Yellow Dog Consulting

Sales & Marketing Consulting for solo-preneurs.

It’s Not Luck

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The other day I had a longer term client email that in the new year it’s time for a break. That’s OK, it happens and it’s always good to see what’s working and what’s not in any business. Then at the end of the day I received an email from a potential referral partner saying they needed help with the EXACT same service of the client who’s leaving. I know what you’re thinking “wow, that’s amazing luck!”

No. It’s Not.

It’s a lot of hard work. Every time I wrap up with a project or finish with a client, even if I am thinking “crap that was a good chunk of money each month,” inevitably within a week or so someone pops up in my pipeline to replace them.

Every. Time.

After 7+ years in business I have discovered that by being consistent in my newsletters and following up regularly, the right people show up when they are ready and when the timing is right. For both of us. I’ve talked about scarcity before – it’s not a thing. If you’re consistent – networking, following up, engaging, good at what you do – in time the right clients will just start showing up and the wrong clients will take their exit.

It sounds just like magic. But it’s not. Its years of hard work, consistency, amazing referral sources and DOING THE WORK. I know that’s not a fun answer. I’m not lucky on a regular basis, I have built up systems and schedules that keep my sales pipeline healthy and active. And we all know the first thing I do…

Follow Up.

As usual when something like this happens I text my business coach, because we all need a cheerleader. Her response?

“THAT is what happens when you are consistent.”

Not Lucky.

Schedule Time to DO the Work

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Schedule Time to do the workA few weeks ago I received an email from someone who had downloaded my Monthly Marketing Calendar.

“I have a calendar, I have content, but putting it all together is overwhelming, so I am very inconsistent. Thoughts?”

As per the usual, I have lots of thoughts on this! Here was my response:

It’s time to schedule time to do the work. That’s my best suggestion – block time on your calendar to write and post and schedule social media/blogs/etc. It sounds like that may be the missing piece.

For some people (me) having a to do list is enough to ensure that your tasks get accomplished each week. My first two items on my to do list each week are 1. Blog 2. ZOHO (my CRM). This way you’re always guaranteed a blog post (you’re welcome) and I always make sure to do the follow up with my contacts and leads that I manage in my CRM.

For other people the to do list isn’t enough. You may need to block that TIME in your calendar. That’s why I recommend when you attend a networking event you also schedule time to do your follow up after the event. That way it gets done. Maybe it’s 30 minutes a day of marketing and follow up to start. Then you’ll start to see you don’t need it every day, or at least not as much time. Great! In time you’ll start to see just how much time you specifically need to do your marketing tasks and you can get them done.

Also consider WHEN in the day/week you want to do your marketing tasks. Monday is often an office day for me so I get a lot of my marketing/admin tasks done on Monday. I also know right after lunch isn’t always my most productive time so maybe some admin tasks are good to schedule then.

What do you do to ensure that your marketing tasks are accomplished each week?

It’s Not too Late to Setup a CRM

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It's not too late to setup a CRMI’m talking a lot about CRM’s lately and it’s not a surprise. Your Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) is a vital piece of your growing business, but who wants to build a database?

Like it or not you need one. And ideally you setup your CRM when you’re just starting your business. But if you’re a few years into business and still haven’t done it, there’s no time like the present! Here are a few things to consider when setting up your CRM…

  • Your contact list isn’t your CRM – You need a dedicated database that contains ONLY your contacts for your business. A spot where you can save notes related to the client, or prospect, and set reminders to follow up with them.
  • Your newsletter program isn’t your CRM – I’m always surprised when people tell me that they have MailChimp setup and does that work as a CRM? It doesn’t. Technically you can make notes in MailChimp but that’s not it’s purpose. Setup a dedicated CRM that can integrate with MailChimp (I use Zoho CRM which does) so you can easily import contacts into your newsletter program.
  • Figure out what contact info you want to track – You may decide that you want all sorts of contact info available in your CRM including admins and multiple phone numbers. When you’re building your CRM you can customize the data. When you upload your lists it’ll make your life easier if you clean up the data and organize it up front.
  • Consider what kind of reminders and tagging you want to include – I make sure to reference how I met the contact – was it a client referral or a networking event? Did they come through my website or a speaking engagement? All of this should be tracked so you can follow up down the road when you have a new offering for that group.
  • Setup Templates  – Many CRM’s will allow you to setup templates so you can have a standard series of emails that go out. This is a feature that I’ll admit I don’t use, but I should. If your CRM has all the info you need, you can build a template that will even automate or plug in all sorts of details for you.
  • Use it! This is the most important thing. If you go through the trouble of setting up a CRM to manage your contacts make sure you use it! The second item on my to do list each week is “Zoho” which is my reminder to check in with my CRM and make sure I do the follow up or check in with clients/prospects as promised.

I believe you need a CRM and that it will help you grow your business and stay organized. If you need help, my friend wrote a great post a couple of years ago on how to choose the right CRM for you.