This week's guest, Steven Logreira, is the founder of the Sales Process Automation Systems.

He is a tech wiz, an automation expert and a seasoned sales professional.

A Computer Engineering Graduate from the University of Florida with a minor in Business Administration. He started his career working for IBM as a Technical Sales Specialist. His forte is automating systems and processes in a way that impacts productivity and boosts revenues.

He is a whiz at creating automated profitable sales processes that save you time and don't let prospects slip through the cracks.

We talked about...

>> The glue between generating leads and closing the sales call, aka your CRM system

>> How to start your CRM system from scratch

>> How to make sure none of your prospects/leads slip through the cracks of your CRM

Episode Links and Mentions:

Automate My Process

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Full Transcript:

Hello, thank you for joining me. You're listening to the profitable content marketing show. In this episode, I speak to my guest, Stephen lo Guerrera, who is the founder of sales process automation systems. He's a tech Wiz, an automation expert, and a seasoned sales professional. I invited him here on the podcast because he is a whiz at creating automated profitable sales processes that save you time.

Prospects slip through the cracks. So if you're a coach, consultant or a service provider, get ready to get, Steven's help creating your CRM system. Let's dive right in.

So hello, Stephan. Thank you very much for being with us today on the profitable content podcast. I have invited Stephen to speak. Because he specializes in helping us close our leads. And as we know for coaches, consultants and service providers, as well as many other businesses, because we all lead needs and we all have to close them, making sure that we close all our leads and not leave any money on the table.

It's very, very important. So Steven is going to help us get through this process today. So Steven, can you help us get to know a little bit better? Hey, Stephanie, how you doing so glad to be here and to be part of your tribe and get hopefully by the end of this talk though, they'll have a little bit more knowledge as to really a very important piece that is, I, I think it's so important and quite often overlooked, you know, in, in, in business.

It's by the Williams, especially I find within the coaches and consultants and service providers, and everybody's focusing on lead generation. How do I, how do I get leads? How do I get leads? How do I get leads? But then what happens with those leads? Right? And then another industry that's really big within, within this is teaching people how to close.

Right. What do you say in the conversation? You know, how do you overcome objections and all that stuff? And there's so much training on that as the same as in the marketing side of things, right? There's this piece in the mood, I call it the glue between lead and actually having that sales conversation.

That's really the sales process. When a lead comes in, how do you manage that lead? How do you keep track of that lead from when it originally comes in all the way to when you have that sales conversation and then out of that conversation, there's three outcomes. Yes, no, maybe if it's yes. Do you actually have a onboarding process?

You know, how do you charge money? How do you get your, the contracts. What are the things that need to happen in order for you to start working with that client? Right. So being able to have all that automated having systems around that it's really, really important. And then of course, if they say no, or they say maybe because no could mean not right now, it could mean maybe I'm not the right person, but you could have someone that you could refer them to.

Right. Or it may say, or if it's maybe not right now, How do you make sure that, that, that, that lead doesn't get dropped on me. I've had clients that because of having a good follow-up system and having automation built into that I, my record is someone that we have been going back and forth for three years.

This was a dentist who was wanting to get out of dentistry and he wanted to launch a coaching business. And because I stayed on top, I kept on sending information. We kept in touch when he was ready to finally launch his first course, because I stayed top of mind. Of course he called me. Okay. Wow. So, so of course you, you help clients with some sort of system.

Is there a particular software that you use? Is it, is there anything you know, is there a specific budget that one needs to have. Well, one of the things that I have seen our clients and it's really important is don't put the cart before the horse, before you start trying to pick, okay, what CRM do I use?

What autoresponder to use, what technology do I use is be really clear on what your process is. What do you want that thing to do? A good analogy is let's say I buy a piece of land and I want to build a house. If I call the contractor and say, Hey, Mr. Contractor, can you build me out? He's going to be like, yeah, absolutely.

Where's the blueprint. Right. So, so really understanding what the blueprint is, what is your process? What are the things that you need to do is the most important part? So the first thing I do when I work with clients is really nail down what their sales process is. And then based on that, we pick the right piece of technology that will do the things.

