Get a web-based media sales CRM and you can kiss those stacks of ratty old file folders stuffed with account and contact information goodbye!
Folding filing folders, Boston Index Card Company, Boston, Massachusetts, 1917. Lewis W. Hine, photographer. Library of Congress.

On the Tenth Day of Christmas:

• Update ten of your contacts each week. In media sales, relationships are vital. Many of us have file cabinets filled with ratty file folders, with names written and crossed out and updated on the front, or business cards stapled to the files.
• Move into the next century! If you have a CRM system, you already have a way to keep track of your contacts with your accounts. If you don't, develop a system which you can use to update and access your contacts.
• Starting with your top accounts, add contacts that are not in your system and update phone numbers and addresses; be sure you have email addresses.
• Make notes about their birthdays and what kinds of information they like to see, from ratings to special packages to promotions. Keep this information in your CRM online or in an electronic device — and back up your data — so you can get your clients the best information in the fastest and most reliable way, as well as continually build up your relationships.

And, develop plans to move your nine target accounts through the sales funnel.

And, discover and focus on eight non-returning accounts.

And, when answering avails, make sure your rates expire within seven days.

And, come up with six good ideas for your clients.

Make five new business calls each week.

And, you may have four budgets to hit, so be sure you are paying attention to all of them.

And, find three reports you can use to help you be accountable and develop sales, and visit them frequently.

And, if two (or more) people call on an account in your organization, work together and share information.

And, promise yourself that you will have fantastic and productive one-on-ones forever more.

Next time, on the Eleventh Day of Christmas, I'll suggest that you begin working on your collections before the eleventh hour, like eleven days (or more) before the end of the month.

By Kitty Malone, Efficio Solutions Manager of Client Services