“So, how did things turn out with that quote we prepared for Acme Corporation?”
Following up and reporting on open quotes is a task principals frequently assign to manufacturers’ agents. And there are any number of apps and cloud-based document sharing tools manufacturers’ agents can use to trigger themselves to follow up on a particular quote on a particular day and share that data with their principals. The more tech-savvy the manufacturers’ agent, the more options there are.
But for manufacturers’ agents who are still kicking it old-school, a follow up binder is cheap, simple, systematic, and extremely effective. No internet connection is required.
Here is how the system works:
- Start with a three ring binder.
- Three ring punch a copy of every quote you need to follow up.
- On the top right-hand corner of the quote, write the date when you want to follow up. Writing the date on the top right hand corner makes it much easier to keep the quotations in chronological order.
- Put each quote into the binder with the earliest date at front.
- Each morning open the three ring binder and see if there is a quote you need to follow up on that day.
- Make your follow-ups and scribble your notes on the quotation copy.
- If the quote will need to be followed up on again later, cross out the date, replace it with the date when you will need to follow-up next, and reinsert it into the three-ring binder based on the new date.
- When the quote resolves, send your principal a quick email with the details and remove the quotation from the three-ring binder.
If your principal does not object, it’s much simpler to report on the results of your follow up activities outcomes with a quick email as they resolve rather than aggregating them for a monthly report. Admittedly, it’s extremely low tech, but sometimes cheap, simple, systematic, and extremely effective carry more weight than “wicked cool.”