I recently had the privilege of attending a Dale Carnegie class called “Sales Advantage”. It was an eight-week course that met for 3.5 hours each Wednesday evening. The instructor guided us through the sales process with lots of examples and role-plays.

Sometimes jumping into something new can be daunting unless you take a measured and thoughtful approach. Here at TopLine Results, we like to minimize risk for our clients by taking a sit, stand, walk, run approach to CRM (Customer Relationship Management).

Sit
We like to sit with you and understand your processes for sales, marketing and/or customer service.

With great data about your business, you can mine it for intelligence, use it to predict outcomes, and provide that feedback to your business to improve your strategies and tactics. This feedback can be transformational. It can be used to:

Better engage with your customers – ensuring your messaging is relevant and timely
Increase the value of your products and services – transforming them to better meet needs
Optimize your operations – investing in processes that make the biggest impact
Empower your employees – giving them a voice and helping them make a bigger difference.

Recently I worked with a client who has a “best in class” sales process. I was super impressed with the level of thought and detail that went into their process document. On paper, they include sales stages, steps within each stage, milestones for their customers, activities to be completed, team capabilities needed, and a success rate probability assigned to each stage.

I just got back from a vacation, and I am rusty! After eight days of no professional activity, I am making simple mistakes and kicking myself for doing so. Ugh! As a seasoned professional, it is clear I need to get back to basics.

Scenario 1:

I was going through some notes on my desk and found a contact I needed to call.

Change – it’s all around us, just like water (at least in Wisconsin and Minnesota). When water stands still, like a pond, it eventually becomes stagnant. Lack of change can lead to a tired and stale environment. Running water like a stream, however, can be pure and clear.