What do you guys use besides excel to keep track of your contacts? I'm heading to business school this fall and want to ramp up my networking efforts in an organized manner. I'm ideally looking for something that links to gmail and keeps track of conversations, follow-up reminders, etc. Was thinking of something like Insightly or Salesforce.
SB's to whoever provides the best suggestion!
-Audax
Check out Streak! It can be used as a gmail attachment. It's the best thing I've ever downloaded.
An excel, with a different tab for each firm worked best for me. Don't over-complicate, you're not going to have time or mental fortitude to maintain something complicated like your imagining..
Streak is awesome! I'll probably end up using a combination of streak and excel. Thanks guys!
found these:
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/blog/keep-in-touch-networking-template - 41 sb's, worth a look for sure
also found http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/blog/tracking-networking-template
The excel template from the 1st post that you linked is what I use. It's easy to enter data, track, follow-up, etc. I set up individual tabs for current contacts, prospective, old co-workers, etc.
Linkedin actually has some pretty good tools for managing your network as well. It allows you to create multiple "tags" for your connections which allow you to quickly sort through and organize them. In example if I want to quickly pull a list of all of my CPA connections I can do so by selecting that tag. It also allows you to put notes on each connection's profile which could be details on the previous conversation you had with them or whatever. You can then set reminders that will automatically go off when it is time to make a contact with that individual such as an email or coffee. You can set the reminders to be as frequent as you would like, such as monthly or quarterly. I am trying to leverage these tools better instead of trying to recreate the wheel.
Excel is great of course, but something cloud-based that I can access anywhere via phone, ipad, friend's laptop, etc. would be ideal. I use Evernote fairly heavily and got used to having info at a moment's notice wherever I am.
Thanks for the links AndyLouis. And Randy Quaid, thanks for the LinkedIn suggestion. Hadn't realized LinkedIn had gotten so robust.
Excel CRM database
Honestly, just use what Linkedin has. You can make notes, last contact, etc on the profile. Really helps.
Bump
I use my Microsoft Outlook sent messages folder. Don't over-complicate something as simple as sending emails and then responding to them.
I've tried the the excel thing and it can work pretty well. I just started using an app called Pintact (www.pintact.com) for networking. It doesn't have follow up reminders but its pretty good because you can type in notes for each person you meet (like salesforce but Pintact has a good mobile app). I like to type in when, where, and why I met them along with anything we have in common that I can reference later on. And when you connect with people on it their information is always-updated. Basically a crowdsourced address book for better networking.
@"VUBank" I started using pintact and you actually need to be connected with the other person to have your rolodex get updated. A lot of people from my school are on it so its not a problem. We use it to exchange information among groups - you should try using it in a student org. or soemthing
I work in sales and used excel my whole life. Name - Company - Phone - Notes about client Keep it simple, you know right away if people are useless or not, don't overcrowd your excel.
That said - a colleague of mine uses Evernote, and swears only by this.
If I had to choose one app that's had the most impact on my productivity, it's Evernote. Once you start using more of its features (e.g. notebook stacks, tags, web clipper), it's incredible. The average human memory is shit and Evernote helps compensate for that IMO.
Keeping Track of Network (Originally Posted: 03/06/2013)
I've been using excel but it's getting unruly keeping track of everything. What I'm trying to do is have a tool that keeps track of personal and professional information beyond just current jobs and contact details. Things like education, family size, where kids are going to school, hobbies, etc., also a contact log.
Does anyone on here use any CRM tools? Ones that sync with LinkedIn, FB, Gmail, Outlook, and iOS would be awesome.
Curious to see how everyone manages their network.
Prior to reconnecting.... I stalk.
Anyone ever try highrise? They have a free plan that allows up to 250 contacts.
Keep it simple... run with Excel
Yup. Same here.
keeping track of high profile connections (Originally Posted: 05/07/2014)
Hi all,
have a question about how you guys keep track of connections.
What I have been doing so far is adding people on linkedin. That is quite an easy thing since even after they change companies, I can still contact them as they rarely delete their profile. However, what I notice recently, is that the most important people (partners at PE firms, CEOs etc.) do not have a profile or do not accept connections. Fair enough as they do not want to seem "diluted" by having 500+ connections.
So, how do you keep track of those people that you want to stay in touch even after they (or you) leave their current firm? Also, if you join a firm, you get a phone number that you most often cannot keep once you leave the firm. How do you make yourself "permanently" accessible?
Thanks, Mark
How to better keep track of your rolodex for networking ? (Originally Posted: 07/07/2017)
I'm sure we all have a excel template that we have used and likely kept it out of date. I know I have gone back and forth between trying to figure out whether keeping a note on my iPhone is more effective and easier to keep track of people over a spreadsheet. It results in a lot of 'looking around for the list of people I made 12 months ago for people I went to school with'.
Is there any intuitive, easy, and effective way you guys keep track of people? An excel spreadsheet doesn't help because I'm on the move sometimes and a smartphone is the easier way of accessing stuff online. But using a evernote or just a simply note is annoying to keep track of everything.
I want to be able to track people like this:
"Matt" went to school "ABC" with a degree in "Relevant Grad program" that i'm interested in learning more about and worked at "XYZ Company" that i'm interested in hearing about. His "Role" is in the "Real Estate Development" industry, where I know another dozen people in this industry. I've saved "these notes" about my previous conversations about "Matt" so when I speak to him, I can ask to see how his project is going that I spoke to him about 6 months prior.
I'm not sure if anyone is aware of anything like this out there, but it would be great to hear if there was iOS/desktop software that let you do this, for free preferably.
salesforce if the most widely used, but there are tons of other CRM out there, although you'll probably end up having to pay as those that a a free tier usually have some restrictions (ie. # of contacts) that you'll bust pretty soon.
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