How do you keep track of your business contacts....excel, paper files, a word document, your email or smart phone’s contact list or perhaps a good old-fashioned rolodex? These all serve a purpose, but if you’re not using a dedicated CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system, you’re missing out on a world of benefits designed to create stronger business relationships. A well managed CRM system allows you to retain important details about your contacts, providing more accurate, current and personal business communications.
Of course in today’s internet marketing environment, it’s a necessity to distribute blanket promotions such as blog posts, tweets, email promotions and Facebook posts. These are all valuable forms of communication that keep your business in front of your audience, and hopefully produce some engagement. But that’s not enough. The real source of your business success will come with personalized interactions enhanced by a good CRM system.
Here are some tips on how to get started:
CHOOSE A CRM SYSTEM- Each system serves a slightly different purpose. Decide which is right for you by determining your business, networking and follow-up needs. Then get started by checking out some these popular CRM systems:
There are a multitude of other choices as well. If you’ve used another product that you found helpful, please feel free to leave a comment and share that information with our readers.
Resource: Top 20 Customer Relationship Management Software Links
USE TAGS TO GROUP CONTACTS BY TYPE - Review your contact list and determine specific categories, such as prospective client, client, media, business referral, local, target industry, etc. Use the terms that make sense to you, then begin to assign one or more tags to each contact as you enter them into your CRM database.
MANAGE INDIVIDUAL DETAILS - Use your CRM to track details about your contacts and correspondence such as previous conversations & correspondence, favorite blog posts, birthdays and special events, previous meetings, etc.
SET REMINDERS & TASKS - Follow-up is the key to building business relationships. Use this feature to enter future activities. Stay organized and never forget another appointment or opportunity.
Imagine instantly being able to pull up a list of your top prospective clients and craft a letter or email just for them. If you choose, you can then use the details in your CRM to further personalize each making your outreach efforts much more effective! Then when one of them replies and invites you to a meeting next month with her local networking group, you can add that new information to their specific record (to remember she’s a member of XYZ Club) with a reminder to follow up to confirm. You’ll never lose track of those important little details again.
Although they can be extremely effective, CRM systems are only as useful as the data you put into them. Be diligent. Entering contacts and details should become part of your daily routine as new information arises. There is an initial investment of time and effort in setting up a good system, however within the first few weeks you will begin to reap the benefits and soon you will wonder how you ever managed your business without it!
Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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Progressive Business Solutions is owned by Carol M. Aldridge, a professional Administrative Consultant and Support Specialist with 25 years experience in the Equine and Association Management industries. Based in Central Kentucky, Carol partners with clients across the United States and Canada, providing a wide range of administrative and marketing support services.
Ph: (859) 361-9416, www.ProgressiveBusinessSolutions.net
Thanks for the post. I am actually struggling with this issue with a client. She wants me to organize her office and contacts, but she insists that she wants to use her Mac address book. I am using that for now, but I fear that down the road, it won't be nearly as robust as she needs it to be.
I personally use Insightly as my CRM, and I do love it.
Hi Kate. It's common for some clients to want to stick with the familiar, which I assume is her reasoning behind using the Mac address book. Thanks for mentioning Insightly. It seems like an excellent solution for anyone with a Google Apps account. I am working on a comparison chart of popular CRM systems as a follow-up to my recent post and will definitely add this to the list. Many thanks. ~Carol
Thanks for the response Carol. At this point, I figure, at minimum, I can get her contacts organized and straighten out, and at least she will be able to export them once she needs a more robust solution.
Yes, you must have a google apps account to use insightly. It's my favorite CRM so far (and I've tried MANY!)
Thanks again for replying to my comment.
Kate
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