These tools will probably pass away and be replaced by other things at some point. Nothing is religion. But, I’ve done a fair amount of progress in my business and I’ve organized things to a selling system that I like.
Obviously, whenever possible, I make tools I like into Simplifilm customers, as I’ve done with RescueTime, Yesware, Clicky, and ScreenFlow.
Anyway, I have a sales system that I’m more or less happy with at the moment. It’s certainly working now, and I can sell films and run the company in a more or less streamlined manner. I’ll get into what I’m doing to do that at some point.
Here’s just a snapshot in time of what I’m using right now. Remember: the Tools don’t matter. Each of these adds 2-5% to my efficiency. Nothing is life and death.
To run my life:
RecsueTime.Com. I use this in fits and starts. This week I’ve been sick, so my productivity goes to hell (think: playing Civilization V).
Before I Sell You:
GoogleReader: I have a tuned set of alerts that help me find people. I am enthusiastic at heart. I love to ping people out of the blue. I have some blogs I follow that are off-the-beaten-path with insight as to tech stuff. I can go through this.
Search.Twitter.Com I use a refined version of This Method, to help sell more stuff. I’ve had some ways of getting better at doing that than I had been in the past so, there’s that for you.
Batchbook: This is my CRM. I’m more or less happy with it. Nothing’s perfect, not even Batchbook. However, there are events that it handles fairly well, and it’s better than anything that I’ve found (for me, at least). It’s got some better capacities than I’ve used, but it helps me stay on track with lists of things that I might want to do. I do the ones that I want. (My to-do list is a suggestion list. Nothing more. GTD is over.)
Yesware: Fabulousity. Our video is in production. When I email you, I can know when you open it, if you forwarded it, if you clicked the links and more. It’s a mean and brutal tool. What I’ve already done with it has been to call the people that were interested in engaging us. I’m developing a library of sales and process messages.
Clicky: We’re gearing up to take over the world on the Internet. Clicky is a big part of that. We see how the customers get here, what they do and how often. There’s a concept in marketing called a scent trail. Beacons of competence at every place.
Screenflow: We like to make movies. We use Screenflow to a fair amount, and we’ll be doing some more with it especially now that they are customers.
Google Docs: Frictionless collaboration FTW. We do our scripts on a yellow pad at first, andthen we move into google docs at some point. I use a ton of “comments” and “notes” in my writing- there is often a way of saying something…we have to note what we don’t love. I’m a mediocre writer but a great editor. The form of the “Explainer” is suited for me. 150 words, and largely, it’s about editing.
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