All tasks have one thing in common. They need to get done. This is especially true for businesses because an incomplete task can result in a lost sale or customer. In fact, most of our tasks are related to customers including follow up with an inquiry, updating customer contact information, emailing, calling, and the list goes on.
At the same time, sometimes our tasks have nothing to do with the customer such as the report that you must generate for the monthly sales meeting. This is an example of a non-customer task that also needs to get done or there could be consequences.
Our tasks get out of control when we start losing or misplacing the post-it notes with the task. We know they are out of control when we see a list of contacts that need to be added to our CRM and it puts us into a frantic mode because it was supposed to be done 3 weeks ago. Out-of-control task lists are another symptom of Follow Up Fatigue when you are in reactive mode and spending all your time following up on tasks.
How do you take control of your tasks rather than letting the tasks control you?
We want to explore a couple of changes that you can make in your business day. These changes will help you gain control of your tasks so that you can spend less time reacting to what needs to be done and more time being proactive by building customer and business relationships.
Use Your CRM
Your CRM can be your greatest asset in managing tasks. Your CRM gives you the tools to automate tasks for customer follow-up and administrative responsibilities for your internal sales team. However, it will only help you if you use it. If you are unsure how to go about setting this up, we would love to talk to you about a strategy that is right for your business.
Create dynamic contact lists in your CRM
Dynamic contact lists use a query that identifies contacts by one or more variables. Why does this have to do with tasks? Let’s say you received a call from a customer, and they moved from Vermont to Illinois. You are now tasked with updating their contact information and possibly other information based on Illinois. With a dynamic contact list, you have simplified this task because when you update their information, the CRM knows to move them into a dynamic list for residences of Illinois. Now they will receive Illinois-relevant emails and promotions.
What that means is the next time you send a special email to Illinois residents, your latest updates and entries are included so there is no hassle to create a mail list. Just send your specialized email to your specialized list and know that you have helped your prospects.
Hire a virtual assistant for data entry
Task overload happens when you do not delegate. Emails will continue to fill your inbox. The phone will continue to ring. Business cards will continue to be collected. Zoom chat files will continue to be downloaded. You are collecting data and it needs to be centralized and updated. We shared in a previous blog about centralizing data, but you cannot do it alone. There are not enough hours in a day. Hiring a virtual assistant to help manage your tasks will help in the following ways:
- They will be able to take the emails, chat files, business cards, and voicemails, and enter the data into your CRM.
- They can help you follow up with customers, leads, vendors, or your remote team
Your two greatest benefits with a virtual assistant are knowing that your CRM is up to date and that your tasks are not getting lost in the shuffle.
Combine high-tech with high-touch
Even though we live in an “instant” world, people still want interaction. This is true with customer service whether it is B2B or B2C. The challenge is responding to people quickly. How many times have we written down a note to follow up only to remember it while lying in bed in the middle of the night? If we write a task down to follow up, then we are already behind. Combining high-tech with high-touch, we can reduce the number of tasks that require follow-up. There are two technology tools that can be integrated with or without your CRM to help you reduce Follow Up Fatigue:
- Integrate a chatbot on your website, so that your customers can ask questions. You can set it up to automate answers to frequently asked questions or to have a live operator ready to chat.
- Use a texting service to send reminders or to engage in customer service.
Both can be integrated with your CRM.
Conclusion
When we experience Follow Up Fatigue, it affects our customers and co-workers. Getting tasks under control will help us sell our services and nurture our clients more effectively. Although this can be done without a CRM, it is more difficult. If you are not using a CRM, we recommend X2CRM. Contact us today for a demo and free consultation at 301-332-0613.
