple of great new features that weren’t available when I was at PSBJ. If you’re looking for new places to find qualified leads on a consistent basis, you know (because I told you for years probably) that PSBJ is a great resource. And here’s 3 new things you should know!

  1. Event registration contacts. If you are a subscriber and register to attend a PSBJ event you will be able to contact up to 5 attendees before or after the event. They’ll get you connected via twitter, LinkedIn or email. How great is that?
  2. People on the Move –You know that section with all the faces towards the back of the paper? Now every DAY this list is updated online and available in real time. You can download a CSV file of the past years people on the move. And it comes complete with all contact information they provide (I didn’t see emails though) In the last 48 hours there were 19 new leads.
  3. Read your Business Journal! Each Friday there are thousands of fresh leads and award winning content.  Although I’m no longer there, they do still teach a great FREE workshop on getting the most out of your subscription. Check out the Inside the Business Journal seminars on their website.

If you don’t have a subscription yet and need one, contact Sarah and make sure to ask for the Yellow Dog Consulting Special. It’s just $59 for a digital subscription for one year OR $199.96 for a three year subscription plus an electronic download of the 2012 Book of Lists.

 

Brain Picking

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I’m getting a lot of “hey I’d like to pick you brain” emails and calls lately. There’s really nothing I love more than giving someone my totally biased opinion, so I say yes to the meetings. And they’re with friends and people who I like and genuinely want to see grow and succeed in life and business, so this should be fun.

How often do I do the same thing though? I really need to get better at scheduling meetings within my network and ask questions about challenge in my business or professional life.

Okay, good talk. I’m off to schedule some meetings now…

4 Tips to Manage Your Contacts with CRM Tools

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Whether you’re a small business or a multi-billion dollar enterprise, it’s critical that you keep track of all of your contacts.  Most of us need a system to store, sort, and reference contact data about past and current clients, networking contacts, new prospects, etc.  That is where having a solid CRM tool comes into the equation.

CRM stands for “Customer Relationship Management” and there are several CRM software options that do much more beyond simply storing and organizing your contacts.  When used correctly, good contact management can improve your sales, consistency, and efficiency.  Less time is wasted scrolling through a long Excel document when using automated CRM systems.  Many systems can also provide reports, forecasting, and opportunity management.

Now that you understand what CRM is, and the importance of good contact management, here are 4 tips to manage your contacts with CRM tools from productivity expert, Elizabeth Bowman, of Innovatively Organized based in Seattle, WA:

1.     Use a business card scanner to transition from paper to electronic

In order to transition from a physical rolodex or pile of business cards to a CRM tool it can be efficient to use a scanner designed for business cards that is capable of automatically detecting and storing the contact details from the card into fields.

2.     Pick a CRM tool that syncs with mobile devices

Because so many of us are mobile workers it is important to choose a CRM tool that goes with you and syncs with the operating systems of your iPhone, iPad, Droid, Windows Mobile, Surface or other device.

3.     Define weekly and monthly reports of contact information

Once you have your company’s contact data loaded into the CRM tool, then you’ll want to create a way to analyze the progress of each contact or lead through the sales pipeline.  Go ahead and determine the information you’ll want to review each week or month ahead of time!

4.     Share your CRM data with your team

Ok, this one seems obvious, but we see it too often – two managers have different sets of similar contact information.  A benefit of using a CRM tool is the collaboration and merging of contact data into a central location.

 

To read more CRM and contact management tips from productivity expert, Elizabeth Bowman, check out her blog where new tips and articles are posted often.

You can also download a recording of her popular webinar series on topics such as Email Organizing, Cloud Computing 101, or Managing Your To-Do List Online.