Three free tools to survive the day as a Business Development Manager

Even though specialists and software review websites have a particular view about what is a productivity app or service. But to me, the purpose of a productivity app or service is to solve three problems.

1. It needs to help you manage your leads via a priority system
2. It has a reminding system to alert you about coming deadlines
3. It should always have the answer to the question, what is next?

So, an app can be super productive for someone else, whereas it can be a timewaster for you. To find the right gem, you must be patient to evaluate 4-5 apps to find the right one. Sometimes, intelligent applications of every day free apps and services can help you organize your day too.

I use Google Calendar, Gmail, and ClickUp to manage my everyday tasks and follow-up leads efficiently. Let me explain how.

Set up quick tasks for the beginning of the day using Google Calendar

I have a problem. At the start of the day, my brain works slowly. I feel dizzy. So, the typical scenario was that I was ready to set my plan for the day two or more hours later. That was troubling as I had nothing to show for the first two hours, which also caused me to leave the office later. I came up with a plan to handle this problem once and for all.

I started placing mundane tasks like cold calling, reviewing the previous day’s work, or filling up our status sheets in the morning.

Google calendar was an immense help there. It will let me set daily tasks in my calendar, but if you want to use it as a dedicated task manager, its limitation starts to show. If you are comfortable with day view, then it works. Otherwise, it does not. In the month view, listing more than three or four tasks are counterintuitive as Google Calendar will hide them, and you must continuously press the expand button.

I also set them up clearly and in a concise way, like three or four words. So, when I enter the office, opening my calendar gives me an idea of what to do in the next few hours. As a result, I can utilize those hours and stay ahead of the workload. I usually set them up the day before so that I don't have to waste time in the morning

Tips for using google calendar as a task manager:

• Always set your task minimum the day before
• If you want to use it as a dedicated task manager, then use the Day or Week view
• Set mundane tasks at the beginning of the day. If your brain wakes up later than office time like mine
• Don’t write an essay. Write key achievable with a few words

Manage your inbox with filters in Gmail

I have a very vibrant office, so there are always birthday emails, welcoming emails, and generic file-sharing emails. After joining here, I, the zero-inbox freak, started to lose my mind within a few days. I sat back, planned, and began to create filters that successfully divert all emails to designated folders.

I found the following labels very useful: Client, Team, Drive Shares, and Others. I also turned on the option to show notification only when there is a new mail from a Label.

Now, my mailbox is zero again, and I can always focus on the critical emails. Drive share might feel meaningless, but you will soon find all the file links faster. By the way, remember to set the mails not to show up in the Inbox.

Tips for Zero and stress-free inbox:

• Set up filters intelligently based on the sender
• Name all Labels in a meaningful way
• Select the option to make sure the mails don’t show up at Inbox
• Only show a particular Label if there is unread mail in it

Managing clients with ClickUp

Now comes the most critical part, managing clients. I primarily used MS Excel to list and update the deal status with different clients. The trouble I started to face with more and more clients, the list became unmanageable. I was looking for a dynamic solution.

My first try was with Notion. Though it’s a popular app, I somehow felt it was slow and tedious. Then I moved to ClickUp.

ClickUp has a free forever plan for personal use.

I created spaces based on the product category and listed all clients based on the stages of discussion they are in. It clicked, and now I can review each step and identify priorities faster.

Please don’t be lazy and use a template because it’s easy to implement. Customize the way it is more aligned with your workflow. You might need ten more minutes in the beginning. After that, you can reuse it if you save it as a template for yourself.

Also, find out which view you are more comfortable with. The free version has some interfaces blocked, like box view. Still, there are so many templates available. Like I prefer Kanban boards. Some of my friends loved the Calendar views. Use the Look that gives you the most confidence.

Tips for client management using ClickUp

• Create spaces based on your portfolio products
• Repeat if a client is pursuable for multiple products
• Only use a template if it matches your workflow. Else, customize it
• Choose the view you are comfortable with. You can try tables, calendars, mind maps, Gantt, or List.

I have to repeat, this is how it works for me. It might not work for you at all and that is normal. The objective is to make yourself more productive not make social media happy. At the end of the day, you have to meet your ROI, not me. So, keep exploring and if you find something better, let me know in the comments.