Tips for CRM Use

A colleague of mine asked me for some “best practices” related to Salesforce.com in prep for a training she was giving. Thought I would share them with you too. Many of these are specific to the functionality of Salesforce.com, but others are just good tips related to any CRM tool. Hope you find them helpful!

• Policy setting: If it’s not in the system, it doesn’t exist. If you didn’t log it, it didn’t happen. When this is tied to culture and compensation, it’s a powerful policy.
• Let the tool do the work for you. When you log an Activity, create a follow-up task and set a reminder for yourself. That way, you don’t have to remember to follow up with people – the system will remind you. Take the help where you can get it.
• Create as many drop-down fields as you can – text fields create opportunities for inconsistent data entry.
• TRAIN! REPEAT! Even after multiple trainings, I’m surprised by how many of my users don’t know how to run a report, or enter an Opportunity. Quarterly trainings will likely seem redundant, but I’m willing to bet the staff will learn something new each time.
• Weekly/Monthly/Quarterly data cleansing – I always say that clean data is a journey, not a destination. You will likely never get to a point where there are NO duplicates in the system, or every Contact has a correct and updated email or physical address. But creating a process and time frame to clean the data and sticking to it is very important.
• Clean data is everyone’s job – not just Marketing’s. If you have a license and access to the system, then clean data is your job, period.
  • Search before you enter a new Contact in order to prevent duplicates.
  • Pay attention when entering text fields – like addresses or emails – to prevent incorrect data later. Taking the time to enter data correctly prevents having to spend a large amount of time cleaning it up later.
• The benefit of any CRM system is the intelligence you’re able to pull out of it, not the individual bits of data that are entered. Many users don’t understand this or can’t envision the back-end benefits that data capture and aggregation provide. Download sample reports to show them how the system can be used to help them do their job better, win more leads, drive revenue, etc.
• Segment! Create fields that allow you to group your Contacts in a meaningful way so you can send them content that’s most relevant to them.

Marketers are often accused of capturing data for the sake of having data – and I’m sure some of guilty of that. But the ultimate goal of capturing data is to use it to provide a better product, service and experience for your customers.

The current issue of Marketing News, published by the American Marketing Association, talks at length about how data needs to be harvested intelligently. Check it out if you can.

Jumping into the ‘Pond’

I’m extremely excited to announce that I’ve joined LargerPond Marketing as their Account Director. LargerPond is a marketing consulting firm serving niche leaders … or those who aspire to be niche leaders. We provide strategic counsel to management, cutting-edge creative, branding & positioning, new product/service launch assistance, business development plans, marketing structure assessments, marketing integration into sales efforts … and more.  Stuart Baum, the founder & owner of LargerPond, was my boss at Blackman Kallick (he was Blackman’s outsourced marketing director – a service we also provide at LargerPond) and I’m proud to be working with him again. I think this is a great partnership.

Contact info for Amanda at LargerPond:
(312) 273-6928 direct
Amanda@LargerPond.com

Is LargerPond looking for additional clients? Yep, you bet. We work with closely-held businesses with at least $1M in sales. If you say or hear the following things, we can help:

• We’ve tried to fix [insert business problem here] multiple times, and it just doesn’t seem to work.
• We need to hire a marketing director, but aren’t 100% sure what skills we need. (And/or… the right person costs a ton, but the less expensive ones do not seem to be strong enough.)
• Our clients/customers don’t know what we do. (Or do not seem as excited about our products/services as they should be.)
• We’ve increased our marketing budget, but still aren’t seeing results.
• I’m unsure our marketing is helping us reach our business goals.
• Sales keeps blaming marketing and marketing keeps blaming sales.
• We want to launch a new product or service.
• We need to network more effectively.
• We need stronger marketing support/staff.

If you’re saying or hearing these things, and would like to explore practical, cost effective ways to address these issues, please give us a call! Both Stuart and I have successfully built marketing process and infrastructure that positively impacts many areas of the business, but specifically, the bottom line.

