#BehindTheCurtain 16: How B2B Sales Pros Should Organize Their Inbox w/ James Carbary & Logan Lyles

WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.519 --> 00:00:10.029 Are you struggling to come up with original content weekend and week out? Start 2 00:00:10.070 --> 00:00:14.710 a podcast, interview your ideal clients, let them talk about what they care 3 00:00:14.750 --> 00:00:20.070 about most and never run out of content ideas again. Learn more at sweet 4 00:00:20.109 --> 00:00:29.859 fish Mediacom. You're listening to BB growth, a daily podcast for B TOB 5 00:00:30.019 --> 00:00:34.100 leaders. We've interviewed names you've probably heard before, like Gary vanner truck and 6 00:00:34.140 --> 00:00:37.969 Simon Senek, but you've probably never heard from the majority of our guests. 7 00:00:38.609 --> 00:00:43.369 That's because the bulk of our interviews aren't with professional speakers and authors. Most 8 00:00:43.450 --> 00:00:47.490 of our guests are in the trenches leading sales and marketing teams. They're implementing 9 00:00:47.570 --> 00:00:52.560 strategy, they're experimenting with tactics, they're building the fastest growing BBB companies in 10 00:00:52.600 --> 00:00:55.880 the world. My name is James Carberry. I'm the founder of sweet fish 11 00:00:55.960 --> 00:00:59.399 media, a podcast agency for BB brands, and I'm also one of the 12 00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:03.359 CO hosts of this show. When we're not interviewing sales and marketing leaders, 13 00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:07.189 you'll hear stories from behind the scenes of our own business. Will share the 14 00:01:07.230 --> 00:01:10.469 ups and downs of our journey as we attempt to take over the world. 15 00:01:11.109 --> 00:01:19.700 Just getting well, maybe let's get into the show. Welcome back to beb 16 00:01:19.780 --> 00:01:25.500 growth. My name is James Carberry and I'm joined by Logan Lyles, the 17 00:01:25.620 --> 00:01:29.219 man, the myth, the legend, another behind the curtains episode. We 18 00:01:29.340 --> 00:01:33.530 are super stoked to talk about this episode, like we are most episodes, 19 00:01:33.969 --> 00:01:38.170 but this one we just actually looking came up with this idea. Is You 20 00:01:38.250 --> 00:01:42.010 and I were just kind of Jammin pre interview. We usually have to try 21 00:01:42.049 --> 00:01:42.689 to like come up with you know. Okay, what are we going to 22 00:01:42.730 --> 00:01:46.609 talk about with this which just kind of stumbled into, because we were talking 23 00:01:46.609 --> 00:01:52.640 about your inbox and how you are prioritizing because you're the only salesperson on our 24 00:01:52.680 --> 00:01:57.200 team right now and that's about to change, I think, probably at some 25 00:01:57.280 --> 00:02:00.480 point in two thousand and twenty, but for now there's a lot going on 26 00:02:00.599 --> 00:02:04.109 in your inbox and and I don't know how the heck you do it, 27 00:02:04.310 --> 00:02:07.829 quite frankly, but you were sharing kind of day this is how I actually 28 00:02:07.870 --> 00:02:09.909 organize it. I was like man, this would actually make a fantastic episode. 29 00:02:09.909 --> 00:02:13.310 So so we'll go and talk to us a little bit about this and 30 00:02:13.669 --> 00:02:19.180 kind of your journey to getting where you're at now with an inbox management and 31 00:02:19.780 --> 00:02:23.979 then break down what your inbox system looks like. Yeah, absolutely, Man. 32 00:02:23.020 --> 00:02:28.219 I think any of us, especially if you're in bb sales, especially 33 00:02:28.259 --> 00:02:30.810 if you are, you know, maybe not in the same boat as me, 34 00:02:30.889 --> 00:02:34.729 as your you are the sales department, you are a sales team of 35 00:02:34.810 --> 00:02:38.370 one, but you might be. But maybe you also are involved in account 36 00:02:38.409 --> 00:02:42.810 management, like I am as well, and some post sale activity with you 37 00:02:42.930 --> 00:02:46.800 our customer