 That that are needed. So I, I, you know, I can, I can, I can tell you, you know, what CRM or what auto respond or whatever. But you know, there's no one size fits all. Indeed. And what would be the most simple thing, for instance, let's say you're a coach or a consultant, and you're just setting up your first followup processes.

What would be the first thing you would recommend they go on to? So that's because I believe that, you know, the first time you're going to maybe design your process and then use that in the particular software, but it is going to take some time to improve. So maybe going. With the most complicated software may not be a first step.

So would you recommend starting start with something just like a simple automated scheduler? There's also maybe a quick questionnaire so I can know a little bit about them and what their business I can know ahead of time, what you know, what their needs are. Indeed. Yes. Okay. And yeah, let's hope it works a little bit better than today because we're recording this episode and it's 2:00 AM in Canada for Steven, terribly.

Sorry about that. But he was awake and we jumped on and did this anyway. But yes, schedulers can go wrong as well. So do do be careful of that. I'll definitely be having a second look at mine. So Steven once. So once you've got your scheduler in place you are going to need probably a place where you can kind of have some sort of view of who's in your pipeline.

So what are the stages that you would recommend to make sure that you don't forget to follow up with people? You know, you can start with something as simple as it's. And, you know, if you're only getting a few leads a week or a month, it's very easy to be able to keep track of it. But it's just, it's just having a placeholder where you can, where you can be, where you, where you can put those leads that are coming in.

Maybe have some notes around what the conversation is, what the client's needs are. And at some point you're going to outgrow that spreadsheet. What I don't recommend is post-it notes, having notes all over the place and notebooks, because those things tend to get lost and, and, and, you know, I'm a huge proponent of keeping your, your desk nice and clean.

 And not having mess a big mess around you. So, you know, something has said, they'll start with a simple as a spreadsheet or, or an ongoing word document, right? So you can keep track of things that are going on, but as soon as, as soon as you feel that it starts becoming a manageable, then start looking into a CRM.

A CRM stands for customer relationship management system. And then if you're managing what I call your sales pipeline, make sure that it's a sales focused CRM and will allow you to keep track of your leads. So how would you define sales focused something that will allow you to keep track of what stage you're in, in the sales process.

So for example, the first step of the sales process is prospecting which is marketing, right? How do you get. And do networking. You can do webinars, you can do social media. You do. You know what, however it is, are you generating leads? That's a prospect. And so that's the first stage in your sales process.

Once you've identified a potential client, the next step is maybe pre-qualifying them right. To see if there's a fit. Then the next step would be actually, okay. Let's let's contact this person with. Let's see when we can find a time to meet whether in person or online, you know, nowadays with, you know, tools like zoom, which is what we're doing.

We're using for our conversation. I mean, for crying out loud, you're in Malta, I'm in Vancouver, we're worlds apart. And then here we are, right. It's become such a small world, literally. Right. And then eventually having a sales conversation. Right. You know, is this, is this going to be a fit? And then if they say, yes, do you need to send them a contract?

You need to send, give them access to your online courses. Do you give them a, what, what do you need in order to start the relationship? Right? And then every step, every step in that process requires some piece of technology, right. And you know, Yes, you can do without it, when you're first getting started, you know, of course there's a budget and you gotta, you gotta be mindful, but at some point technologies have become your best friend.

Right. So, you know, again, figure out what that process is. Then let's leverage technology. So bringing in some automation and the thing that I stressed so much with people with. If you're not technical, if you're not that type of person, you know, you're in technologists, don't mix hire somebody outsource this, because if, if you try to do it yourself, first of all, it's going to take you longer and it might not get done.

Right. Right. Whereas you can hire someone who yes, you might need to have a budget to hire somebody, but at the end, it's going to get done. Correct. And you know, if something doesn't work, you always call him back, Hey, Steven, this thing isn't working, can you, can you help me fix it? Right. And if it ultimately increases your sales, then you know, it should be an investments worth making.

Definitely. Yeah. It's absolutely. It's absolutely the biggest investment you'll make in your, in your businesses is the origin technology. You know, it's interesting how I started this business was I was actually doing Salesforce. And I was managing things in a spreadsheet. So the first couple of months it was okay.

