Contact Management
Done right, it can lead to sales and record profits, even in cool economy

Does contact management lead to sales?

Yes.

Information is power – but like all power it must be harnessed to have any value. How are you controlling yours? If you’re like me, often it’s the tail wagging the dog. Come on admit it; your information control could be better (or couldn’t be worse).

At some point, loss of control leads to loss of sales – certainly loss of selling opportunities. A missed appointment, a forgotten follow-up, a not (but should have been) written thank you letter, a missed deadline, or even a lost phone number can be expensive – and lead to sales decay.

You can shrug it off the first few times, but if you let enough decay occur, eventually you will rot (or get fired by someone you think is rotten).

Since 97 percent of all sales are NOT made in one call, effective prospect follow-up contact and information management is essential if you want to get maximum results – make the sale. The problem is juggling calendar, prospects, existing customers, follow-up commitments, correspondence, promises made and a million other details that are essential to the sale.

Enter the solution – contact management. Contact management is the term it’s known by, but what the software does is 1,000 times more powerful. Do you have a contact management program?

Who needs one? How do you know if you should have a contact management program? Two clues: you either have a desktop or laptop computer. Everyone can benefit.

If you’re in business, in a profession, in sales, make phone calls, write letters, keep a calendar, make appointments, make a to-do list, have projects, keep records, make notes, have a Rolodex, or have an address book – you need a contact management program. (Hint: This means you.) Okay, which one?

The most successfully used contact management software is ACT! by Symantec. ACT! pioneered the product, and has been on the market since 1987. There are others, but ACT! is the clear market leader.

“Contact manager” is really an understated word, but it’s good for “buzz” purposes. There are five dynamic stages of information management support that ACT! software offers:

1. Initial contact manager (sales lead manager)
2. Pipeline manager
3. Follow-up manager
4. Customer manager
5. Relationship builder

But whoa – this is just the start. Besides those five (and they are the heart of the sales cycle), there are lots of primary functions this software performs – many simultaneously.

• ROLODEX
• day planner
• appointment manager
• calendar
• alarm reminder
• to do organizer and prioritizer
• sales cycle measurement device
• account history
• sales report generator
• follow up tool
• letter writer
• memo generator
• idea catcher
• project management aid
• information control

I know you want to know if it can pay your mortgage, too. Well, if you use it to maximize sales advantages, you will be able to pay off the whole house.

To say that time is money is a misnomer. We should say that organized time leads to money contact management, which leads to organization.

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, and Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless. He can be reached at 704/333-1112 or e-mail to salesman@gitomer.com.

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