success team, and in our case that's our producer team. And 38 00:02:46.039 --> 00:02:50.240 so to me, I heard this quote the other day. I'm probably not 39 00:02:50.240 --> 00:02:53.759 going to get it word for word, but you're your inbox is nothing more 40 00:02:53.919 --> 00:02:58.710 than a highly organized to do list organized by someone else. And so if 41 00:02:58.789 --> 00:03:02.069 you're working just from top to bottom, trying to get from to Inbox, 42 00:03:02.110 --> 00:03:07.509 zero, I mean says, applications for everybody, but no more is there 43 00:03:07.550 --> 00:03:13.139 a direct connection between where you spend your time and revenue for the organization as 44 00:03:13.219 --> 00:03:15.139 if you are in a sales role. So that got me thinking. I 45 00:03:15.340 --> 00:03:20.819 was also interviewing REX Biberston for our other podcast, that be tob sales show, 46 00:03:20.900 --> 00:03:24.500 talking about prioritizing. He likes this idea of bucketing leads so that you 47 00:03:24.900 --> 00:03:30.889 prioritize stuff that is closer to the bottom of the funnel or closer to closed 48 00:03:30.969 --> 00:03:32.930 one. It whether you're going top down or left to right in your deal 49 00:03:34.009 --> 00:03:38.210 stages. So that also has some implications here, and I'll share a little 50 00:03:38.210 --> 00:03:42.159 bit more and how that affects. What are the what are the key labels 51 00:03:42.199 --> 00:03:46.319 I'm going to talk about for specific labels that I have color coding them so 52 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:49.599 I can work through them from highest I love that quote. I want to 53 00:03:49.599 --> 00:03:53.120 reiterate that quote. So your inbox is nothing more than a highly organized to 54 00:03:53.240 --> 00:04:00.509 do list organized by someone else. I think that is such a powerful hopefully 55 00:04:00.629 --> 00:04:06.229 that reshapes the way folks listening to this think about how they're their relationship with 56 00:04:06.349 --> 00:04:10.780 their inbox. They might, you know, obviously what you're going to share 57 00:04:10.900 --> 00:04:15.139 here might not be a perfect fit for them. For the marketers listening, 58 00:04:15.219 --> 00:04:17.379 maybe they want it to be a little bit different. But thank for sales 59 00:04:17.459 --> 00:04:21.019 people listening. The way you've actually structured your inbox is going to be super 60 00:04:21.019 --> 00:04:24.970 helpful. So let's dive into that, man. Yeah, absolutely, Man. 61 00:04:25.050 --> 00:04:28.610 So I've got four primary labels, I've got some other labels for stuff 62 00:04:28.730 --> 00:04:32.370 where I've got automatic filters to like push stuff into resources folder and get it 63 00:04:32.490 --> 00:04:34.970 out of my inbox, which is another thing you might want to look at 64 00:04:34.970 --> 00:04:39.800 doing if you're subscribed to, you know, sales hacker and modern sales pros 65 00:04:39.879 --> 00:04:43.040 and things like that. That are valuable, but you don't want them interrupting 66 00:04:43.120 --> 00:04:46.680 you with a new message alert and cluttering up your inbox. So what I 67 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:49.519 do with those is filter them to a resources folder, but not talking about 68 00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:55.389 those kind of later stage but my for high priority that I want to look 69 00:04:55.389 --> 00:04:59.310 at day to day and make sure I take them in sequential order. I've 70 00:04:59.350 --> 00:05:03.350 got one for urgent and important, the second for late stage deals, the 71 00:05:03.589 --> 00:05:10.220 third for active leads or active deals, and then for for renewals and account 72 00:05:10.220 --> 00:05:14.019 management, and I'm kind of toying with three and four. Maybe those should 73 00:05:14.019 --> 00:05:16.100 be flipped and we can talk about that a little bit. But number one, 74 00:05:16.180 --> 00:05:19.180 let's just look at urgent and important. I've got this labeled with red 75 00:05:19.980 --> 00:05:25.129 so that it calls out very distinctively for me in my inbox when I when 76 00:05:25.129 --> 00:05:30.170 I click there, and to me that's anything that is that is very urgent. 