The 3 R’s of Contact Management

Peter called a week before I
was to speak at a technology conference.

He apologized saying, “I won’t
be able to attend but I really wished I could hear what you have to say because
my company is about to upgrade our computers. I made some software decisions and
I’m dreading the people problems.”

  I was the only non-technical
speaker at the event. They asked me to talk about the human aspects of Contact
Management. I don’t claim to be an expert on the hardware or software. My
expertise is the wetware…the gold standard of computing that each of us carries
around on our shoulders.

Here’s what I told him:

Using Contact Management Software:

  • Enhances your
    RECALL
  • Assures that
    you’ll be REMEMBERED
  • Makes your
    business RAMP UP

Recall. The
wetware, your brain, is unique. It learns continually, has “common sense” and
can figure out novel solutions to problems. It is, in a word, creative. But it
has its limitations, not the least of which is memory problems. Retrieval is
difficult and sometimes even impossible.

A study conducted by Dr.
Ebbinghaus and reported by McGraw Hill showed that we forget 40% of what we
hear overnight. Within a month we recall less than 5%. Even if we care about
the information we forget at an alarming rate.

That’s why a firm with six
names on the door gets shortened to one or two. And why that detail that might
clinch the deal eludes you.

Contact Management
software can help you recall a wealth of details you automatically forget.
Today my Rolodex TM is covered with dust. My
computer can give me the information I want sorted the way I want it with
complete notes on each client and prospect from the first time we met right up to
today. And do it in less time than it takes to type this sentence.

To be remembered in a world that rains down thousands of messages a day you need to
manage your contacts so they don’t forget about you. It is absolutely critical
that you reach out and touch clients, prospects and even suspects regularly.

The effect of repeating a
message is a residual memory. If your message is repeated at the right time the
impact is additive. The residual memory of message 1 is added to by message 2
and so on slowly building to the point where the residual memory is
substantial.

The question is how often do
you have to do it?

Hubert Zielske, an
advertising agency executive, conducted research that showed that the absolute
minimum is once every four weeks. You can make contact more often but I’d
recommend that only for short-term promotions.

The required activity is
difficult for an individual to accomplish with any paper system I know of (even
with just few hundred contacts) in the limited time it takes to do it with
Contact Management Software.

Ramping up your business is a natural outgrowth of good contact management.

Every business depends on
relationships. Small businesses need good ongoing relationships even more than
others.

Who you know is important.
What you know matters. But the single most important thing for building a
business is who trusts you.

To get to trust you must
maintain contact
. And the wet ware
is not designed to assure that you stay top of mind with prospects. Contact
management software linked to a proactive email program can do it more
efficiently than any other process available.

Contact Management Software…it
can enhance your recall, get you remembered and ramp up our business.

Sign up for the blog and learn more
about the human aspects of CRM, Contact Relationship Management for small companies.

Learn more about Jerry Fletcher:
Speaking—www.NetworkingNinja.com

Consulting— This entry was posted in Uncategorized by Jerry Fletcher. Bookmark the permalink.