What about MorrisAnderson? Good question. MorrisAnderson is now a LargerPond client! I will still function as firm Marketing Director, but on a part-time, outsourced basis. This too, is a great partnership. If you would like to learn more about MA’s financial and operational advisory services for under-performing, middle-market companies nationwide, please get in touch.

Contact info for Amanda at MorrisAnderson:
(312) 254-0956 direct
ahansen@morrisanderson.com

THANK YOU to the members of my network who gave their time and advice related to this career move – your guidance and confidence in my ability is respected and highly valued. I hope I can refer clients to your business, or help in other ways. Please, don’t hesitate to ask.

Now, let’s start swimming…

Breaking Down POSDC, Part 3 – S is for Staffing

If you missed Part 1 – P is for Planning, click here.

If you missed Part 2 – O is for Organizing, click here.

So, you’ve got a plan and you’re in the process of organizing your resources according to that plan – way to go! One of your most important resources is your staff. These are the folks who will execute on the plan, communicate progress, and ultimately, help you reach your goals. Their skills and “fit” are super important, which is why Staffing is a critical part of a manager’s job.

(Warning: I’m about to say something unpopular!)

Most managers are bad at Staffing! Why?

• They were never taught how to properly interview and often spend more time talking about themselves, the role being filled or the company, than learning about and assessing the candidate.
• Many managers don’t spend the time to truly assess the skills they need, which makes it extremely difficult to ascertain whether or not someone has them.
• Unconsciously, we seek out and hire people we like and are like us, regardless of whether or not they have the right skills or would be the right fit. We can’t help it; it’s human nature.

I’m not a Human Resources professional, so I have no business telling you how to hire the right person, but below are some things I do that yield good results.

• Clearly identify the skills and personality traits I need. In a smaller, entrepreneurial company, any candidate I hire must be comfortable with a certain amount of ambiguity in their role; they will likely wear many hats and find themselves in the midst of fire drills. A person who gets flustered or panics when given vague direction, or can’t move forward without detailed instructions, would likely struggle here. I want someone to be organized, but if that means they’re rigid or inflexible, they won’t work out.

• Take the time to train. A former colleague of mine went to work for a high-profile start-up here in Chicago and barely spoke with her boss for the first month she worked there. Even smart, driven people need guidance. Create a training outline and take the time to go through it with your staff member. When they come to you with questions stop, and answer them thoroughly – it will save you time later because they’ll be able to help themselves next time. Some people benefit from seeing the big picture; for those people, explain how their role contributes to the overall plan and how they can help move it forward.
  • Training can be difficult when you don’t work in the same office or someone works virtually. But as a manager, you’re still responsible for on-boarding your staff and ensuring they understand their role and what’s expected of them. Technology can help here, but nothing beats a few face to face meetings to create a solid foundation for a successful working relationship.

• Meet meaningfully. I hold weekly meetings with my Marketing Coordinator. Sometimes we have a lot to discuss and sometimes we don’t, but setting that time aside to talk about our projects, what she’s struggling with and how I can help, is time well spent. We also talk about job satisfaction, interaction with other staff members, upcoming vacation days, etc. It’s not just about the immediate list of to-do’s. My job is to keep her busy, sure, but it’s also to ensure that she’s learning, growing and happy.

Staffing is expensive, yet ironically, it often gets the short end of the stick in terms of time and preparation. According to CareerBuilder, the number one reason for making a bad hire was a rushed decision, and 41% percent of companies estimate that a bad hire costs more than $25,000! (Source: How much does a bad employee cost the boss?)

Do yourself a favor; give this management function the education, time and attention it deserves.

Please share your comments below.

Breaking Down POSDC, Part 2 – O is for Organizing

If you missed Part 1 – P is for Planning, click here.

So, you have a plan, now what? Organizing around that plan can be a big job. In my view, your role as a manager is to organize people and resources in order to achieve the objectives of the plan. This doesn’t sound that difficult, does it? I’m continually surprised by how many smart people struggle with this, including me…

Why is Organizing hard?