77 00:05:30.290 --> 00:05:33.410 It's got, you know, a short deadline and some sort of repercussion 78 00:05:33.449 --> 00:05:39.040 of not hitting that deadline. That's pretty impactful to revenue, to a customer 79 00:05:39.279 --> 00:05:43.079 situation. So this might be an account management thing, but it might be 80 00:05:43.240 --> 00:05:46.079 something that, hey, this needs to be taken care of in the next 81 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:47.879 two days or something like that. So that's number one for me, is 82 00:05:47.959 --> 00:05:51.069 urge. It an important got up. And so just to give people a 83 00:05:51.149 --> 00:05:56.829 little bit of a picture of this. So so these are Gmail labels. 84 00:05:57.350 --> 00:06:00.670 What you're using for labels in Gmail? And then you are actually showing me 85 00:06:00.750 --> 00:06:05.060 right before we dove into this, you can assign a label when you're actually 86 00:06:05.259 --> 00:06:10.379 sending an outbound email, so when it comes back to you, so when 87 00:06:10.420 --> 00:06:15.019 the person replies, it automatically labels it. Can you walk through, like, 88 00:06:15.139 --> 00:06:16.899 what are the extensions that you're using that are allowing you to do that? 89 00:06:17.420 --> 00:06:20.649 Yeah, absolutely, Man. So two things. A lot of people 90 00:06:20.649 --> 00:06:26.490 are probably familiar with the fact that you can take an email that you've received 91 00:06:26.769 --> 00:06:30.730 and tell Gmail filter messages like these, and then you can say if it 92 00:06:30.850 --> 00:06:34.639 comes in with this subject or from this person or certain combination of criteria, 93 00:06:34.639 --> 00:06:39.240 automatically apply this filter. And you can do that for things, like I 94 00:06:39.399 --> 00:06:42.839 was saying before, like to make it skip your inbox and then get labeled, 95 00:06:42.879 --> 00:06:46.240 or you could say, okay, any I know when I get something 96 00:06:46.279 --> 00:06:48.910 from this person it is going to be, you know, account management, 97 00:06:48.990 --> 00:06:53.870 because there are current customer so go ahead and automatically do that. So that's 98 00:06:53.949 --> 00:06:57.230 one way to save yourself some time in applying these labels so that you can 99 00:06:57.230 --> 00:07:00.029 get the benefits of actually using them. The second one that was really cool 100 00:07:00.189 --> 00:07:03.939 to me is actually not an extension. It's just built right into Gmail and 101 00:07:03.980 --> 00:07:09.100 I stumbled upon it. I've been finding some of these just by tinkering around 102 00:07:09.100 --> 00:07:12.980 and actually I've gotten some really good tips on Gmail from some folks I've been 103 00:07:13.019 --> 00:07:15.689 interviewing on the five things series. But this one. So when you have 104 00:07:15.769 --> 00:07:19.329 a new window open, when you hit composed, you know new email and 105 00:07:19.410 --> 00:07:24.970 Gmail in the lower right, the three buttons there. If you click that 106 00:07:25.089 --> 00:07:28.329 little dialog window opens gives you like five or six options, but one of 107 00:07:28.410 --> 00:07:31.879 those is apply a label, and so you can apply a label to that 108 00:07:32.120 --> 00:07:35.399 thread. I'm big on always setting a follow up. So this has been 109 00:07:35.639 --> 00:07:39.879 part of my checklist of you know, if I'm going to have this boomerang 110 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:43.319 back to me in three days, which is another extension I use if I 111 00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:46.269 don't get a reply. I also want to have a label to it so 112 00:07:46.430 --> 00:07:49.550 that I know what sort of priority, because Craig Rochell was