Activity Management Using Next Step/Next Date fields

Every sales professional faces the challenge of how best to use their time – activity management. Using Template Manager to incorporate two fields into your template can give you a powerful amount of control of your time and energies.
Use Template Manager to create a Next Step field as a drop down combo list with entries for the typical activities you might have in your selling process. Next Step examples might be things like Meeting, Phone Call, Presentation, Conference Call, Email, and Letter. By adding a category button for Next Step in the Category area you’ll see the items in your pipeline organized like this:
Next Step
----Conference Call
-------- WilsonArt Manufacturing
----Phone Call
--------Bechtel Distribution
--------Tomlinson Industries
--------Texas Dept of Transportation
----Presentation
--------City of Dallas – Planning and Budget Dept

Adding a Next Date field – again using the Template Manager – as a calendar field allows you to set the date for the next step. By adding the Next Date field as a button in the Category area your pipeline is now organized like this:
Next Date
----Sept. 15th, 2006
--------WilsonArt Manufacturing
--------City of Dallas – Planning and Budget Dept
----Sept. 17th, 2006
--------Bechtel Distribution
--------Texas Dept of Transportation
----Sept. 20th, 2006
--------Tomlinson Industries
The two fields in tandem give you a great idea of what needs to be done (Next Step) and when things need to be done (Next Date)