I'm editing this post as a Tribute to Jack Berman. Sadly Jack has passed on, but for those of you who knew Jack I'm sure you'll recall his Call Organizer.
When it was announced, a couple of years ago, that Jack Berman would be a contributor to "Agency Sales" - MANA's magazine, it brought back memories of my CPMR 101 classes, one of which was taught by Jack. It was in his class that Jack introduced the reps to the "Call Organizer".
Jack explained that the Call Organizer was a way to prepare for a sales call and a way to follow up on the results of the call. He gave us a Call Organizer form that he had designed and told us to make it our own. He suggested we (the reps) sit down each Sunday night and write down, on the Call Organizer, our goals and objectives for each company and person we're going to call on during the coming week.
When it was announced, a couple of years ago, that Jack Berman would be a contributor to "Agency Sales" - MANA's magazine, it brought back memories of my CPMR 101 classes, one of which was taught by Jack. It was in his class that Jack introduced the reps to the "Call Organizer".
Jack explained that the Call Organizer was a way to prepare for a sales call and a way to follow up on the results of the call. He gave us a Call Organizer form that he had designed and told us to make it our own. He suggested we (the reps) sit down each Sunday night and write down, on the Call Organizer, our goals and objectives for each company and person we're going to call on during the coming week.
At the end of the 101 week, the Call Organizer, along with a half dozen other ideas, was on my list of "to set up" once I got back to the office. That was in 1991 [I was a kid when I took the session :) ] and the Call Organizer became one of my most successful tools for selling.
My customers always knew that I had written down the important information we discussed during our meetings and that I could go back for years to look up pricing or other pertinent information that we had talked about.
Over time, it became easier to prepare for sales calls because I didn't have to remember what I had introduced, quoted or talked about during the last call or the previous one or the one from 4 months ago - all the information I needed was right in my call organizers, which was already in the company folder.
When I left the company I had 13 years of call organizers behind me.
How does this apply to MRSware you ask?
The Call Organizer of yesterday is now the Journal of today. If you take the time to fill out a Journal you can have the same results as I did with the Call Organizer. There will also be a history that is built of your customers' needs and preferences.
With MRSware you have a few options on what will work best for you.
One option is for you to open a new Journal and type in the objectives or goals for your sales call. You can then print the Journal. During your call, write down the results of your call and the follow up needed. After the sales call. enter the information in your already created Journal. You can also create new Tasks for the follow up and assign them to yourself or your sales support person.
Another option is to print a Contact Printout report showing your past activities and a Customer Snapshot report showing the company's sales for the last year and write your goals and objectives on the back of these reports. During the call write down the results and follow up needed. After the sales call, open a new Journal and enter all of the pertinent information in the Journal. Again, open a new Task for follow up and assign it to yourself or to a sales support person.
You can also use MRSware Minutes - a transcription service offered by EYOND, Inc -and dictate the results of your call and the follow up needed. You can ask the transcriber to assign tasks for follow up or enter future appointments you have set up.
The best part of Journals is the fact that others in your agency can see what has occurred - so if you're on vacation your customer can still be taken care of. And when you get back, you'll be able to see what happened while you were gone.
That's first class collaboration and customer service!
Thanks for the memories, Jack. You made a difference in the lives of many reps.
My customers always knew that I had written down the important information we discussed during our meetings and that I could go back for years to look up pricing or other pertinent information that we had talked about.
Over time, it became easier to prepare for sales calls because I didn't have to remember what I had introduced, quoted or talked about during the last call or the previous one or the one from 4 months ago - all the information I needed was right in my call organizers, which was already in the company folder.
When I left the company I had 13 years of call organizers behind me.
How does this apply to MRSware you ask?
The Call Organizer of yesterday is now the Journal of today. If you take the time to fill out a Journal you can have the same results as I did with the Call Organizer. There will also be a history that is built of your customers' needs and preferences.
With MRSware you have a few options on what will work best for you.
One option is for you to open a new Journal and type in the objectives or goals for your sales call. You can then print the Journal. During your call, write down the results of your call and the follow up needed. After the sales call. enter the information in your already created Journal. You can also create new Tasks for the follow up and assign them to yourself or your sales support person.
Another option is to print a Contact Printout report showing your past activities and a Customer Snapshot report showing the company's sales for the last year and write your goals and objectives on the back of these reports. During the call write down the results and follow up needed. After the sales call, open a new Journal and enter all of the pertinent information in the Journal. Again, open a new Task for follow up and assign it to yourself or to a sales support person.
You can also use MRSware Minutes - a transcription service offered by EYOND, Inc -and dictate the results of your call and the follow up needed. You can ask the transcriber to assign tasks for follow up or enter future appointments you have set up.
The best part of Journals is the fact that others in your agency can see what has occurred - so if you're on vacation your customer can still be taken care of. And when you get back, you'll be able to see what happened while you were gone.
That's first class collaboration and customer service!
Thanks for the memories, Jack. You made a difference in the lives of many reps.
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