1. People are difficult to predict and control. Our culture values diversity, but diversity in skills, motivations, belief systems, communication styles and opinions can create quite a challenge for managers trying to move a group of people toward a common goal. And in the current environment of virtual offices and telecommuting, getting everyone together for a meeting or a conference call can be tricky too.
2. Resources are finite. With limited budgets and time we must be efficient, and efficiency requires organization. How much will this initiative cost? When will you need that money? What other resources do you need to be successful; when do you need them and for how long? Managers must be able to answer these questions and bring all of these moving parts together.
3. We forget about the plan. Without something to guide your decisions and behavior, managing people, timelines and money can be extremely over-whelming. When you feel like things are spinning out of control, return to the plan. Have you been following it? What roadblocks have you run into that you didn’t anticipate? What needs to be changed given the current environment? Remind yourself and your team of the agreed upon path to success and follow it, closely.
4. It’s boring. Most of the tasks associated with organizing are pretty basic – bringing people together, managing timelines and budgets. Being organized isn’t “sexy” and doesn’t provide immediate results.

Key Organizing Activities

1. Stick to the plan and call out those who don’t. The plan should outline who is responsible for what – hold your team accountable.
2. Over-communicate. People get distracted, they forget things – remind your people often what you expect from them, both verbally and in writing.
3. Hold regular meetings to review the plan and your progress, but make them productive. Be disciplined; use the time you need and don’t waste the time you don’t. Have an objective for each meeting – did you meet it? If not, why not?
4. Make lists of things you need to get done and the deadlines associated. (I use Tasks in Outlook, but there are many cool apps now too.)
5. Put key dates and deadlines on your calendar and hold the group to them. Adjustments should be made when appropriate, but always having to reschedule meetings or consistently missing deadlines are signs of trouble.

Bottom line, organizing takes time and it’s often time spent on what many call “administrative” activities – making lists, populating your calendar, reviewing the plan. These are not unimportant tasks, although they’re often pushed aside or avoided in favor of something more interesting or immediately gratifying.

Managers: take some time to organize your people and resources; I think you’ll find it easier to achieve the objectives of the plan.

Comments or questions about Planning and/or Organizing? Please post below. Thank you!

Fall Fancies

This time of year seems to hold so much possibility… a new school year, football season and before we know it, the holidays will be here – yikes!

I started making a list of things I love most about Fall…

• Scarves
• Cozy meals from the crock pot
• Football (Wisconsin Badgers, Green Bay Packers and New England Patriots!)
• Boots & Blazers
• Returning to red wine. (Thank you Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc for spending the summer with me!)
• Pumpkin Farms
• Apple Crisp
• A more relaxed pace (I feel pressure to fit in A LOT during the summer – travel, alfresco drinks & dining, running & bike rides, concerts, beaches & boating, grilling, etc. I’ll miss these things, but not the pressure to do all of them, all the time.)
• Seeing more movies and award season
• Fabrics like tweed and herringbone
• The Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks – it’s back!
• Fingerless gloves
• Fresh air and no more A/C!
• Soup (I’ve missed soup. It’s too hot to eat it in the summer.)

What have I missed?

I hope you had a fabulous summer and have much to look forward to this Fall!

Breaking Down POSDC, Part 1 – P is for Planning

My dad has a lot of “isms;” you know, phrases said so many times that you can finish the sentence before it’s out of one’s mouth.  His first name is Keith, so I call them “Keith-isms.” He has so many that I’ve begun printing them on shirts for my family as Christmas presents. Some of my favorites are:

• Learn one thing! He said this to all the kids as we were exiting the morning car-pool in elementary school.

• Your first wealth is health. After seeing both of his parents age and pass away, my dad has determined that no matter how much money or success you have, it’s secondary to a pain-free, disease-free existence.

