Eight short steps, the last one optional. As you answer, your CRM takes shape and we point out what firms like yours usually miss. Send it to us at the end and we read it before we speak.
The kind of business you are decides every question after this one, and how you earn decides what a relationship is worth and how long it lives.
We have suggested a starting set for your type of business. Remove what does not fit, add what we missed.
Most firms list clients and stop. The people who send you clients, and the people who quietly make your work possible, are usually the ones going cold.
Three rings is enough. Inner circle: the ones you would call on a Sunday. Active: the ones you are working with or want to be. Network: everyone else worth staying connected to.
Inner circle is deliberately small. If it is over forty, it is not an inner circle, it is a list.
How your people like to be reached is worth more than any feature. A system that nags you to email someone who only takes calls will be ignored within a fortnight.
| Group | How often | Usually by |
|---|---|---|
| Inner circle | a call or a short message | |
| Active | a short message | |
| Network | a considered email, and moments |
The system works if one person spends twenty minutes a week with the Today view. We agree who, and when, before we install anything.
Choose yours. They become the stages of your pipeline, in your own words.
Most firms track the first sale and lose the second. A renewal date, a review or a follow-up after the work is where a client decides to stay.
A campaign, a build, an engagement: work with phases, deliverables and a sign-off.
Choose every one that applies. Several at once is common.
Contacts, companies, deals, notes and logged activities.
Most of the risk in a new system is in the data you already have. We count every person, firm and conversation before and after the move, and the old system is left untouched until the counts agree.
Optional, and it makes the difference: what to connect and who uses it are what decide a build. Skip any question.
This shapes who sees what. It never changes the price: we never charge by the number of people.
Not the number of people who use it. What we connect, what your clients see and the rules it must follow: that is the work, so that is what we ask.
Your pipeline, in your own steps
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SuppliersPartnersWe read every one before the call. Forty-five minutes, no slides, and we will tell you if you do not need us. A copy comes to your inbox.
It is with us, and a copy is on its way to your inbox. We read it before we speak: forty-five minutes, no slides, and we will tell you if you do not need us.
Book the callRather read it first? The email ends with the same button.