Using CRM Tools for Sales Tracking

I met a sales team that tracks 27 different metrics. But none of them matter. They measure: - Calls made - Emails sent - Meetings booked - Demos delivered - Talk-to-listen ratio - Response time - Pipeline coverage But they all miss the most important number: How often prospects share your content with others. This hit me yesterday. We analyzed our last 200 deals: Won deals: Champion shared content with 5+ stakeholders Lost deals: Champion shared with fewer than 2 people It wasn't about our: - Product demos - Discovery questions - Pricing strategy - Negotiation skills It was about whether our champion could effectively sell for us. Think about your current pipeline: Do you know how many people have seen your proposal? Do you know which slides your champion shared internally? Do you know who viewed your pricing? Most sales leaders have no idea. They're optimizing metrics that don't drive decisions. Look at your CRM right now. I bet it tracks: ✅ When YOU last emailed a prospect ❌ When THEY last shared your content ✅ How many calls YOU made ❌ How many stakeholders viewed your materials ✅ When YOU sent a proposal ❌ How much time they spent reviewing it We've built dashboards to measure everything except what actually matters. The real sales metric that predicts closed deals: Internal Sharing Velocity (ISV) How quickly and widely your champion distributes your content to other stakeholders. High ISV = Deals close Low ISV = Deals stall We completely rebuilt our sales process around this insight: - Redesigned all content to be shareable, not just readable - Created spaces where champions could easily distribute information - Built analytics to measure exactly who engaged with what - Trained reps to optimize for sharing, not for responses Result? Win rates up 35%. Sales cycles shortened by 42%. Forecasting accuracy improved by 60%. Stop obsessing over your activity metrics. Start measuring how effectively your champions sell for you. If your CRM can't tell you how often your content is shared internally, you're operating in the dark. And that's why your forecasts are always wrong. Your move.

Stop pretending that a single data point from a prospect's LinkedIn profile defines them. When you do that, your outreach sounds like you're reading the news to them - "Congrats on XYZ" or "I see that you're the [title] at ABC." You can't tell your prospects sh*t they already know and expect them to care. When you use a single data point as the cornerstone of your outreach, it's a telltale sign that you don't really understand your buyers, the challenges they're facing, or the opportunities they are excited about. Elite sellers understand how to uncover a more complete view of their prospects. More importantly, they understand how those data points come together. My go-to way to understand how prospects are interacting with me across multiple channels is the Members Dashboard in Common Room The 3 things I love most about this dashboard are: 1. It ranks prospects based on their overall impact in my ecosystem. I can see which people or orgs are most engaged with my content, across multiple channels, in a meaningful way. 2. I can get a view beyond LinkedIn. I have my YouTube, X (Twitter), and Company LinkedIn pages integrated as well as Slack for my Business Book Club community AND HubSpot. I can pull in so much data that is relevant to me and the folks interacting with me to figure out what matters TO THEM! P.S. The enterprise integrations are even better than the stuff I use as a solopreneur. It's impressive. 3. The tags. For instance, the first person in this list is tagged as an economic buyer [image]. This happens automatically. I didn't have to do that work. They are also tagged as a pioneer meaning they are the first person from that org to engage with my content. What this quick view tells me is that I have an economic buyer, a CRO, who is new in seat and is talking online about building a tech stack. They are engaging with me across LinkedIn & they are a member of my Slack community. The timing is ideal to connect to better understand their vendor selection process. You can filter to only see economic buyers or other tags or filter to only view specific channels that you might know are where most revenue is attributed. The result? Instead of reaching out to a prospect with disingenuous personalization, I have an immediate view of the conversations they are having across social channels that relate to me. It's advanced social listening + identity resolution + person-level AND account-level AND org-level enrichment based on a multitude of signals. It's a true 360 view. It allows me to have a more complete view of what's going on in a prospect's world before I reach out which increases engagement and conversion rates significantly. If this has sparked your interest, read this Blog about how to uncover the person behind the data points: https://lnkd.in/gEv26z6k

Sales leaders, if your CRM data is unreliable, it may be that you got what you asked for. In reality, your CRM data can be the least reliable source of information you have as a leader. The trouble begins with our focus and is articulated in our platitudes. I hear these from the sales leaders I work with regularly. Maybe these sound familiar: ❌ Your pipeline is a little thin. It should be 3X your goal. Why? How many opportunities does that represent? What data supports that? When salespeople hear this, they often inflate their pipeline with deals they don't expect to close, in an attempt to meet your expectations. ❌ Top salespeople have higher win rates. Top salespeople generate more revenue regardless of their win rate. Focusing on the win rate causes salespeople to only put opportunities into the system that they have high confidence in selling. 👉 The result in both cases: Revenue doesn't increase, your win rates now have no validity, and your ability to evaluate which sales process phases need improvement is lost. ❌ If it's not in the CRM, it doesn't exist. The problem, though, is that it does. You may not be aware of it or see it on a dashboard, but it does exist. A good source of information is your salesperson. They have the context and temperature of the relationship in their heads, but haven't put every detail in the CRM. 🥇 Your prospects are the best source of information. Are you talking to them? After all, they determine the outcome. Try talking to your prospects more and looking at your dashboards less. 🔔 Ring the bell on my profile to follow me. ♻️ If you like this, share it with others. #sales #salesleadership #makeprospectingsuckless

