Lessons

Lesson Info

Tracking Your Leads and Contacts

So you got all these prospects right you got these leads oh how do you keep track of it all so raise your hand if you could tell me how you keep track of it all system the hands lou uh cheryl does cheryl how do you keep track I do keep track but I don't think you're gonna like it I have a little box okay with my back box yes that I took away with my tools which are my most valuable things because that's what I used to make my jewellery on and so on I just ran I put business cards with chicken scratch notes in this box okay but what do you do with them? Well get in there well no no I have to I actually scheduled time to follow up okay well that and I put I put it on my schedule okay well that's all right that's right? They're the most important thing you actually put it on your schedule too to make these follow of calls that's actually the key yeah but I'm not an excel spreadsheet that's okay you know you do it works for you just you have to have some system in place it's not like you h...

ave to get an account at sales force. You guys know what salesforce's do you think you need sales force if you're a solo preneurs which is what we're talking about for the most part here right solo preneurs so yeah so okay that's your system doesn't work yeah if you what do you think that if you made some changes to it you could make it more efficient ee ay dio I think if it were better organized that it would be easier to use how could you organize it so that it was better organized? Well, I could probably the best way would to be to keep a notebook with the whatever biz the carter chicken scratch note tape it in there and then have a way to keep your manual gal huh? I really am I fight that but what if it works for you then it works for you but you've probably could make it easier if you automated it for sure but I'll leave it up to you as long as you're doing it but then whatever you're doing look for a few ways to make it more efficient and you know in korea will probably increase your sales who else tracks their prospects of their leads and how do you do it mary do mine you do yours an xl I just like having that visual on everything on esso I used I just use excel and so I have thes columns in excel the condo contact info takes up a few more columns than one but you get the gist right then I then I put down what's my next bust up like talked to burning man um next month right? I mean I know that's actually on my spreadsheet somewhere like some specific person to talk teo priority not everything is a priority so identify your hot prospects and you know how you identify your hot prospects well here's how you identify your hot prospects and your priorities in general I mean when you're not when you're not creating its what's the fastest path cash what's the fastest path the cash that's what you ask yourself all the time because you're gonna get overwhelmed on that at times I get overwhelmed at times I've got all these projects all these priorities and then sometimes you have to go hold on a second what's the fastest path the cash here all right so next up we're gonna have a meeting as our next step to have a meeting is our next step to get payment is our next step to what is our next step because we had that meeting were high we both identified what are no except is so that's why you know what to put there priority we covered referred by you could put that there if you want it's useful to know who's referring business to us you can send a thank you card or something because they're doing all the work for you those people who are offering your pearls do not forget to thank your referrals do not forget to follow up with an introduction or you are gonna get blacklisted in their mind it's really insulting if you don't follow up on a referral and then the type so I have different types you know I have I could it could be an individual collector it could be a potential strategic partner or another type it could be a press lead now those air those air what I track those of the categories that I track is this helpful is just a spreadsheet you don't really you can use contact there's contact management online software that fence there all really good but I just do you think simple because I like to know how many you know and and here's the thing this you can set aside a certain amount of time each week or each day to follow up fastest on the fastest path to cash you can schedule it in your calendar just like an appointment like from this time to this time, right? Or you could say I'm in it I'm gonna do ten of these a day I'm going to make contact with ten a day, meaning I'm going to write a thank you note that's one I'm gonna make a phone call that's too I'm going to send an email that's three right it's just basic really basic business development activities that found hard can you commit and you could pick the number whatever is within, you know your comfort zone whatever it is, it could just be one college day whatever it isthe what do you guys willing to commit to something detroit view in the in the studios have a mastermind partner or someone that you're going to buddy up with? Is everyone partnered? Is everybody at home got a mastermind partner and accountability partner code turn to that person during our next break and say what? How many contacts you're gonna make a day? Can you do that it's all about taking action question