Start with your clients.

You might have a CRM system in place, or you might not have one. If you do have one, then you can export a client list and easily import those into a new Asana project. This is the very first project you can make in Asana.

Make use of custom fields

To have a nice overview and to create a useful dashboard in Asana, you need to enter the right data into Asana. This can be done by the use of custom fields in Asana. Consider your client list to be a simplified CRM system. And if you want to of course, then you can make this as elaborated as much as you like it to be.

Some interesting fields to have are:

• Phone
• Email
• Type of Product
• Started at …



Build a sales pipeline

In order to fill the client list, you need to have a sales pipeline. That is the second project you can make in Asana. This time, it might be easier to switch the project layout to a board. A basic sales pipeline will already go a long way. Here is a structure you can use:

• Prospect
• Contacted
• Proposal sent
• Won
• Lost



Each prospect is a different task that will evolve through the different stages. Make use of subtasks to follow up on the prospect in those different stages.

Set up a marketing project

To fill up your sales pipeline, you need a marketing plan. This is another project you can set up in Asana. For this project, choose the calendar layout to have a nice monthly overview of what you will be posting in the near future.

Here too, you can use custom fields to differentiate the tasks. Each task is a post. Commonly used fields are:

• Type of post
• Platform

Set up a financial project

To round things up, you can create another project to follow up on your invoices that you have sent to your clients. It’s easy to forget to follow up, but with a project like this, you won’t miss those gaps.

Add again some extra custom fields so you can translate that data into a financial dashboard which will give you some cool insights.



End with an operational project

Anything that involves you working ON your business and not IN your business, could be gathered into a new project. Call this an operational project. It’s where you will put your ad hoc tasks such as developing new products, updating your website, etc.…

Setting up Asana in this way allows you to have one task for every potential client, which can and will be moved through the several projects. A prospect can start as task in the sales pipeline and then be added to the client list. A subtask of this client list can be made to ‘make an invoice’ and be added to the financial project as well.

As you can see, even though this is a pretty basic set up, it can already take your business to the next level. Try it and see how much time and energy you will save because of the flow that will take place.

Need some help in setting up your own Asana for your business? I use Asana to set up the operational flow and help translate the data into clear and easy to use dashboards. Book your introductory call right here and see how Asana and its dashboards can improve your business too.