• Red wine and chocolate is a happy marriage. My dad discovered red wine later in life, and he’s determined that drinking red wine while eating something chocolate-y is a great combination.

One of my dad’s most popular “isms” is listing the responsibilities of management, or POSDC – Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing and Controlling. Over the years, as my sister and I have taken on more responsibilities in our jobs, we hear this reminder a lot, and I think it has served us very well.

In this first of five posts breaking down management responsibilities or POSDC, I’d like to look at Planning…

“Plan” is both a noun and a verb. It can be a document, system, method, drawing, diagram, list or outline to guide how things get done. “Plan” is also an intention or the act of creating the things previously listed. So, planning has two parts – the hard copy “plan” and the very act of preparation.

Why is Planning important in an organization?
Plan (noun) is important because it outlines how things get done. It includes processes and steps, time frames and deadlines, goals and deliverables, staffing levels and budgets and other important things related to producing and selling a product or service. Without a plan to follow, how do teams arrive at a common understanding? Whether it’s a single project plan or a company-wide strategic plan, the plan itself gets everyone on the same page, determines who should work on what and for how long.

Planning (verb) is important because without it, the above plan (noun) would not exist. Creating a plan takes research, time and teamwork. The act of planning helps an organization forecast revenue, create budgets and make hiring decisions; it helps determine what resources are needed, and when. The act of planning is also important because it gives staff an opportunity to ask questions, challenge one another and think critically about how the business or department is functioning.

Why is Planning an important responsibility of management?
Because company management, or ownership, has the 30,000 ft. view of the business (or at least they should.) They use information from all the different internal functions: marketing, sales, finance and operations as well as monitor external trends in the industry in order to determine a direction for the firm (we’ll tackle Directing later.) In order to move many people in a common direction, there needs to be a guide – the plan.

The act of planning is meant to focus managers on the future and answer the question, where are we going? Having been in a few organizations where that answer was unclear, I can tell you, it’s disturbing to your staff when management can’t articulate a direction.

Planning is also important because it helps determine all the other parts of POSDC. Without a plan, what do you organize around? What guides your staffing levels? In what direction do you tell your people to move? Planning gives managers a basis from which to engage in all the other tasks necessary to get things done.

Over the next few weeks (or longer, depending on how quickly I can get the posts finished!) we’ll explore the remaining management responsibilities: Organizing, Staffing, Directing and Controlling. But it’s important to remember that Planning comes first.

Would love to hear your comments about Planning…

On Leadership: Great Quotes from Bill Hybels

From the opening session at the Global Leadership Summit, August 9, 2012.

• Everyone wins when leaders get better.
• Stay curious, otherwise your team will get bored.
• Build a team of “incessant tinkerers.”
• You are the most difficult person you’ll ever lead.
• Leaders’ most valuable asset is their energy, not their time.
• Pick a period during which you can “sprint.” During that time, attack the initiatives that will most benefit the organization; not the things you most want to do.
• You aren’t a leader to “respond” all day. You aren’t a leader to “preside” over people.
• To be a leader is a privilege, not a right.

Right on! Thanks Bill!

Accept and Do – Thoughts on Goal Achievement

I’ve had a couple conversations with friends, family and colleagues lately about achieving goals – both personal and professional – and it surprised me how lost and frustrated many seemed to feel. I was also surprised at how often I heard a sense of entitlement and helplessness in their comments. I’m no motivational speaker or personal coach, but there are a few things I try to Accept and Do in my life in order to achieve my goals; hopefully they will help you get closer to yours…

