This is my process. It's not the only way to get there, just what I did
Take what makes sense to you out of this video and discard whatever isn't relevant
No gatekeeping, I'll show you everything
Don't build a CRM until you have a customer
Most people waste their time building CRMs before they have a customer
Reality: if you haven't closed a deal, you don't really know what's involved in it
CRMs are also a) complex and b) only really worth it when you start juggling multiple leads simultaneously
In short, doing this before you've made money will slow you down more than it will speed you up
CRM fundamentals
Treat your CRM as a pipeline end-to-end
Have one main point of entry (90% of leads should enter this way) and a fallback for edge cases
Check your CRM every day—non negotiable and if you let it stagnate it'll fail
Minimize # steps and complexity wherever possible. This should be a tool to help you make $, not a tool that runs your life
Automate stuff, but not too much stuff. Customers are the highest ROI part of your business after all
Example pipelines
Average pipeline (slow, old, huge upkeep cost, runs your sales teams' lives)
Queue
First contact
Discovery call
Send proposal
Awaiting signature
Send agreement
Awaiting signature
Send invoice
Awaiting payment
Closed won
(Closed lost)
(No fit)
^ this pipeline is how most people approach sales, and while segmenting makes sense when you're running a big company, the majority of small companies try and emulate it to much failure
^ this pipeline is extremely minimal—maybe even too minimal! But it'll keep your life very simple and focused on the highest ROI part of sales (actually selling) vs the lowest ROI part (sales admin)
Building in ClickUp
SOPs:
Your leads enter your CRM if/when they book a meeting. Not before. You'll leave a bit of juice on the table this way, but effectiveness > efficiency
If there's even an inkling of interest, you generate a proposal at the end of every meeting using the form. You send this immediately every time (so we don't need a "Send Proposal" step)
You look at your CRM every day, and follow up with people in "Proposal Sent" every 24-48 hours
If someone says no, you move them to Closed lost
If for whatever reason a lead enters your pipeline outside of your usual flow, you try and get them to "Meeting Booked' ASAP
Show integration with proposal generator from last vid
Show Cal.com/booking integration
Other things you can automate
Columbo close-style automatic email alongside proposal. "Oh, one more thing I forgot to mention—XYZ". Makes your process appear much more personalized and 'incidental',
Automatic 'customized' followup emails if client has remained in Send Proposal for more than X days
Followup blasts every X months to everybody in "Closed lost"
Onboarding automations—when a customer pays you move them to your project management system (covering in next videos)
Closing thoughts
Build CRMs when you need them, not before!
Keep it as simple as possible—fewest stages, fewest entry points