earlier on that I didn't get to go throw this in now star h is asking us on twitter what if we are the spouse of an artist who's trying to find their footing how can we help should they be there mastermind or the most that you think separates everybody that's why I think you do it let stephen this is this get this question every now and then why? Why shouldn't they do it in general in general because you really need that spouse for that relationship and you don't really need to add something else to potentially muck it up yes, the best boundaries a role specifically quinn that they can fulfill in terms of being supportive yeah big hugs and weak applause cooking dinner when you're tired of telling all their friends and you know I mean little things like you know my wife's having an event sure but I love to make a sandwich I don't know I think that's blurring could blur some boundaries if you have really clear boundaries around it and it's not gonna interfere but man it's a slippery slope I think so I believe you're in charge of your own success if you want to be an artist and you wanna get paid then go do it if you wanna you know if you want to representative I don't know I guess there are there are husband and wife teams that do that but like who's that guy that rock n roll guy and the british rock and roller who ate a rat on stage and his wife three osborne so if you want you know that it's a bat it was a bad thing that's an example of a husband wife team and their crazy baby she is his manager's she is his manager yeah and they've yeah their story is yeah it's just I don't know that I just don't think it's a good idea I think that if you want teo here's the thing right you can't actually with the value proposition that we've identified for tara she can't delegate any part of that right? Not really no. Well yeah, but it's very personal so the whole business cycle is part of her creative process I hope that's what you're seeing it's not like you can just abandon or delegate any part of these eight realms really can't I actually have had my husband do some mechanical things that he enjoys for instance operating a drill press I it's a necessary evil I don't really love it and he likes it so very it's got clear boundaries around totally don't ask him to do anything else but if I mark all the spots where he needs to drill and I lined everything up and get everything set up and he happily drills away so that's something you can delegate and with very clear boundaries is he coming to your trunk shows and trying on jewelry? No, but he does he talks too he's actually been very helpful in recruiting men to purchase from may you don't rely on him you know this is the key yeah, I have full responsibility it's an easy way if you rely on other people it's a really easy way I'd be disappointed all the time and if you're disappointed all the time then you khun be depressed all the time and downhill spiral yeah and then they're not your friend anymore that's not good okay, so you have to have some system of tracking you will feel so much more focused and confident if you do it I promise you that and have to start with you get a business card you could put it in a box like cheryl does that's fine if it's working for cheryl I'm not goingto make a judgment if it's working it's working where you can keep it in you can copy and paste it from email whatever whatever system works for you but just understand you can't you you won't make sales if you don't follow up on your leads and your prospects it's because it's a process and it takes sometimes a few conversations is about having guided conversations but generally it's more than one conversation. All right, so what I'd like to talk about is schmoozing do's and don'ts that's unless what I cannot bear I I'll take sales over schmoozing I hate that word why do you hate that word? I know exactly what it means it means getting out them being nice in a way, an authentic way to people you really don't want to deal with, okay? So that's the key don't be an authentic right but they're just the worst schmoozing around have a conversation right? Great don't don't label it with some tacky world, right? Well, I did number forty one see, I don't have such a negative I can put it, I can I think it's just kind of play fall the word, but what I'm actually I'm not advocating that you don't waste your time if you're not actually connecting with the person who's in front of you or if they're just sucking your soul dry by talking about themselves and not ask in one word about who you are and why you're there and it's just you know, get away or run away don't that you need to suffer my whole thing is you don't need to suffer you don't need to suffer when you're networking and do you know if you guys happen to know why my creative life no how do I land here way we're just having a conversation we're just having a conversation so what happened was I went to a luxury through the luxury marketing counsel I went to a book signing and it was a real snore the author just didn't do anything to engage all these people who came like she didn't even like offered to sign books or talk about like and it's just like why am I here what we're doing here? And so then what happened was and I was just like I wasn't really didn't have the energy to go say hello to someone and I was just I made myself go, which is not always sometimes it's not the best thing to do in this case it was