Quick Win + Pro Tip: Don't Underestimate the Power of These Two Tasks to Drive Efficiency

There are two factors that we most regularly see standing in the way of communication moving forward - difficulty starting a conversation and the time it takes to move from scheduling purgatory to an actual meeting.

Each have an easy solution, and the tools you need to implement them most likely already exist in a suite you pay for or have a free version online.

Keep reading to learn more about the two easy changes that will help you drive efficiency.

Start the Conversation

One of the main reasons companies don’t do as much outreach as they could (or should) comes down to not knowing what to say.

It’s an understandable problem. Salespeople are great at connecting with customers over the phone, face-to-face, or as a part of ongoing communications. However, when it comes to spontaneous outreach, they’re slowed down when it’s time to put the proverbial pen to paper.

In many ways, this makes sense. Maintaining relationships with existing customers or prospects already in the funnel takes top priority and more of the sales team’s attention. By the time they can shift their focus to email outreach, they’re thinking about a million other things, their brains are a little fried from working with customers all day, or their attention gets pulled to a more pressing task.

An item on their to-do lists that should take ten minutes gets dragged out and simple outreach becomes a drain on productivity or gets pushed to the back burner.

Here’s our easy fix: templated emails. When it comes time to send a form response, a proposal, a post-purchase or event follow up, reviews or referral requests, or other standard communications, templates help to activate your sales team so emails don’t stay stuck in the drafts folder.

The best part is that they don’t have to feel impersonal if they’re used the right way. Think of email templates as directional content that provides basic structure while still giving your sales team room to add personal touches and customization. A good rule of thumb is to think of the emails as 80/20. The template provides 80% of the content and structure, while the sender can add the remaining 20% of the copy.

Outreach becomes quick, easy, and much more regular.

Create a Calendly Account

We also know about the other conversation halter - the endless emails back and forth taking days or even weeks, to get a call on the calendar.

We’ve all been there. Several emails fly back and forth sharing availability, often over the course of multiple days. By the time one person picks a slot, the first person no longer has it available, and the process starts over again.

The actual conversation is delayed for completely avoidable reasons and the entire scheduling process is much more complicated and frustrating than it needs to be.

Luckily, there are plenty of tools that help you get around this challenge. Sites like Calendly and suites like Microsoft and Google that you may already use and pay for, can be linked to your calendar. You can then create a shareable link, which others can use to see when you are available and book the time slot they want instantly.

Instead of several emails flying back and forth to schedule a meeting, a single email saying to use the link below (or the link in your email signature) gets your meeting on the calendar.


Utilizing tools like 80/20 email templates or Calendly doesn’t remove personalization from your customer experience - it simply streamlines the process to get you to your end goal faster.