Need help setting up your CRM/Contact Manager?

A question I get every day is, “After I buy this CRM, how do I get started?” If you have had a Contact Manager or CRM before, and the one you just got is relatively intuitive (easy to learn), then you may be fine. However, if you have never had one before, you may find yourself spending too long just sitting and staring at it. Also, just because you have had one before, does not mean you did not get into many bad habits.

With regards to learning how to use a CRM, many people are fine if they have training videos to watch. Others prefer reading through the documentation. Most hate them both. They want to have someone walk them through it and answer questions as they come to mind. Most people do learn much faster that way, which actually makes it more cost effective in the long run. If your time is worth $100/hr. or more, and you pay someone $50/hr. to learn it, it makes fiscal sense. It is no different than paying a high school kid $5/hr. to stuff envelopes for you.

When you first get a CRM there are certain basics that you want to learn quickly. Some things seem to be obviously easy, but it is even easier to get into bad habits in how you enter information into your contact screen. One very basic lesson is that you should never have a contact without both a first and last name. if all is have is “Bob”, then use that in both the last and first name fields unti you get the last name. If it is a company with one name like COMCAST, put COMCAST in both the first and last name field, or maybe COMCAST in the first name, and CABLE in the last. Another is to never use all caps! Yet another is to never put a contact into your database without putting it into at least one category. Speaking of categories, what is the best way to categorize people? Another question I am commonly asked is who should be in the database.

Then there are good, better, and best, ways to enter property data into that area of the CRM.

There are good, better, and best ways to build activity plans.

Just because you figured out how to do something, does not mean you figured out the best way to do something.

You may also be in a position where you are going to be switching from one to another, and need help exporting and importing.

I have been doing that for years as well. So if you need help, here it is. I have spent the last 22 years using and learning many different CRM’s. Even if I have never seen the one you are using, which is unlikely, I will still be able to teach it to you faster than you could learn it yourself, and I can teach you how to do it the best way to begin with, so you don’t get yourself in trouble for future needs. For more information – https://garydavidhall.com/Coaching.htm