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Contact Management software is crucial for any prospector. Whether you are actively looking for new clients, letting referrals trickle in, or just simply servicing existing clients; contact management software (AKA "CRM" in the industry) will allow you do everything in one suit.

There are many Contact Management suites on the market. As your business grows, you may need to upgrade or get a customized suite for your needs. To start, a basic CRM needs to be able to have many defined fields such as first name, last name….etc. CRM’s also need to have customizable fields that you can "tag" prospects and clients to suit your business needs.

Your CRM needs to be able to integrate your email, calendar, and word processor all in one. Very often you will have a prospect that requires a email sent at a future date. The above three will allow you to easily keep track of your every day needs. You should look for a CRM that will integrate with professional suites such as Microsoft Office. Most CRM packages will do the same thing.

One key attribute to all CRM suites is not how the program works, but how you use the program. Proper protocol should be in place before using the CRM. At the end of the day, any CRMwill only be as effective as how you use/maintain it. For example, if your CRM does not automatically format phone numbers, then have a protocol that all number begin xxx-xxx-xxxx. If you enter a number (xxx) xxx-xxxx, you have broken protocol.

Before you choose which CRM you will buy, I suggest speaking to some colleagues to see what others in your industry are using. After that, make you decision.

- Gabriel Frohwein is a regular marketing and consulting coach with Canadian Business Directories.

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