The Evolution of the Modern Metal Producer

[brianhood]

I brought up a discussion in the Pro Tools 12 thread, and it was too off topic. I wanted to start a new thread for this discussion.

I'm not sure if i'm biased because I'm starting to take this stuff more seriously, but it seems that there has been a natural evolution of recording engineers (particularly the metal guys). People are getting more and more talented, and guys are starting to take the business aspects way more seriously than in the past (which is fucking awesome).

I started an experiment for my blog that involved using CRM software (customer relationship software) to track all of my "leads" (quote requests).

I started using this CRM for my studio. (http://close.io/) and here is how I use it:

- Someone fills out the quote form on my website

- a new "lead" is created within Close. The lead info shows the band name, contact name, band budget, and project details. Close also keeps track of all emails exchanged (this uses your normal email address, but takes the place of your email client, since you can read and reply to emails in Close).

- I can track which stage each band is in (for example: Quote Requested, Quote Sent, Deposit Received, etc.). This is so I never forget to send out quote out.

- Each band has an "opportunity" attach to them. Each opportunity is a monetary amount that is just the value of the quote I sent out. From there, I can actively track where the deal is active (still discussing the project with the band), won (the band has booked me for their project), and lost (the band has gone with another producer, or has not replied after 3 follow up emails).

- I can track how much $ in quotes i send out per day/week/month/year, how many of those "fall through", and how many of those I close on.

- I can set reminders to follow up on every single quote I send out. This insures no project falls through from lack of follow-up hustle.

There are other cool features I don't feel like typing out, but this covers the bulk of how I use my CRM. It's incredible how easily you can let a $5000 project slip through the cracks just because you send a quote and never followed up.

I'm curious to see if you guys have any interesting things you to do make things run more efficiently. Especially if it's software related.

 

[LeSedna]

Thanks for the info. In fact this service is something I was thinking of implementing myself, by creating different filters inside gmail or my own website server, but this seems to do the job so well. There are kind of filters right into Billings which is the invoice software I like, but this definitely goes beyond. The price seems a bit steep for starting businesses though. I value the bulk mail function as one of the most important ones and it is included in the 100 dollars/month plan only.

Can you setup the CRM to automatically recognise a lead when someone sends you a quote email ? Is this something that is setup within the service, I supposed once you give them access to your IMPA/Smtp account they can filter them for these kinds of things ?
EDIT : the website kinds of answers me in the 2 way email enter in the pricing page.

Is bulk email really necessary, or can you send template emails to every clients you want, after filtering them ? Or can you at least do it manually one by one ?

 

[brianhood]

Thanks for the info. In fact this service is something I was thinking of implementing myself, by creating different filters inside gmail or my own website server, but this seems to do the job so well. There are kind of filters right into Billings which is the invoice software I like, but this definitely goes beyond. The price seems a bit steep for starting businesses though. I value the bulk mail function as one of the most important ones and it is included in the 100 dollars/month plan only.

Can you setup the CRM to automatically recognise a lead when someone sends you a quote email ? Is this something that is setup within the service, I supposed once you give them access to your IMPA/Smtp account they can filter them for these kinds of things ?

if you need bulk emailing, just sign up for a free Mailchimp account (http://mailchimp.com/). Not as convenient, but it's basically free (depending on how many contacts you send out emails to).

With Close.io, I just use the cheapest plan. There is also a 3 week free trial (2 weeks, plus they extend it a week), which is more than enough time to try out all the features. You can also try negotiating your rate with them, since they too are technically a "start up company".

As for the lead recognition, my developer set that up through their API (not something you can do without PHP coding knowledge). For those of you without technical knowledge (or a developer), they have a unique email address you can forward all of your quote request to, which will auto create a lead in Close.io.

There may be a way you can automatically filter quote request through gmail to foward to your close.io lead email address.

 

[LeSedna]

But Mailchip is only and absolutely for mass emailing, newsletter etc isn't it ? Or can you do more precise tasks with it ? Is it any relevant if you're using a CRM aleady ?
I'm guessing the cheapest plan in close.io is enough for any relatively normal sized business, as long as you don't have to send emails to dozens or hundreds of contacts too often it should be practical enough ?

You have to pay 12 months upfront don't you ?

Yes that was my idea, set up your website quote template and a gmail filter so that it forwards every mail with the correct object field. Should be very easy to set up.

 

[Jordon]

Ahhh, awesome, thanks for this post, dude. This is exactly what's been rolling around in my mind the last few weeks.

Brian, do you use any time clock/time tracking software to track your hours on a day-to-day and project basis? It would be great to be able to tie all of these things together and really get a look at overall efficiency, as well as being able to look in more detail at certain aspects of the business.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Incorporating the basics of sales into your business is definitely a good move, since every successful business takes a bit of salesmanship skills. Looking back I really wish I had the insight I have now back in my AE days. However, I do think that Close app is a bit overkill (especially price wise) for what you're doing. I assume you're fine with a single-user CRM environment, so you could have a go at free alternatives like Insightly if you're ever looking for a cheaper solution. The mail integration is nice, but a basic CRM and Gmail's discussions can go a long way!

 

[mickrich]

Sounds like a great system but I do all my business through Facebook.
This is not by choice but I get very few phone calls or emails these days.
I am busier than ever so this is working fine.
I just use the "notes" app on my iPad and each week make a list of things to follow up on.
If an enquiry doesn't lead to a booking that week, I carry it over to the notes for the next week.

 

[LeSedna]

Incorporating the basics of sales into your business is definitely a good move, since every successful business takes a bit of salesmanship skills. Looking back I really wish I had the insight I have now back in my AE days. However, I do think that Close app is a bit overkill (especially price wise) for what you're doing. I assume you're fine with a single-user CRM environment, so you could have a go at free alternatives like Insightly if you're ever looking for a cheaper solution. The mail integration is nice, but a basic CRM and Gmail's discussions can go a long way!

Hi ! Is there a practical or integrated way to differentiate when a contact has been made, an deal has been signed, and completed ? Or can you sort of do it with the groups within Insightly ? Basically the idea sounds good if you can integrate mailchimp and contact again people who contacted you but didn't give news since then. Like, on a bi weekly or weekly basis ?

 

[brianhood]

Ahhh, awesome, thanks for this post, dude. This is exactly what's been rolling around in my mind the last few weeks.

Brian, do you use any time clock/time tracking software to track your hours on a day-to-day and project basis? It would be great to be able to tie all of these things together and really get a look at overall efficiency, as well as being able to look in more detail at certain aspects of the business.

I don't really have a need to track my time. If i'm recording a band, I charge per day (easy to track), and if I'm doing anything else, I charge per project.

Incorporating the basics of sales into your business is definitely a good move, since every successful business takes a bit of salesmanship skills. Looking back I really wish I had the insight I have now back in my AE days. However, I do think that Close app is a bit overkill (especially price wise) for what you're doing. I assume you're fine with a single-user CRM environment, so you could have a go at free alternatives like Insightly if you're ever looking for a cheaper solution. The mail integration is nice, but a basic CRM and Gmail's discussions can go a long way!

I definitely agree. I just chose Close.io specifically because it's the CRM my software company will be using for sales in the very near future. I wanted to get familar with it, and it just so happened to work extremely well with my workflow and quote system.

It also tracks stats very nicely, which is part of the experiment. I wanted to know the exact percentage of quote requests I receive vs how many I close on. I also wanted to see if larger budget projects closed at a noticeably smaller percentage than lower budget projects.