If you’re a Business owner or work in any business-related industry, you probably know that people are your best resource for expanding your network. Platforms like LinkedIn help you keep track of everyone you know and potentially want to know. Unfortunately, reaching out to connections on a Personal level can be challenging when everyone receives invitations and messages on LinkedIn daily. LinkedIn isn’t designed to group past, present, and future clients and their individual needs, so private messaging people on LinkedIn as a business owner can feel awkward and disorganized.

You may end up reaching out to clients via email, Instagram, Facebook, or other platforms, but carrying conversations over multiple platforms isn’t always the most efficient way to help clients remember you and your product or service. Customer relationship management is essential to establishing trust and brand loyalty among your customers. Still, you want to ensure your interactions are private, personal, and memorable. A Personal Crm could be just what your business needs. These management systems provide a platform for secure and personal interactions outside of the public sphere and social media atmosphere of LinkedIn. A personal CRM isn’t exclusively for business owners—freelancers and contractors who work with multiple companies and clients may also benefit from a personal platform. In addition, you can build a network of potential clients, former coworkers, current coworkers, and friends on a personal CRM, taking individualized notes and keeping track of what makes each member of your network unique. Here are just a few ways you can use a personal CRM to build better and personalize your network.

1. Take Personal Notes

Personal CRM apps like Clay differ from public platforms like LinkedIn because they help you track what makes your clients and coworkers human. LinkedIn tends to be limited to publicly available and professional information regarding work experience and resumes. Still, CRMs help you keep track of personal notes like the names of your coworker’s pets, their birthdays, and hobbies they enjoy. Filing these personal details shows your clients and coworkers that you care about them as individuals and want to take a polite interest in who they are outside of work.

2. Keep Track of Conversations

You talk to many clients and coworkers during your day, and sometimes it can be challenging to remember what you ate for lunch, never mind what you talked about with your clients. A CRM can help you keep track of your conversations over the phone, by email, or even in a Twitter or Instagram DM.

3. Analysis Features

Some personal CRM software can analyze customer life cycles and determine why customers might stop doing business with you (also known as your customer churn rate). It does this by analyzing sales, finance, and marketing metrics and compiling them all in one place. This eliminates the need for some more frustrating aspects of customer service, including customers repeating their stories and feeling that their concerns are unimportant.

4. Share Knowledge of Clients

When your company works with many clients, it can be difficult to onboard new team members. Your team members will have to learn about your clients as they go, and they may not know enough about each client to interact with them. Compiling a database of customer interactions and needs can increase communication and give all your team members a standard overview of each client.

5. Automatically Schedule Meetings

A personal CRM is like a business calendar, and network rolled into one. Not only can a personal CRM keep track of all your business interactions, possible leads, and customer reviews, but it can also track past phone calls and emails to help you schedule follow-up phone calls and meetings. These platforms automatically keep track of important contact information, so you don’t miss any connections due to a forgotten phone number. Personal CRMs can generate email follow-up reminders and even provide you with a transcript of phone calls in case you missed something a client said.

6. And Assign Tasks

A personal CRM can also help you keep track of your team members’ schedules and any active assignments they might be working on. It allows you to assign tasks so other team members can see them. Platforms like this bring your whole business together by combining the needs of your clients and your employees all in one place. It eliminates the need for multiple platforms, one that tracks client conversations and conversions and another that tracks employee performance and tasks. Your team members will have transparent access to clients’ needs and goals. LinkedIn might be great for initial connections and client outreach, but it’s certainly not designed for the specific purposes of your company and team members. Personal CRMs are.

Conclusion

Whether you’re a business owner, freelancer, or company employee, you and your team will benefit from a personal CRM. Both clients and employees are necessary for a business, so why shouldn’t all their information be organized in one place? A personal CRM is essential for businesspeople who want to increase efficiency and remember those turning point conversations with clients.

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