Things to Accept

1. The world doesn’t owe you anything. This is hard to accept. As innately self-interested, selfish humans many of us feel that at some level, the universe, society, our family or other groups owe us a shot at our dreams. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but they don’t. They can certainly help and support us, but we are not entitled to a red carpet leading to personal or professional success.
2. It (whatever ‘it’ is) will be hard. Another difficult thing to accept. Hard stuff takes effort; wouldn’t it be great if love, success, wealth and other wonderful things just fell into our laps? Anything that brings you true joy is worth working hard for, and unfortunately, you’re going to have to work hard for it. When you achieve it, use that feeling of gratitude and accomplishment as motivation for tackling the next goal.
3. You will fail and it will suck. Serial entrepreneurs seem to understand this better than anyone and I applaud them for it. Failing feels terrible and often has a lasting negative impact on our self-esteem. It’s so hard to pick yourself up after you fail – but you have to – and you’ll likely be pleasantly surprised by how much you learned from your failure. Those lessons can serve as motivation for doing ‘it’ better next time.
4. Your limitations. We all wish we were better, smarter, stronger, faster, etc. It’s natural to want to improve yourself, but often, significant improvement comes when you accept and like yourself for who you are, regardless of things you have or have not achieved. This isn’t an excuse not to try, but at some point, we need to cut ourselves some slack.

Things to Do  

1. Stop complaining and making excuses. Right now. Why? Because it’s self-defeating – we believe what we tell ourselves and if we’re constantly listing all the reasons why we can’t do something, then that will likely become reality. Additionally, it doesn’t make others want to help you, and I can’t remember the last time I achieved something without help.
2. Surround yourself with people you respect and admire. The people you choose to interact with have a direct and profound effect on your level of motivation and access to opportunity. Spend time with people who are achieving goals themselves and allow them to inspire you.
3. Share your goals with your network. Those high-achieving, inspirational folks mentioned above can’t help you if they don’t know what your goals are. Regularly share your goals and dreams, as well as your progress toward them, with a group of trusted friends and colleagues. You may be pleasantly surprised by how many offers of help and support you receive.
4. Ask for help; then actually use it. I’m often asked to keep my eyes open for job opportunities for other marketers and people in my network. I’m continually amazed (and truthfully, a little disappointed) at how rarely the opportunities I send are followed up on. Asking for help isn’t enough – you actually have to act on the help that’s provided to you. The assistance you’re given will not always be stellar, or even relevant, but you can’t sit back and congratulate yourself for simply asking; it won’t get you any closer to your goal.
5. Repeat. You achieved a goal – great! Got any others? Think of goal achievement as a process, not a destination. And remember to give back – you can be one of those high-achieving, inspirational people for others.

Like I said, I’m no motivational speaker or life coach, but I do actively think about these things in my life and I’ve found them helpful. I think much of it comes from picking myself up from a failed marriage, working for a company that advises struggling (and often failing) companies and, frankly, great advice from my dad. I hope these remarks help readers Accept challenges and Do things that motivate and lead to success – however you define it.

Would love to hear Comments below…

Biz Stone – Innovating to Move Humanity Forward

I recently attended the 2011 TMA Annual Convention in San Diego and had the pleasure of listening to remarks by Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter. (I have to admit, I think Mr. Stone was a strange choice for this predominantly male, over 50, finance crowd, but what do I know?) I wanted to share some of the points he creatively illustrated using both images and stories.

Biz began by sharing the creation and evolution of Twitter, which really took flight in 2007 at the SXSW festival in Austin, TX. Biz watched as a large group of attendees got up and left a panel session after reading on Twitter that the discussion across the hall was much more interesting. A similar scene unfolded that evening, when an attendee tweeted the name and address of a bar and within hours, there was a line around the block. Biz referred to this behavior as flocking – the many acting as one, coordinating in real-time. That’s when he realized that Twitter would succeed – and succeed it has.

Today, Twitter boasts 200 million users, (socialtimes.com) many of them global brands, and logs 250 million tweets per day. Biz mentioned that in 2008, Twitter found its way into almost every significant global event – political uprisings, natural disasters and other events across the globe. He refers to this phenomenon as the Triumph of Humanity – our desire to collaborate and support one another. He’s careful not to credit technology itself with Twitter’s success; and makes the distinction that technology is simply a framework for building tools that move humanity forward.

