Customer relationship management software doesn’t have to be just for businesses. Jack Wallen gives an example with ONLYOFFICE.
I am constantly inundated with contacts from just about every walk of life. I have information about professional, personal, social, and casual relationships that have clogged my brain so much that it becomes nearly impossible to remember everything. Example: I depend on Facebook to remind me when it’s someone’s birthday.
That is neither a sustainable nor an efficient model to keep an eye on everyone in my job.
What if I told you that there is a better way than using a simplified contact manager, such as the one on your mobile device or email client. I’m talking about proven customer relationship management. Business users have taken advantage of CRM tools for years to make it exponentially easier to keep an eye on customers, customers, leads and much more.
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If it’s good enough for business, why isn’t it good enough for your personal or professional life? If you are overwhelmed by the amount of information you collect about your contacts and a normal contact application is not enough to keep your head above water, then a CRM may be just what you need.
You may be wondering, “Isn’t a CRM overkill for someone who doesn’t need to track leads, opportunities, and cases?” While many CRM tools offer features you may never use, that shouldn’t stop you from considering this powerful, flexible route to relationship management.
Think about it this way: Are you using all the features of your office suite? I would venture to assume that the majority of users have a minority of features in Office 365 or Google Workspace† Do not believe me? Have you ever touched the Google Workspaces Forms tool? Or how about Jamboard? The truth is that most users just scratch the surface of the features offered in the applications they use. So why should the same stop you from working with a CRM?
It shouldn’t.
While a CRM can contain features you’ll never use, it also provides everything you need to keep all the information about your relationships in one convenient location. Even better, you can create all kinds of custom fields, so the types and amount of information you can keep for a contact is limitless. Imagine having a complete Wiki on all your contacts so that you would never know anything about them.
I started using ONLYOFFICE’s CRM component for this. This tool allows me to track almost every aspect of my relationships, so I don’t have to try to force my aging brain to store all that information for me. And since ONLYOFFICE can be deployed on your LAN for free, you don’t have to worry about deploying the platform costing you a penny.
How do I make this tool useful as a personal CRM? It’s actually very simple. While I don’t use ONLYOFFICE tools like Opportunities and Invoices, I can use the personal and business contact features with great success. Let me show you how.
How to personalize CRM in ONLYOFFICE
If you log in to ONLYOFFICE and go to the CRM tool, you can then click Create | † click Person. Instead of entering the information for this contact, first click Customize User Fields (Image A†
Image A
In the resulting window (Figure B), click New Field.
Figure B
In the popup (Figure C), name the field and select the type of field to be added from text, text area, check box, check box, title, and date.
Figure C
After creating your custom field, click Save and the new field is ready to use. Create as many custom fields as you need to make it easier to keep track of the information you need.
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After you create the custom fields, create a new person (contact) and add information for those fields (Figure D†
Figure D
Once you’ve nailed the custom fields, you’ll find that keeping track of your different types of relationships is incredibly easy with a CRM. Yes, the CRM tool you choose may be overkill, but it’s better to have too much than too little.
If you’re not keen on deploying your own copy of ONLYOFFICE, you can try one of these options, which are either free or offer a free plan:
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