Preplanning Your Contact Management

So you’ve got your sales process down. It’s either been handed to you by your company or you’ve come up with it on your own.

In that process, your first appointment may be a getting-to-know-you along with a needs analysis. Your next one may be a detailed survey of the customer’s facility/current systems/current methods/practices/costs. Your next or final visit may be a presentation with your solution to close the business. In-between you’ve got behind-the-scenes steps you need to complete.

Or whatever you do.

But do you have a series of simple, specific steps that you complete with every contact you make? Do you have a way to gently pull someone from unknown stranger to trusting prospect? Do you preplan the communications you have with a customer — from a variety of angles — to become a trusted advisor?

In the old days, you’d get back to the office after being out in the field and hand write thank you notes. While some sales professionals do this, most don’t follow any kind of follow-up or follow-through process.

Maybe it’s time to think about doing this. More and more of our online contact management friends are including these capabilities to help you preplan your contact management. LeadsOnRails got this idea started amongst our reviewed group;  PipelineDeals added todo templates to its system; BatchBlue followed suit with one of its recent updates; and Oprius is announcing similar functionality. And there’s a company called Executive Business Services we’ve not yet introduced you to that’s offering a unique service along these lines.

They’re all adding it because it’s a terrific best practice that Internet marketers have been applying for years already.

Having a well thought-out communication plan is a great way to ensure you don’t get caught winging your way through the sales process, however short or long that process may be.