good that I made myself go so I made myself go and I thought all I gotta do is meet one person connect with one person and I have accomplished my goal that's how I view it I don't need to meet a room full of people I don't need to facilitate a sale I just need to meet one new person put one new person in my life right? So I went I'm stand around I think I know what I remember I was stuffing my face with chocolate truffles because those were good that was the good part of thie book signing these chocolate truffles they were divine and then lovely lady came up to me and her name was regina. Yeah, regina and regina said I said, well, you know what I said what do you do? Right? Because we all know how to answer that question she said I work a creative live what is creative live? I keep hearing this you should be teaching a creative why we should be teaching it created what is creative life because I had never bothered to actually look it up and so she said, oh, this online educational platform and we teach creatives business and photography and she said it much better than I'm saying it but anyway, I thought, wow, that sounds really cool I probably have a look into that. So that was it. So here I am because I stayed at the meeting a chocolate truffles it wasn't that bad really and then she told me how she actually has a law degree and she taught english in different countries and that she is does social media consulting and I learned about regina and now I know someone who I didn't know before and that she just moved here from her saying that that she's a relatively new to san francisco and you no got a new acquaintance out of it and now I see her in the hall say hi, regina your fault but you came in to be a student can't you write? The next step I took was I thought, well, if I'm going to two days of teaching is probably be some work involved and I saw a course on strategic partnerships which I mentioned has been key to developing my business and I thought, well, I have failed here and I've succeeded here so I could stand to learn a bit more came in, took a course on strategic partners, watch the instructor and thought, yeah, I could do that I could do that actually evey at lunch he said, did you say yeah, I said and started telling me what she did and her passions in life and I said you should teach here, so lots of people thought that you would be a good yeah that's so anyway that's how it so it's just it's really natural what happened very organically and I get to meet people who I didn't know we're following me in canada, right it's really pretty cool and I just that's it tara my are you a student told that sent cool yeah you were in the same class so I had heard of an and then I met and so I opened my eyes I better follow and how did how would you heard of me I think I read in johnson field's book but also seen you mentioned by another artist coach or something okay yeah oh great yes see small world and that so that's what smoothing networking it's really just like your front we just find these connections that's all we were trying to dio you don't have to try don't I just don't try to make a sale you don't have to do that to see if you can find your tribe so I did find my tribe I really I actually went to the creative live website I saw and on the about paige in bold letters every artist is an entrepreneur and every entrepreneur's art and I was all by myself and I went yes get it get it oh I was so happy that wouldn't happen if I wouldn't have gone to that particular event so it's really about looking for connections that are natural that are authentic and you don't have to suffer someone who is sucking your solo while they talk about themselves it's just not necessary just excuse yourself politely pretend your phone rang you know you just speak kind and move on so because that can happen occasionally I would also encourage you to remember that everybody is there for the same reason you're there they're trying to build their network they're trying to make connections, trying to find the third tribe they're trying to find people who have similar interests who have similar values and maybe you're not the connection for them but you might know someone who is like regina why don't you think she and introduce me to lilia and then I don't know I kind of got anyway it was just really interesting how it all works out so just remember they're human too they're trying to do the same same thing and I would say don't try it I mean everybody just try to meet one person if you see someone who's like looks like they're shy and withdrawn it would be a great gift just walk up and say hi my name is fern in hi my name's terra what's her name and you'll see a big smile come across their face because they're already feeling uncomfortable and they don't they don't want to be there either and suddenly they want to be there so it's just really that simple go say hello go introduce yourself and let them talk unless they talked the whole time and bi curious like don't don't you know, asked if you're gonna ask them what they diode do you really want to know you don't really want to know then you don't really have any business being there, but if you really wanna know you know I want to know what people do and interested people dio I want to know what people who are smarter than me, who are you know, doing interesting things I contact I say that because everyone's looking at their phone nowadays