In the introductory article in my YOUBIDFAST series I introduced The WALKIE-TALKIE as the second of three essential components of your Online Business Development System. The purpose of the Walkie-Talkie is to nurture the key relationships for your business (aka Customer Relationship Management)in a systematic and personalised way. Here I describe how to build your CRM Walkie-Talkie using just free software.
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The Purpose of The Walkie-Talkie
The purpose of the transmitter was to reach new contacts on a one-many basis however the purpose of the walkie-talkie is to engage with your most important contacts on a one-one basis (see the diagram below).
These contacts usually fall into 3-4 main categories - existing customers, channel partners, prospective customers and other important relationships for your enterprise. The objective of the walkie-talkie is to keep your services in these peoples minds when they come across new opportunities.
I have called it the "Walkie-Talkie" to stress that it is about one-one relationships and not about mass communications (this is The Transmitter). The main technology component of the Walkie-Talkie is the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) System (also referred to as The Contact Management System). The CRM system will help you plan and organise how you nurture these relationships but it will not do it for you - this is down to you, your voice and your feet!
The 3 Functions of the Walkie-Talkie
So what must a Walkie-Talkie do - its very simple. In fact there are only really 3 requirements for a viable Walkie-Talkie which constitute only a very small subset of full CRM system functionality (which is why you can use generally get away with using the free entry-level version of sophisticated CRM software)
1. Contact Grouping
The ability to assign a contact (company or individual) to one (or more) Groups eg existing customers.
2. Contact Activity Recording
To be able to record notes of each interaction with them so that you (and any colleagues) have some kind of "organisational memory". Most systems will also let you store emails etc but this is not essential.
3. Contract call reminders
The facility to set reminders against each contact (eg ring in a month, ring in 3 months ...). Some systems will allow you to code contacts up using an ABC system where, for example, A means monthly contact, B means quarterly contact and C means yearly contact which is useful but not essential.
How to operate your Walkie-Talkie
Just a quick refresher here on the
bare essentials of CRM:
STEP 1. Identify and classify your contacts into groups
STEP 2. Determine how frequently you wish to keep in touch with each class of contact
STEP 3. Systematically stay in contact and record notes/reminders of the conversations
STEP 4. Set yourself reminders to follow-up and complete any actions
Your Big decision - web CRM or mobile phone CRM
In general terms if you are an individual then I recommend you simply use a CRM system which runs on your mobile phone. If you are an enterprise and you need to share contacts you should select a web or PC-based CRM tool which ideally can be synchronized with your colleagues mobile phones.
Mobile-Phone CRM
Described below is how you can do the Walkie-Talkie functionality on the
iphone.
I am sure that it can also be achieved in a similar way on a
Blackberry or
Andriod phones ( for example,
Maximiser CRM claims to run on Blackberry, Andriod and iphone)
The core tool on the
iphone is the built-in
Contacts App - however this lacks the ability to create groups for contacts.
So I use the
Contact Grouper App.
It also lacks the record contact activity notes and to-do lists so this is where I use the
Contacts Journal App.
Here are some screenshots from Contacts Journal showing contact grouping, contact notes and contact reminders:
Web/PC CRM
In terms of Web/PC CRM I have restricted my search to products which offer a free version (as opposed to just a free trial) and have identified these 3 as a good short list for you to start from
However this is assumes that you don't already have a CRM system - if you do then its pretty likely that you can use it for the simple CRM functionality needed to support your Walkie-Talkie.
FreeCRM/SkypeCRM
The first product goes under the name of
FreeCRM and also
SkypeCRM and offers a totally free product for up to 5 users. There is a nice video tour on the home page. Paid versions start at $15 per month and offer synchronization with various services including the blackberry
ChannelCRM
The second product is
ChannelCRM from a Danish company which offers a free version of its solution for single-user use. Its not clear to me what (if any) level of integration/synchronisation is offered with the free version.
Channel CRM Training Videos
Zoho
The third product goes under the name of
Zoho and offers a totally free product for up to 3 users. Paid versions start at $12 per month.
Zoho demo video
Summary
There are many excellent free online tools you can use to build a professional CRM Walkie-Talkie as a key component of your own unique Business Development System.
Here are a list of all the tools I have mentioned in this article:
Contact Grouper (iphone - £0.59)
Contacts Journal (iphone - £1.79)
Free CRM/Skype CRM
Channel CRM
Zoho
pingchat (iphone)
ebuddy (iphone)
fuze messenger (iphone)
social orbit phonebook (iphone)
To take your Transmitter to the next level read the next article - The Walkie-Talkie (Advanced) or find out about the Radar (Basic).
Other Articles in the YOUBIDFAST series
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