Define Your Process Before You Log In to a Dozen Demos and End Up With a Tech Stack You Don't Use

Trying and buying software when you're frustrated, confused, or rushed is like going grocery shopping when you're hungry...

You end up with indigestion and a big credit card bill.

Before you do either, sit down and make a list. Document both your CURRENT processes and your IDEAL processes, then RANK them in order of importance.

When you do so, you'll know where the true gaps and pain points are, which will guide your software investments.

The Real Problem Is Wing-ittery

Most owners do not have a sales problem. They have a wing-ittery problem. Every call is a fresh start. Every follow-up depends on who remembered. Every quote gets written from scratch. Nothing is the same twice, so nothing can be measured, and nothing can be fixed.

Software does not fix that. It just makes the mess faster and adds a bill.

"Plans are worthless, but planning is everything."
—Dwight D. Eisenhower, November 14, 1957

Ike was not telling anyone to skip the plan. He was saying the value sits in the work of thinking it through. The document matters less than the fact that you sat down and decided how this gets done. That is the part owners skip.

The Rule

Whatever you do two or three times a day, or four or five times a week, write down how you do it. Then automate it if you can.

That is the whole test. Not "is it important." Not "is it strategic." How often do you do it?

Frequency is the signal. A thing you do once a quarter can live in your head. A thing you do five times a week, done a different way every time, is costing you money, and you cannot see where, because there is nothing to compare it against.

What that looks like on a Tuesday

• You answer the same three objections every day. Write down the best answer to each.
• You send the same follow-up four times a week. Write it once, then let the system send it.
• You quote the same job every week. Build the quote once and fill in the blanks.
• You onboard a new client twice a month. Make the checklist.

None of that needs software. All of it needs a decision.

Then, and Only Then, Buy the Software

Once the process is on paper, picking a tool gets easy. You stop asking "what can this do" and start asking "can this run my process." That is a short conversation, and it ends most demos in ten minutes.

It also means the setup sticks. I have built sales and marketing automation for hundreds of small businesses since 2008, across Infusionsoft, Keap, HubSpot, Ontraport, Salesforce, and HighLevel. The builds that last are the ones where the owner knew what he wanted the machine to do before we turned it on. Every time.

Why I Am Allowed to Say This

I was certified in Infusionsoft in the fall of 2008, wrote The Definitive Guide To Infusionsoft in 2012, and was named their Partner of the Year in 2013. I have advised more than 3,500 companies since founding The Sales Whisperer® in 2006.

So I am not against software. I have made a living inside it for seventeen years. I am against buying it instead of thinking, because I have watched that bill come due more times than I can count.

Find Out Which Part You Skipped

The Revenue System Scorecard is 18 questions and takes about four minutes. It scores six areas: message, pipeline, CRM, follow-up, AI, and rep skill. When you finish, you know which one is costing you the most.

It is free, there is nothing to install, and the answer shows up on the screen the moment you are done.

Take the Revenue System Scorecard

Would rather just talk it through? My calendar has free sessions from 15 minutes up to a full 90. Start here.

(Clients with one of my marketing automation experts going "old school" to document their process before login during one of my Implementation Acceleration workshops.)