Your CRM is not just for “customers!”

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Store all your contact types in contact management software

There was a time when we kept records of our business contacts in a rolodex or a stack of business cards on a corner of the desk. Today technology has vastly improved our ability to efficiently store and sort the contact details of the many people we connect with in the course of doing business.

The term “CRM” is popularly thrown about, but perhaps we should stop to think about what the acronym actually means. The letters stand for Customer Relationship Management of course, but now in 2020, what does that really imply? At its very base a CRM is “any tool, strategy, or process that helps businesses better organize and access customer data” according to Salesforce’s CRM 101.

But perhaps we are limiting the definition by suggesting that contact management software is designed to manage customer data. Contact Boss’s contact management software is fully equipped to handle data on all your contacts from customers to staff, from suppliers to donors. And each contact record can go well beyond the basic “tombstone” data, allowing you to keep detailed notes on all interactions.

ContactBoss - Contact Types

Imagine a database that allows you to collect and organize records on all of the following:

  • Customers
  • Staff
  • Members
  • Suppliers
  • Donors
  • Supporters
  • Stakeholders

Contact Boss can easily and efficiently handle and sort all of the above types of contacts.

Optimize your CRM

While some businesses will find the software most useful to manage their relationships with customers, it is possible that they are not optimizing their software systems, and might find benefit from managing suppliers, stakeholders, staff, members, or funders within the same contact management system.

For example, some subscribers to contact data management software are non-profit organizations who will be placing a much greater emphasis on complete and thorough records of their members and supporters. Contact Boss makes it easy to categorize the records, and to store and search notes and contact status. You can sort the data according to stage in the giving process (i.e. is a donor ready for the next pitch?) or sort the member database according to their standing (new, current, time to renew etc.)

Also, handling your employee database in Contact Boss contact management system is a cinch; you can set permissions and track logins using the same system. In this way supervisors and team leaders can also assign projects and check in on progress.  Also the search capability of Contact Boss ensures that you can find your contacts easily and quickly, no matter in which category the record was filed.

What are the types of information you can store for all your contact types? Consider making note of some or all of the following:

  • Name/Address/email/phone
  • Contact preferences/opt-in status
  • Age/ Birthday
  • Member of professional associations
  • Purchase history

To take a look at the ability of Contact Boss to manage all contact types sign up now for the free trial.

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About Author

A consummate communicator, Carol Horne has undertaken a variety of content creation projects over the past few decades. She supplied, assigned and edited copy for the majority of Tourism PEI’s consumer content. She led the marketing team at Confederation Centre where she developed marketing and communications strategies to enhance awareness and generate revenue for the theatre, gallery, restaurant and gift shop. In her role as Chief Marketing Officer she oversaw the development and execution of marketing, graphic design, social media, communications and PR, sales, development and guest services activity plans. As manager of the Canadian Tourism Commission’s online media centre and the US consumer E-Newsletter she was in charge of creating and curating Canada’s tourism promotion content.

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