Your CRM thinks that deal is closing. Your buyer isn't even thinking about you. Monday morning pipeline review. Your rep says "500K deal, proposal stage, 80% probability." Three weeks later? Radio silence. Deal hasn't moved. Buyer isn't responding. Now you're scrambling to replace that revenue. I don’t know if you didn’t know but…  Your CRM stages measure what YOU'RE doing, not what the BUYER is thinking. That's exactly why your forecast accuracy is like flipping a coin. As a former #1 sales director who managed 110 reps, delivered $190 million annually in new business. I've seen this problem destroy quarterly forecasts, kill sales momentum, and get really good sales leaders completely fired. But I've also seen the fix. When organizations implement the ADVANCED method, their forecast accuracy jumps from 60% to 95% plus within the first quarter. ADVANCED tracks buyer progression, not seller activity: A - Acknowledged Problem (10%) Documented acknowledgment of a specific costly problem. "This security breach cost us $2 million and we need to prevent it." D - Documented Issue (15%) Written evidence. Email, internal memo, project brief. Something tangible that says this problem is real and needs solving. V - Validated by Team (25%) Multiple stakeholders agree this problem impacts executive-level metrics. Not one person complaining. A - Authorized by Executive (40%) An executive officially sponsors solving this problem. They've mandated their team to evaluate solutions. N - Narrowed to External (60%) They've decided they can't solve this internally. They're committed to buying from an external vendor. C - Chosen as Vendor (75%) You're the preferred vendor. They've stopped talking to competitors. The scope reflects all stakeholder input. E - Established Timeline (85%) Implementation timelines based on business outcomes. Not arbitrary dates. Timeline driven by business need, not sales pressure. D - Deal Terms Finalized (95%) Commercial terms agreed. Pricing approved. Contract in legal review. All decision makers confirmed. I was working with a $50 million e-health company. They had $30 million in pipeline in "proposal stage." When we applied ADVANCED? A very small percentage was actually at closing stage. Most hadn't gotten execs involved. Most didn't have multiple stakeholders. Most didn't have documented issues. They were sending proposals thinking deals would close. But they were creating false forecasts and fooling themselves. Your pipeline is either built on buyer reality or seller fantasy. There's no middle ground. — Sales Leaders, think you’re leaking revenue somewhere? You might want to check this out: https://lnkd.in/g8M-ah5s

How tech companies are saving 10+ hours a week (with these 6 simple Salesforce automations): Companies waste hours every week on tasks that should be automated. They lose time in ways no one even notices: • Clicking through screens • Manually updating fields • Logging calls by hand Each task seems small. But together, they slow everything down. Here are 6 Salesforce automations that save tech companies 10+ hours every week: 1) Data entry and lead enrichment Manual data entry slows everyone down. New leads are auto-enriched with: • Company info • Contact details • Other relevant data No typing required. That means sales can sell, marketing gets clean data, and RevOps stops fixing spreadsheets. 2) Lead management and routing Without automation, leads sit in limbo. Sales and marketing waste time figuring out ownership. So we automated lead assignment, marketing handoffs, and customer success escalations. Now everyone knows exactly where a lead belongs. No confusion. No delays. 3) Automated follow-ups, demos, and approvals If teams rely on memory for follow-ups, deals get lost. We trigger automated task reminders when key actions happen. • A new lead comes in • A demo is booked • A proposal goes out Teams get notified automatically. No more missed follow-ups. No bottlenecks. 4) Proposal, contract, and quote generation Teams shouldn’t waste time building proposals, contracts, or quotes manually. We automate it. Pre-built templates pull in Salesforce data: • Proposals are ready in minutes • Contracts auto-route for approval • No chasing down managers Faster contracts = faster deals = faster revenue. 5) Automated email and activity tracking If it’s not logged, it didn’t happen. But teams forget to log emails, calls, and meetings. So we integrate Salesforce with Outreach, Gong, and Slack to log everything automatically. Now leadership gets full visibility into: • Emails sent • Calls made • Customer responses No manual tracking required. 6) Real-time reporting and forecasting Leaders can’t make smart decisions without real-time data. So we build dashboards that track: • Pipeline health • Deal stages • Team activity Better visibility = faster, smarter decisions. The Bottom Line: Manual processes, bad data, and disconnected tools are slowing you down. We help tech companies fix this—fast. If Salesforce feels like more work than it should be, let’s change that. DM me "Salesforce" and let’s talk.