After sharing his Twitter story, Biz shifted gears in order to share some lessons from his life experiences, using a photo to introduce each one.

Lesson 1: Opportunity can be manufactured.
Photo: a group of American Indians playing La Crosse.

Biz never played sports as a child so when he got to high school he found it extremely difficult to make any of the athletic teams. He had however participated in a group called the Boy Rangers which he described as a pre-cursor to Boy Scouts with a nod to the American Indian. Turns out, the Boy Rangers played a game that was similar to La Crosse, so Biz asked his high school if he could start a La Crosse team. He found a coach, recruited other students and was voted captain of the team. He became a talented La Crosse player even though he had never participated in organized athletics as a child.

His point: current circumstances shouldn’t define the available opportunities – by re-arranging the circumstances, opportunities can be manufactured.

Lesson 2: Creativity is a renewable resource.
Photo: Sketch of a bird.

Biz went to college on an art scholarship and to make extra money, accepted a job at a large publishing house moving boxes. One night after all the graphic designers had gone home, Biz sketched a design for a book jacket and slipped it into a large pile of options to be sent to the client. To his boss’s surprise, they chose his design and he was offered a position as a graphic designer.

His point: there are infinite solutions to good design and they may come from people/places unexpected or unexplored.

Lesson 3: To succeed spectacularly, you must be willing to fail spectacularly.
Photo: Scene from Winds of Desire – an angel standing atop a building ready to fall to earth.

In this 1987 Franco-German film, an angel renounces immortality in order to become human and fall in love with a woman. (If this sounds familiar, you may have seen the American re-make, City of Angels, with Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan from 1998.)

What if the woman didn’t love him back? What if being human was a real downer? What if he got to earth and immediately got hit by a bus?

His point: great success requires great risk – odds are you won’t achieve the former without the latter.

Lesson 4: There is compound interest in helping others.
Photo: a healthy African family.

While working with (Product)^RED to help treat HIV in Africa, Biz was introduced to something called the Lazarus Effect – after taking a certain drug cocktail for a period of time, a deathly ill HIV patient would come back to life. Adults would go back to work, children would go back to school and entire village economies would recover. These results created measurable success not only in the fight against HIV, but in the economic condition in multiple areas of Africa.

His point: helping others may yield compound results you never envisioned.

To close the presentation, Biz shared a number of assumptions he holds true and expects his colleagues to adhere to daily:

• We can change the world, build a business and have fun.
• We don’t always know what’s going to happen.
• There is a creative answer to every problem.
• There are more smart people outside of our organization.
• We will win if we always do the right thing for the users.
• The only deal worth doing is a win-win deal.
• Your co-workers are smart and have good intentions.

As I mentioned above, I’m not sure Biz Stone was the most appropriate or relevant speaker for the TMA crowd, but I enjoyed his remarks and applaud many of the perspectives he shared. I hope he continues to innovate in order to move humanity forward.

Cozy Fall Chicken Soup Recipe

Random, I know, but I’m making this soup tonight and it’s so easy and yummy that I needed to share it. (Props to the lady at a Lutheran Church in Green Bay, WI. who put this in the church recipe book – although I’ve tried to class it up a little with some fresh ingredients!)

In a large pot, brown about 1 lb. of chicken (I use chicken breasts, but use what you like.) When almost cooked through, remove chicken and set aside.

In same pot, saute a couple cloves of garlic and a small onion, making sure to scrape the brown goodness from the bottom of the pan.

While the garlic and onion are cooking, shred the chicken. When shredded, add back to the pot.

Add 1 big can (or two 15 oz cans) of Cannellini beans.

Add 2 cups of chicken stock (you may need more than this.)

Add 1 jar of your favorite salsa (not the giant size, just a small jar.)

Chop and toss in about 1/4 cup of Parsley, or another fresh herb. And/or add a couple squeezes of fresh lemon juice.

Simmer for 20-30 mins. Serve with crusty french bread. Yum!

Hope you enjoy! I’ll be eating this tonight!