Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

You are in business. You need a way to track, categorize, and keep in contact with people.

Depending on where you start, this could simply mean a pen and a pad of paper. The next step in the evolutionary chain is a spreadsheet. Then, there are CRM's. The most well known of these is SalesForce. But again, like autoresponders, there are many to choose from.

The bottom line is that you need to track and keep notes on who you talk to; and, some businesses have these systems built into their back offices.

In keeping with Google tools, we use Streak, which is an add-on that "lives inside" of Gmail. It is very intuitive to set up, the training resources (videos) are completely adequate and overall it is a great, free way to track your business. Also, it bears mentioning that Streak is a very powerful and adaptable tool that performs at a level that is comparable to most any of the high-priced CRM's in the market.

Once again, depending on your aspirations, you may go this "route", or not. You are in control. This information exists simply as a resource and to provide context for the potential tools and resources to implement in your business.