Are you hitting your sales number for 2025?

No?

Then boy, do we have a doozy of an edition for you.

But first, a name you should know… Chris Cocca.

El Presidente of many things. The common thread?

Sales. 🤑 

And here he is with Elana dropping serious knowledge. 👇️ 

And off we go.

❓️To the mailbag…

📩 One of my members has been prospecting like crazy already this year, meeting as many folks as she can, calling leads and setting sales appointments.

Amy told us she feels like she can’t keep up with it all!

One of the problems with her go-go-go approach is that she doesn't have the time—nor the desire—to track all those people she's talked to.

Amy told our group it feels like an “unnecessary distraction,” (🙄) one she’d frankly like to avoid.

And yet she also knows she must monitor this data to close more business.

Your advice, please?

Suzie T., Group Chair, Austin, TX

😬 Oh Suzie… (and Amy!)

As the heads of a recruiting firm focused on building sales teams daily, we know there are many different types of salespeople.

Your member sounds like a strong prospector. 💃 

But if Amy’s not managing her follow-up work, she’s only hurting herself.

Why?

She’s leaving dollars on the table.

Lots [and lots] of dollars. 💸 

Now, let’s explore how she can nail the tedious part of her job…

In the olden days (think: pre-Internet) the answer would be for Amy to hire a helper, one who kicks ass at documenting and following up.

Thankfully, that’s no longer needed. Technology is a better option than sourcing the Pepper Potts to your Iron Man.

(Don’t like that analogy? That’s cool. Here’s another one: the Joey to your Chandler.)

Pop references aside, most salespeople and business owners know about CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software. Yet many hold the mistaken belief that CRM is most useful only for big business.

Totally understandable assumption, BTW. The typical CRM installation was once a massive undertaking with the hefty price tag to match.

But these days? CRM lives in the cloud. What’s more, there is a wide variety of CRM packages aimed at small and medium sized businesses… even solopreneurs.

Whether it’s HubSpot, Pipedrive, or some other similar offering, a good CRM is indispensable for the 2025 prospector.

Easy to-use apps running on both your laptop and smartphone allow you to stay on top of every detail of your customer interactions—while also scheduling follow-ups and action items.

But even the best CRM won’t input data itself! (yet)

I experienced firsthand just how vital a good CRM can be while working with a sales pro resistant to embracing software.

What Happens When Your Book Vanishes?

Salesforce had become an industry leading CRM by the mid-2000’s when I first started using it.

Although I loved the system from the start, an expert sales colleague rejected the CRM.

A technophobe, they said he didn’t trust the cloud with their book of business, so he kept a literal book—a black zippered affair that was always close at hand. 🤦‍♂️ 

Until the day he lost it.

The book got misplaced during a hectic day of appointments.

Suddenly they didn’t have any prospecting and follow up information.

He had to rebuild it in bits and pieces over months.

Meanwhile, when I lost a laptop (it was literally left on the roof of my car… and now somewhere in the afterlife), I could still access key data in Salesforce as soon as I remembered where I left the password.

(Spoiler: P@ssw0rd)

My coworker learned from that experience. He embraced using a CRM to track sales and prospect data.

Actually, this helped him super-charge his already impressive numbers. Yes, he kept his (new) black zippered book—but everything that went into it also went into Salesforce.

The AI Assistant Available Your Team Needs

We were just talking about the old school approach of having the right sales partner or assistant.

Nowadays modern technology is taking us back in that direction thanks to AI, a topic Elana is keenly interested in.

As she tells clients, “Many CRM providers now integrate AI into their software.” This helps sales pros tackle the very same challenge Amy faces. One such offering is Scratchpad. (not affiliated… just like the product!)

Scratchpad simplifies pipeline management while also giving sales leaders better visibility into deal flow.

At its core, Scratchpad is what the Amys of the world need.

For example, it can update a CRM with customer deets while generating call summaries noting pertinent data from prospecting conversations.

These are the “boring” tasks Amy hates! It will also create to-do lists of prospects to follow up on, info to email out, and any other steps required to close more.

Never Lose Another Prospect

Whether you are an expert prospector or you manage expert prospectors, the worry that keeps you up at night is letting a great deal slip through the cracks.

This happens way too often when sales teams aren’t well organized and don’t use tech tools to better manage their pipeline.

So… Which CRM and AI solutions are right for you? The answer varies from company to company.

Do you know what doesn’t vary? (here comes the plug)

Our commitment to educating you on top sales insights from the front lines. To learn how we can help you crush it in 2025, send us an email with your query. You got vexing questions? We got (um… the opposite of vexing—whatever that is) answers.

To your sales success, 🚀 

Elana and Ryan