Shortly after entering the business world, I learned the importance of detailed customer records. I worked at a financial advisory firm for about a year. Every day my co-workers and I depended on the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software known as ACT. We recorded every single meeting, phone call, and email through this program. We scheduled reminders to get in touch with clients in 6-month or annual intervals.
ACT allowed the advisors to work seamlessly together. With a few clicks, they could each access the full history of client communications. Even if only one person typically interacted with a client, anyone can suffer from a memory lapse. And reminders were a great tool so no customer was forgotten.
As a freelance designer, I work in an entirely different realm. I’ve found great value, however, in the CRM practices I learned years ago. I use Highrise by 37 Signals on a daily basis. Though it’s not close to the robust feature set of ACT, it’s a sufficient way to maintain a database of clients and colleagues. The data is stored online, so you can work from any connected device.
When I’m trying to remember the last conversation I had with a colleague, Highrise allows me to review our communications. And the easy-to-set tasks remind to reach out to clients at a future date.
Whether you work with ACT, Highrise, or different CRM software, these applications makes it easy to focus on your customers. Let me know if you’ve found a system that works for you!