and I think it's kind of rude and you lose connection, you lose an energetic and personal collect connection if you keep looking at your phone so it's really nice if you just keep eye contact to think you'll find that it, kate, it makes a big difference and how they feel afterwards, my angelou said, but it's not that people don't remember what you said they remember how you made them feel so really basic stuff, but I just want you to relax around the whole idea of networking schmoozing set like all these words air really charged but here's, what they really mean is just making a connection don't interrupt obvious, but if you're really here's, what happens? I did this myself. I knew what my value proposition waas so I wanted interrupt people and tell them what you know, when I was really anxious and it was looking for business and so I did that I interrupted where he talked about look, the phone but look at the phone and, um, if someone is really making you feel bad, you have an obligation to stay. Um why should you write? So what do your experiences with the networking or schmoozing or whatever you wanna call it? How do you how do you deal with your strategy? Do you get out in the world and meet people? Or do you expect? Ah, collector will walk through the studio doors with their black american express card because you made it clear. What if you had my magic wand? But since you don't know what do you d'oh, cheryl, what do you do? Well, I have to say that I avoided doing shows and being in public for a long time because I just was so uncomfortable. Uh, why were you uncomfortable? Well, because I don't like small talk, you know, I'm not good at it. And, um so but when I what the big difference for me was making it not about me. Um, thank you. Okay, I could be uncomfortable, and I could be sweaty and, you know, not wanting to be here, but how are you and what do you you know, what, do you d'oh, uh, is it sets you free, right, and one thing leads to no, I mean, sometimes people are answer in monosyllables and you can't really get a conversation out of them probably don't want to talk to them anyway so you just move on to the next person next yeah so once you establish a dialogue it's really easy tio keep asking questions if you're listening you have to listen to them though you can't you can't have one ear in your own head in one ear on that person you have to really hear what they're saying right and I was ready to deliver your pitch was just what I am saying just forget about this whole elevator pitch thing it's really yeah it doesn't work it doesn't it's broken no one wants to be pitched people just want to connect other people and that they feel some residents with and they feel like there's similar values similar interests or similar friendships or colleagues that's all they're looking for so great I love how you just said that you're uncomfortable you just do it like life yes quinn so you've had this really pleasant interaction with someone and you're sort of done okay you know it's comfortable it's good but it's sort of time to move on that is really awkward to me okay how do you perhaps someone else could say how do you exit without sounding abrupt and rude and ridiculous I just say if it's often just you know trying to tell the truth as much as possible but I might say so nice to meet you but I see someone who's come in I need to say a quick hello to actually get them because actually that's usually often the truth is that you know I saw okay there's the chairman of luxury market in council I have something I need to talk to him about so very nice meeting you just gotta go and they're like oh they completely understand I can't keep I can't be with one personal time that these three people I gotta connect with this meeting before it's over so that's how I do it does that help okay something negative yeah I'd like to have another alternative arnoux in away saying I'm sorry I've seen somebody more important than you yeah so is there another way that maybe someone much I mean I usually just say you know could you give me your card right? And I think that our exit strategy I think that's actually in there I think that's actually very good exit strategy can you give me your card but I wouldn't say wrapping it up because if you're saying I've got to talk to you it's almost like you're implying there's more interesting people on this more important people yeah, you'd have to be very how you don't I'm sure you're very track that's not what I'm implying I'm just saying it could come across yeah it could come across that way but that's actually just the truth just because I have someone that I was supposed to meet, I'll say something like because it's true, you know what? I'm sorry, I see someone I was supposed to meet and that's actually the truth is that's actually the truth. When I go to these that's what's going on, I actually said I was going to meet them, clock's ticking, but I like that, you know, but I'd be careful. You know, if you say, give me your card and you sometimes and expectation you're going to contact. Yeah, you have no intention to be careful about. It is a minefield. Well, I think, it's, just the golden rule, you know, do you wantto others? Yes, it's not. That is really doesn't you don't overcomplicate it? How would you like to be treated when you're a boar on that fucking bleeding? I don't know that it's hard, but, um, truth will generally set you free.