Your sales forecast is a lie. Last month I analyzed 50+ CRM instances and found the average forecast accuracy was just 46%. When I asked sales leaders why deals slipped, the answer was always the same: "The close date was unrealistic." The problem isn't your CRM. It's how it’s being used. Many sales teams are checking boxes and required fields for their leader knowing its not 100% what’s actually going on Here's the simplest CRM hack that has improved forecast accuracy by 40%+ for my clients: Stop using "close date" and start using "customer-voiced impact date." This tiny shift changes everything. When a rep enters a close date, they're guessing when they think a deal will close. When they enter a customer-voiced impact date, they're documenting when the prospect said they'll make a decision. The difference is massive. Here's how to implement this today: 1️⃣ Create a custom field called "Customer Decision Date" This is when the buyer has committed to making a decision. 2️⃣ Require documented evidence for any date "The CFO confirmed they need to decide by June 30th because..." 3️⃣ Track it alongside the rep's forecast date. This creates healthy tension between what the rep hopes and what the customer says. 4️⃣ Make it visible in pipeline reviews "The customer said they're deciding March 15th, but you're forecasting February 28th. Why?" Top sales teams keep these dates separate and review the gap. If there's no customer decision date with evidence, the deal doesn't belong in your forecast.

AI in Sales—Augment, Don’t Replace! 🚀 AI won’t replace salespeople. But salespeople who use AI strategically will outperform those who don’t. I’ve been in sales since Girl Scout cookies were 50 cents a box, and I’ve seen the game change. But nothing has been more transformative than AI. According to LinkedIn for Sales Connect monthly newsletter, AI can reclaim 29% of a rep’s time by automating admin tasks, data collection, and customer insights. The key? Using AI to amplify human strengths, not replace them. Yet, there’s a challenge: 60% of sales teams report being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of administrative work.AI can help offload up to 10 hours of non-selling tasks per week, effectively doubling selling time from 10 to 20 hours. That’s the kind of efficiency shift that drives real revenue. Here’s how to strategically automate without losing the personal touch: ✅ AI-Powered CRM: Let AI handle lead scoring, email follow-ups, and data entry so reps can focus on relationship-building. ✅ Smart Workflows: Use AI tools to automate routine tasks, freeing up time for strategic selling. ✅ AI as a Guide: Train your team to use AI-generated insights as a tool, not a crutch. Judgment and creativity still win deals! 📌 Actionable Step: Identify 3 repetitive tasks in your sales process (CRM updates, lead research, follow-ups) and integrate AI-powered automation. Measure the time saved and reallocate it to higher-value selling activities. AI isn’t the future of sales—it’s happening NOW. How is your team leveraging it? Let’s talk in the comments! #AIinSales #SalesLeadership   #WomenInSales #EnterpriseSales #1MillionWomenby2030 

This one’s for Founders & Sales folks. I built an AI agent that cut my sales follow-up time by 90%. Not kidding. From 30 minutes per email... to 2 minutes. And I actually enjoy it now. Let me back up. I hate writing sales follow-ups. → Re-reading call notes → Trying to remember context → Spending hours wordsmithing Even with my system of organized ChatGPT folders with custom deal context, it still took forever. So I did what any founder would do. I built a tool. It sounds much harder than it actually was. I hadn’t built an AI agent before and it only took me 2 hours end to end. Here’s what I used and how it works. ⚙️ Built with: Relay.app (shoutout to Jacob Bank - love what you’re building!) Step 1: I trigger Relay to follow up with a particular deal in Hubspot. Step 2: Relay retrieves deal context from Hubspot (it’s made me much more diligent about making sure my data is up-to-date here) Step 3: Agent reviews the deal and decides if a follow-up is needed. It gives me the following output: Is a follow up required? Yes / No response What kind of follow-up is required? General check-in email, breakup email, nudge with resources (I provided these options for it to choose from). Why did it make this decision? This is really helpful because it gets me up to speed on the deal quickly—when did we last check in, what were their objections or concerns, when is the next expected touch point, and so on. Step 4: I approve or tweak. I tell the agent if it’s right or wrong, or provide context it may not have. Step 5: AI writes a draft email. The first draft hits me within ~20 seconds. I give high-level feedback (e.g., “focus more on timeline urgency”) if necessary. Step 6: AI revises the draft based on by input. At this stage I have an almost perfect draft. I make minor edits if at all and hit send. The whole process takes 2–3 minutes max. Are we all getting replaced by AI in 2 years? Probably. But for now, I’ve outsourced an annoying part of sales and it's amazing.

