👋 I’m Diana Griffiths

Use the tools available such as your CRM or email software (think Sendgrid) which can tell you open rates etc. If you are in executive leadership- look to add tools. These days they are very cost friendly - and the ROI when used at all, is *huge*. Ask your tech team about system abilities. Often times we have software we are vastly underutilizing! You can also take a tech savvy teammate and make them the project lead on measuring results. Encourage them to take tutorials on systems you already have (most have various free tutorials) and create dashboards. For the right person (or people if you like committees) this would be a lot of fun and a creative challenge. It also advocates for inclusivity and shared leadership.

Audience, Audience, Audience. Always consider your audience when creating a visual summary. There is nothing more telling of lack of preparation or care than a presenter using a visual summary that they state was from another presentation or need to clarify because they didn't cater it to the audience. It takes moments to update. This is also telling of your expertise and professionalism.

Some ways to get started: I have found the existing CRM platform to have a wealth of easily pulled data that you can put into a beautiful chart or graph to illustrate information in an easy to read format. This can often update automatically if you like to have internal facing dashboards. Most CRMs have learning tools built in to streamline the process. If you don't have a CRM or cannot access all of the reporting you would want for a report, try a system like PowerBI, which is also very simple - however requires manual import of data.

Absolutely! People also love stories. When appropriate, one thing that I have found helpful is to share specifically how you have helped others with a story or a use case example. Of course this can backfire if you have not done enough discovery and the story does not actually relate to them in a similar way. Please do not go on and on with different use cases or they will run the other way LOL! If you don't have a use case, try painting the picture by telling a story. "Imagine..." insert solution to perceived obstacle or problem you are aiming to solve.

I find it helpful to stay on top of current market needs and trends. In the context of expanding relationships (IE "Cross Selling") we are assuming that a relationship and knowledge of the customer in question already exists. Therefore, knowing what they may need or even better "anticipating" needs based on market and other conditions you see they have in common with the solutions you have is really what makes you the ultimate advocate for your clients. The best part is that it will never feel like a sale if done correctly, and from a place of genuinely seeing a gap that you can help solve. Or better- a future gap or pitfall that you might prevent.