Then we started tweaking the marketing and got to the point where, I mean, marketing was just going like gangbusters. They were getting 20 to 30 leads a week. Okay. At that level of volume, a spreadsheet, just, it became unmanageable. I was dropping the ball. I was spending probably about 30 minutes per. Just doing admin work.

Right. And because I'm a geek and I've always been my, my background's in engineering, I was like, okay, I, I can't do this. This is taking way too long. So let me first map out. What's my process. What is it that I'm trying to get done here? And let me go find technology to fit into those different parts.

Right. And as a result, I lowered from 30 minutes to five minutes of admin time and literally when not a triple my sales. Wow. That's amazing. So, so that's what this whole process can do for you. I'm interested in a couple, in a couple of details of the process that you mentioned, Steven. Since for a lots of coaches it would be, I think especially the first time they're putting together the system it's would probably be a little bit difficult to perhaps understand clearly how to qualify prospect.

 It's something that I feel a lot of people are not very willing to do in the beginning because they feel, oh, I need to work with as many people as possible. So what's your take on. It depends on what you're trying to accomplish. So for example, if you're trying to figure out who's your, who's your best client?

Who should you be? Who should you be targeting? I think at some point at the beginning, I would say, yeah, talk to everybody because that's going to give you, it's going to give you, it's going to help you gauge. Of who's the right fit or who's not the wrong fit. The thing is, is don't, don't get stuck on that because it's going to burn you out, right.

Once you identify who the right client is, then you know, you got to start asking the hard questions. What's your budget. You know, for me, that's one of the questions I get. I get answered as soon as possible as what's your budget. You know? Cause if, if you're thinking, you know, That, you know, your budget's a hundred bucks, $500, then it might not be a good fit, but you could probably find someone in the Philippines or India or something to, to be able to fulfill that.

Right. So be clear on what your, what the budget is and, and and then, you know, make sure that they're, they're open to, to technology. Right. And that they're not stuck on one thing and that they're open, right? Because there is certain pieces of technology that I do tend to prefer over others. And you know, I think it was Bruce Lee that said, you know, I fear a man that can do One kick that has practiced one kick or one punch 10,000 times, as opposed to the man has done, then those 10,000 punches.

That's right. That's right. So, so being, you know, being able to get really good at one piece of that technology and really being able to support the client in that it is important, but yeah, the press. So I kind of went off on a tangent, but from a prequalification Stanford, those are the things that are really important.

And what's your. Are you ready to work?

Indeed, it sounds it sounds like a, like a very good advice, because of course in the beginning you need to like you said, get to know a little bit to everyone, but of course in the long run that is not feasible. So you do need to make sure that the people you speak to can actually pay your price and that they are also willing to move forward.

Okay. So what do you believe would be the cutoff point in terms of leads volume? Would it be 10 per week when you, you know, can move away from the spreadsheet and start using something a little bit more for more complex? Yeah, I would say, I would say, just look at if, if you're dropping the ball. If you're, if you're like, Hey, you know, I talked to this person two weeks ago and I can't remember what we talked about.

And they said maybe they were ready, but if you feel like you've dropped the ball with one client, now's the time to start automating, to start delving, to leverage the technology, that one person, that one person could cost you, you know, what's your what's, you know, you gotta look at, Hey, how much is this?

How much is each client worth? You know, what's the cost of, you know, if I, if I. You know, know your numbers. If I get one client, how much is that client worth? Is it worth 500,000 is 10,000. Is it worth 50,000? Indeed. So that's very good advice. So if you have already lost a client because you forgot to follow up, then you should definitely take Steven's up and you should check Steven's website and have a look, see if he can help you out putting together your lead systems.

So, Steven, can you let our audience know where they can find you? Yeah. My website is automate my sales process. Excellent. So head over to automate myself process.com and check out Steven's services because he can help you take those leads and make sure you don't leave them on the table. Thank you very much for being with us today.

No leads are left behind. Absolutely. And that's exactly how we want it. No money on the table. Excellent. Thank you very much for being with us today, Steven. And I really look forward to catching up with you again. You're welcome. Thank you so much, Stephanie, for having me.