OK, so you need to get organized and figure out a way to manage your contacts better. The sticky notes keep getting lost and you just found out that you lost another deal because you forgot to follow up with that prospective customer.
Should you use something that you already own, like Excel, or Word? What about Outlook – that’s a contact manager…isn’t it? And if you go search Google there are hundreds of contact managers out there. So where do you start?
You might be surprised to learn the absolute most important thing to look for in a Contact Manager. Forget pouring through and comparing feature lists, and forget shopping on price. The first place to start and the most important thing to look for when shopping for the best contact manager is
It’s gotta be easy FOR YOU.
Why? Because most contact managers are so confusing and clunky that the users never get to take advantage of all their great features and functions.
You should be able to get signed up, get your contacts imported over and be using the system within 1 hour. Remember, it’s not important that your friend, colleague or boss, says it is easy – it needs to make sense to YOU.
Q. Can an “easy to use” system have enough sophistication to get the job done?
A. Absolutely. In fact the “easy” systems are actually MORE sophisticated. It is easy to program a system that is confusing to the user – much more difficult to program a system that is effortless for the user.
Q. How can I tell if the system is “easy to use”? Every product out there says their product is “easy to use”.
A. Here are the secrets to finding “easy to use” software, and which software to stay away from:
- Secret #1: If the company selling the software offers Training or has a User’s Manual, this is your clue that the software is NOT easy enough for the average user to figure out on their own. Video Tutorials are the only “training” you should ever need if the system is easy truly to use.
- Secret #2: If the software uses big graphics or cartoon characters on the screen, this is a huge red flag that you are looking at a complex and cumbersome system. These companies will often use “big” and “fun” graphics to fool you into thinking their system is easy!
Your best bet to find the best contact manager is to dig in and do some homework. Find a system with a free trial, put in a couple contacts and go!
You should be able to get around the system without hurting your head. Things should be clear and obvious. They should have simple video tutorials for you to watch in case you get stuck. If you are not comfortable in about 10 minutes you never will be! Get out and move on to the next one!