talking about this 113 00:07:49.629 --> 00:07:54.110 on this podcast I was listening to last night. We always picture the future 114 00:07:54.110 --> 00:07:57.350 is going to be less busy than it is today and it's this illusion that 115 00:07:57.470 --> 00:08:00.180 we get. And that's a whole other thing on your calendar. But think 116 00:08:00.220 --> 00:08:01.620 about your inbox. Okay, I want this to come back to me in 117 00:08:01.740 --> 00:08:05.579 three days. That's not the going to be the only thing in your inbox, 118 00:08:05.620 --> 00:08:07.860 and in three days we can be new stuff. There's gonna be other 119 00:08:07.899 --> 00:08:11.060 follow ups that you've set. So how do you prioritize when those come back 120 00:08:11.060 --> 00:08:13.610 to you? So lower right before you hit said click those three dots. 121 00:08:13.769 --> 00:08:18.490 You'll see an option for apply label or labels, and that'll let you pick 122 00:08:18.569 --> 00:08:20.730 one for outcome. So you've walked through the first one. So the first 123 00:08:20.730 --> 00:08:26.759 one is urgent and important. And what types of activities do you deem to 124 00:08:26.839 --> 00:08:31.120 be urgent and Orton? Yeah, so, I mean it might be a 125 00:08:31.240 --> 00:08:35.679 fire with a customer, it might be something internal that we you know, 126 00:08:35.759 --> 00:08:39.519 a project that we're working on that there there is a deadline for something like 127 00:08:39.639 --> 00:08:43.509 that, something that has a short turnaround and has you know repercussions if you 128 00:08:43.669 --> 00:08:48.149 miss that turn around, missed that deadline. Gotta so what are the next 129 00:08:48.470 --> 00:08:50.909 what are the what's your second priority then? Yeah, so number two is 130 00:08:50.950 --> 00:08:56.740 late stage deals, and I prioritize this overactive leads because, again, going 131 00:08:56.820 --> 00:09:01.460 back to that conversation I had with rex on the BB sales show, is 132 00:09:01.779 --> 00:09:05.580 talking about how sales people, we need to prioritize stuff that is closer to 133 00:09:05.740 --> 00:09:09.779 closed one. Now, that doesn't mean you just want to work deals and 134 00:09:09.820 --> 00:09:13.169 work deals and work deals that have been stalled in that final stage forever. 135 00:09:13.929 --> 00:09:18.049 That's a whole other conversation on getting junk out of your funnel. But as 136 00:09:18.129 --> 00:09:20.690 much as you want to work that that brand new lead that just came in, 137 00:09:20.929 --> 00:09:26.000 that can be exciting, if you neglect stuff that that just needs a 138 00:09:26.039 --> 00:09:30.120 little bit more work to get across the finish line, don't waste all the 139 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:33.320 time that you've spent on that deal. Now, this will look different depending 140 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:37.679 on your volume in your ACV and your deal sizes and all those sorts of 141 00:09:37.759 --> 00:09:41.549 things, but as a general rule of thumb, I agree with rex that 142 00:09:41.590 --> 00:09:46.389 you should be prioritizing stuff that's closer to closed one and then work your way 143 00:09:46.389 --> 00:09:50.029 backwards to further away from closed one. So new leads, and then you 144 00:09:50.110 --> 00:09:54.980 know, your prospecting, which you should always have block time for prospecting. 