Are you keeping a good record of your clients and the sales you make? It’s important to stay organized and hang on to this information. It’ll help you see your progress and stay in-the-know for when it’s time to meet with your clients again.
How can you do this?
Having a great FMO behind you is an important first step. At Senior Market Advisors, you’ll be able to input data from your appointments into our free CRM system, which allows us to keep a close eye on leads, sales, and progress – ultimately helping you. Using our proprietary sales tracking software will eliminate a lot of the headaches that can come with trying to design your own file-keeping methods.
Effective Ways to Keep Records and Stay Organized
After leaving a scheduled appointment, jot down notes about what happened or didn’t happen in the meeting. Did you make a sale? Was the client interested in purchasing from you at a later date? Did the client not show up at all? These are all important items that you may need help remembering later.
Keep all client data in one convenient storage place. Keep any physical forms and data in an organized file (alphabetized, dated, etc.). Sure, you can use Google Sheets or a Microsoft Excel document to organize all your data, but a sales tracking software that’s designed to manage business-consumer relations is a much more efficient method.
Use a CRM
Customer relationship management (CRM) software is a way to manage your interactions with every client. If you’ve partnered with a FMO, you’ll want to provide detailed information about every interaction. A great CRM will allow you to track calls and meetings, and report on those conversations.
Your customers count on you to protect their privacy and not let their personal information fall into the wrong hands. A CRM will allow you to adhere to compliance and security best practices. The right CRM empowers you to focus on selling rather than spending time making sure you’ve stored every piece of sensitive information in an encrypted drive and second-guessing yourself.
What to Look for in a CRM
A CRM should have everything you need to keep track of your leads and conversions. In order to make your life easier, your sales tracking software should have the following features:
A Note-Taking Feature
Nobody will be able to remember every call or meeting with a potential client. Look for a CRM with a note-taking feature to record useful information. For example, if you sell Medicare plans and your lead tells you he or she is looking for a plan that includes dental insurance, you’ll want to write that down and use that information when you arrange your meeting. You’ll convert way more leads if you can show people you listened. If you go into a meeting claiming you have what the potential client needs and offer something completely different, you will lose sales.
Lead Organization
Your CRM should be able to categorize your leads by what you need to do. You need to be able to find the right person or group at a glance. Leads can be divided into:
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- New prospects: Leads whom you’ve called but haven’t actually talked to yet.
- Call back: Leads who were unavailable to talk during your first call.
- Appointment requests: Leads with whom you have appointments.
- Reset appointments: Leads who need to reschedule their appointments.
- Closed Won: Leads that turned into confirmed sales.
- Closed Lost: Leads that are not interested at all in purchasing from you.
Leads should also be categorized based on how close they are to the bottom of the sales funnel and converting. A great CRM will be able to color code your prospects on a scaled from cold (far from conversion) to hot (ready to convert).
Call Dialing
If you’re still using spreadsheets, you have to pick up a phone and dial a number. You’ll waste time if you dial a wrong number or call a prospect by the wrong name. Your CRM should be able to call the prospect and only show you the person you intend to speak with. You should have easy access to all of the lead’s information, letting you concentrate on making the appointment or sale.
Typical CRM Costs
A CRM subscription can cost $125 a month per user on average. The cost multiplies depending on the features you want for your sales tracking software. When you contract with Senior Market Advisors, you get free access to our proprietary CRM. We give you the opportunity to save money while you make money.
Contract With US
Senior Market Advisors provides agents with the necessary tools for success. Along with our CRM, we provide an experienced in-house marketing team that can produce qualified leads through direct mail, digital marketing, and email marketing. Ready to contract? Go to our eContracting system today.
This post was originally published on May 22, 2017, by Anastasia Iliou, and was updated by Troy Frink on May 21, 2019.
