Part 3: Your CRM Is Your Satellite Brain

By Cara Silletto, CSP

Ever said one of these?

“I have a CRM, I just don’t put everything in there.” Well, systems are only as good as the data you enter, so that’s a bummer.

“I just use a spreadsheet, and it works fine.” I’ve never seen a spreadsheet that emails me reminders to follow up at the right time!

“I just keep all my follow-up tasks on my calendar for current prospects.” Then, how do you know which gigs you chased and lost last year, so you can contact them again this year?

Consistency Is Key

If you aren’t using a CRM system, you’re losing gigs. Whether you use a basic or robust CRM, the rules are the same:

• Take notes in real-time: Don’t write notes in a Word doc or elsewhere to copy-paste later. Do it while you’re on the sales call directly into your CRM.
• Set the “Next Task” immediately: The moment you hang up, set a task for 3 days, 1 week, or 1 month out and tell yourself the next step in the task title.
• Polite Persistence: If you don’t follow up, you are leaving money on the table. When folks go dark, ask if “this month or next is a good time to reconnect,” or “when will you go into speaker selection mode again so we can reconnect then?”

Think Ahead

Draft the NEXT email when you set the next task by pretending they didn’t respond to what you just sent. It will save you loads of time later trying to figure out where you were in discussions with that prospect. Some of my favorite task titles that point me where to look at the CRM history are:

• Did she respond to my 4/3 email?
• Did he schedule a meeting with the link I sent on 4/3?
• Review 4/3 notes and ask if it’s time for us to reconnect this month or next.

The Power of Tracking Lost Gigs

Most speakers ignore their “lost” deals and opportunities, but “no” often just means “not this round.” When a gig is lost, be sure to set a new task for 9-12 months in the future to get back on that planner’s radar. In fact, our CRM is set to automatically create this task when we change a deal stage to “lost.”

If the planner picked a different speaker last year because of a specific event theme, reach out again this year. Because you kept notes in your CRM, you can say: “Last year you went with a musical keynoter because of your event theme; what’s the focus for 2027?” That level of personalization—made possible by a system—is how you build stronger relationships and get back on the short list!

(A bonus tip is that if they say they haven’t picked their theme, you can recommend a theme that matches your keynote. For example, we now say, “May I offer the idea of Cultivating Connections or Rooted in Growth?” That’s because it goes with our new Employee Retention Ecosystem^TM message, and some planners have chosen to run with it and book us!)

We also run a “lost list” quarterly to decide if any are worth pursuing for other work BEFORE the full year hits, since some groups host more than one event per year or may want training from us in the meantime.

Read Part 1: The Solopreneur’s Paradox: Why Discipline is the Only Path to Freedom

Read Part 2: The DWMQA Cadence: How to Prevent Your Business from Breaking

Cara Silletto, MBA, CSP, has been a speaker/trainer focused on workforce retention for nearly 14 years. She loves using her unique mechanical mindset to help speakers create a well-oiled operations machine and find a foolproof flow that allows them to be successful and still spend nights and weekends with their family and friends instead of their laptops!