145 00:09:54.019 --> 00:09:58.820 I'm not saying ignore that, but that's the premise on why late stage deals 146 00:09:58.899 --> 00:10:01.700 are number two on my priority list, of my label at it. So 147 00:10:01.779 --> 00:10:07.019 now we go from late stage deals into active leads. Is that your third 148 00:10:07.059 --> 00:10:09.889 one? Yep, absolutely. So active leads or active deals? Again, 149 00:10:11.250 --> 00:10:13.850 you know, I could be gone back and forth with new leads that have 150 00:10:13.970 --> 00:10:18.850 come in via Linkedin or folks that I'm coordinating with to have on bb growth, 151 00:10:18.929 --> 00:10:24.320 which is often, you know, the first relationship building step for us 152 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:26.720 with a lot of potential customers. But again, okay, I've got a 153 00:10:26.799 --> 00:10:31.919 hand raiser. I should prioritize them close to as much as the folks who 154 00:10:31.919 --> 00:10:35.750 have already raised their hand. How a caller to with me. We're moving 155 00:10:35.830 --> 00:10:39.789 towards closed one. So again just progressing backwards away from closed one really is 156 00:10:39.909 --> 00:10:45.230 what's informing the approach here. So urgent and important is number one. Late 157 00:10:45.350 --> 00:10:48.230 stage deals is number two. I've got late stage deals labeled as kind of 158 00:10:48.269 --> 00:10:54.659 dark green. I'm a salesperson. And and then three is a lighter green. 159 00:10:54.779 --> 00:10:58.700 So like, okay, this represents potential revenue, but it's not as 160 00:10:58.779 --> 00:11:01.500 close to close one. So that's just kind of my visual thing for it 161 00:11:01.580 --> 00:11:03.139 for the first three. Love it. So what's the fourth and final one? 162 00:11:03.809 --> 00:11:07.690 So the fourth one is renewals and account management. So, as we 163 00:11:07.850 --> 00:11:13.450 mentioned at the top of that episode, here in my role I'm also responsible 164 00:11:13.570 --> 00:11:18.919 for renewals and working on account management and current customer relationships with our version of 165 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:22.320 customer success, which is our producer team, and so that has to be 166 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:26.080 a top four priority with a business, you know like ours were not a 167 00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:31.320 SASS business, but we operate a lot that way to where retaining revenue is 168 00:11:31.559 --> 00:11:35.789 just as important as net new revenue, and often times it can be. 169 00:11:35.350 --> 00:11:39.710 We've all heard the stats on how easier it is to sell to a current 170 00:11:39.750 --> 00:11:43.110 customer, and so this is where I actually am a little bit torn between 171 00:11:43.190 --> 00:11:48.820 maybe flipping this one up above active net new leads, because you know, 172 00:11:48.940 --> 00:11:54.059 we've been adding new services, SEO content, planning different video aspects, on 173 00:11:54.220 --> 00:11:58.659 site media coverage, those sorts of things and to that point of finding opportunities 174 00:11:58.700 --> 00:12:03.730 to upsell cross cell game referrals, those sorts of things make sure that customers 175 00:12:03.769 --> 00:12:07.850 are having a good experience so that that renewal, which is important revenue as 176 00:12:07.889 --> 00:12:11.490 well, gets intended to. So we'll see. We might have to check 177 00:12:11.529 --> 00:12:15.690 back thirty sixty days see if I flip that one up above active net new 178 00:12:15.720 --> 00:12:18.159 lead, but that one currently is number four, which is renewals and account 179 00:12:18.159 --> 00:12:22.039 management. Love it. I love it. Logan, this is super helpful, 180 00:12:22.039 --> 00:12:26.399 I think, really really actionable. In closing, what would be your 181 00:12:26.080 --> 00:12:31.669 closing what do you want to leave our audience with today after dropping, you 182 00:12:31.750 --> 00:12:35.789 know, this really actual kind of Medi piece of content on them? Yeah, 183 00:12:35.789 --> 00:12:39.230 I would say if you kind of live and die in your Gmail Inbox, 184 00:12:39.309 --> 00:12:43.509 then look at a look at a few of these things. Look at 185 00:12:43.669 --> 00:12:46.620 how you could manage the labels. To me, just the visual color coding 186 00:12:48.100 --> 00:12:50.379 sort of it for the top things. I don't go to the length to 187 00:12:50.460 --> 00:12:56.139 label every single email into something, but I if it falls into the one 188 00:12:56.179 --> 00:12:58.690 of those four buckets, it has caused me to think through that prioritization. 