Most companies are flying blind when it comes to revenue 📊 "Some months we're closing deals left and right, other months it's crickets. I never know what's coming next month." Every month I meet with business owners who tell me exactly this. Revenue unpredictability kills everything. You can't plan hiring, you can't forecast growth, and you definitely can't sleep well at night wondering where next month's revenue is coming from. Well here's the thing...it doesn't have to be this way. ➡️ THE SOLUTION: PIPELINE DRIVEN FORECASTING Stop guessing at your revenue and start building forecasts based on actual pipeline data. Think about that difference. Instead of hoping deals close, you're working with real data from real prospects. STEP 1️⃣ → STRUCTURE YOUR CRM Track each deal by stage, amount, and expected close date in your CRM system. See every deal needs to move through defined stages that actually reflect how your sales process works. You can't just throw deals in there and hope for the best. STEP 2️⃣ → EXPORT PIPELINE DATA Export your CRM data to Excel for revenue forecasting and analysis. You know what's amazing about this? You get complete control over how you manipulate and model your data. Plus Excel gives you that flexibility that most CRM reporting just can't match. STEP 3️⃣ → FORECAST REVENUE Use weighted pipeline data to predict future revenue with confidence. Apply probability percentages to each stage and calculate realistic monthly projections. That's pretty powerful when you think about it. ➡️ RECOMMENDED CRM TOOLS 🔵 Salesforce → Enterprise grade pipeline management for larger companies 🔴 HubSpot → All in one sales & marketing platform ⚫ Pipedrive → Simple, visual pipeline management for smaller teams Now you may be thinking which one should I choose? Well that depends on your company size and complexity, but any of these will work better than spreadsheets alone. ➡️ BEST PRACTICES FOR PIPELINE MANAGEMENT 📅 Keep data updated weekly 📊 Track conversion rates by stage 📋 Define clear stage criteria 📝 Review forecasts monthly ⚙️ Set up CRM automations 🗓️ Set realistic close dates The key is to export pipeline data monthly to maintain accurate revenue forecasts. This monthly ritual will completely change how you plan and operate your business. === I've seen this transform companies from reactive revenue planning to predictable growth patterns. Instead of crossing your fingers each month, you'll know exactly what's coming and can make strategic decisions accordingly. What's your experience been with pipeline management? Are you still flying blind or do you have a system that works?

A common tracking issue I see is mixing offers and channels together, whether in UTMs, campaigns, or lead sources. This leads to a headache when you try to look at your data in a standardized way to measure what’s working and which channels are working. Ultimately, it’s an organization and architecture issue. Here’s the difference and why you need to isolate (+ track!) both of them: Offer: The action the user did. (e.g., schedule a demo, sign up for a webinar, download content, come from a purchased list for outbound, attend an event, etc.) Channel: The avenue (or road) a user took to ultimately come to you (e.g., paid search, paid social, events, organic, direct, outbound, etc.) Under the channel, you want a channel detail (e.g., google paid search, Bing paid search, paid LinkedIn, paid Meta, organic LinkedIn, etc.) Typically, this level of tracking will come from storing UTM tracking in your CRM. Think of it like your Google Drive folder system. Without organizational consistency, it creates issues and headaches. Here’s a common view I see when trying to isolate a conversion campaign (what did the user do where we captured the demand to move them into the sales funnel): - Nurture email: post webinar - Paid LinkedIn - Demo Request - List upload - Content download - Paid Search In this view, it’s hard to know: - What did the nurture email do after the webinar? What did they do to convert? - What did they do from paid LinkedIn? - If channels aren’t stored separately, what channel (or road) drives that demo request? - What was the purpose of the list upload? Outbound list purchase? Event upload? - What action of offer did paid search drive? As you can see, this creates a lot of data inconsistencies because it’s not uniform. Which then leads to inaccurate insights and, ultimately, distrust in data. Then, when the teams are asked the beloved question of “What’s working?” it leads to an overcomplicated data dig and answer. FWIW - this tracking issue is VERY common, and you’re not alone here. And typically, it is inherited legacy work. However, you can still fix it for moving forward. Ideally, I’d recommend a few ops leaders to come together to decide and create naming and creative guidelines, along with strict UTM builders, so it doesn’t become a game of telephone through the various execution teams. However you name it (it’s unique to every company), decide which fields (which may need to be created) will define the following, and then document how they’re set: - First touch offer (locked field) - First touch channel, channel detail (UTMs) (locked field) - Conversion touch offer (locked field) - Conversion touch channel, channel detail (UTMs) (locked field) - Last touch offer (overridden field) - Last touch channel, channel detail (UTMs) (overridden field) Trust me, your future self + the company will be praising you for doing this! 🙌