189 00:13:00.090 --> 00:13:03.330 Now, if you don't work in an in Gmail all the time, you 190 00:13:03.409 --> 00:13:07.649 know, look for how can I apply this methodology in outlook or if you 191 00:13:07.929 --> 00:13:13.000 live inside your sales engagement platform, like outreach or sales loft or something like 192 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:16.240 that. Then then think about that, but I think the premise there again 193 00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:20.799 thinking about where my spending my time, from the encouragement I've gotten from Craig 194 00:13:20.840 --> 00:13:26.840 Bro show recently, and then how can I spend more time closer to closed 195 00:13:26.919 --> 00:13:31.070 one and prioritize that time, which again I got to give hat tip over 196 00:13:31.149 --> 00:13:33.470 directs Beverston on that one. If you, if you take those and apply 197 00:13:33.629 --> 00:13:37.269 them, I think that this will be appable, even if you don't live 198 00:13:37.309 --> 00:13:39.629 and die in Gmail every single day like me. Love it. I love 199 00:13:39.669 --> 00:13:45.059 it, Logan. This just makes me over the moon grateful that you're on 200 00:13:45.139 --> 00:13:48.379 my team and not somebody else's, because there's not a snowball's chance in hell 201 00:13:48.500 --> 00:13:52.299 that I would have ever come up with this, this system, on my 202 00:13:52.419 --> 00:13:56.250 own. And and so thanks for being awesome and for sharing your brain with 203 00:13:56.769 --> 00:14:01.250 all the lovely folks that are listening to this episode right now. If you 204 00:14:01.529 --> 00:14:05.009 are listening and you are not already connected with Logan and I on Linkedin, 205 00:14:05.450 --> 00:14:09.970 that is a crying shame. You should connect with both of us. Logan, 206 00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:13.879 Lyles James Cardberry car be a R Y s type, a weird lacks 207 00:14:13.919 --> 00:14:18.600 name. Also, I wrote a book recently and you should check that out. 208 00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:24.990 CONTO based networking, audible, Amazon, all those good spaces. We 209 00:14:24.149 --> 00:14:28.309 Love You, we really we love doing these episodes. We love you reach 210 00:14:28.389 --> 00:14:31.509 out to us. We always want to hear from you, guys, so 211 00:14:31.070 --> 00:14:37.899 thanks a lot. Hey there, this is James Carberry, founder of sweet 212 00:14:37.899 --> 00:14:41.059 fish media and one of the cohosts of this show. For the last year 213 00:14:41.100 --> 00:14:45.539 and a half I've been working on my very first book. In the book 214 00:14:45.580 --> 00:14:48.740 I share the three part framework we've used as the foundation for our growth here 215 00:14:48.779 --> 00:14:52.129 at sweetfish. Now there are lots of companies that have raised a bunch of 216 00:14:52.250 --> 00:14:56.610 money and have grown insanely fast, and we featured a lot of them here 217 00:14:56.649 --> 00:15:01.009 on the show. We've decided to bootstrap our business, which usually equates to 218 00:15:01.129 --> 00:15:05.450 pretty slow growth, but using the strategy outlined in the book, we are 219 00:15:05.529 --> 00:15:09.200 on pace to be one of inks fastest growing companies in two thousand and twenty. 220 00:15:09.679 --> 00:15:13.600 The book is called content based networking, how to instantly connect with anyone 221 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:16.200 you want to know. If you're a fan of audiobooks, like me, 222 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:18.919 you can find the book on audible, or if you like physical books, 223 00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:22.389 you can also find it on Amazon. Just search content based networking or James 224 00:15:22.470 --> 00:15:28.990 carberry CR be aary in audible or Amazon and it should pop right up