Personal CRM for Building Strong Connections

Choosing a personal CRM

• What is a personal CRM?

  Businesses use Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to organize, store, and process information about their customers, partners, suppliers, and other stakeholders.
  
  In other words, a CRM is a central tool for any business.
  
  A personal CRM has the same function but contrary to the majority of CRM solutions, a personal CRM is a CRM used by an individual instead of an organization.

• Should I use a personal CRM or a spreadsheet?

  If you run a one-person business, you might be wondering whether having a CRM is a good idea or if this tool will only slow you down.
  
  That's why many solopreneurs first use spreadsheets for managing their client database. But once their business starts to grow, they notice that spreadsheets are no longer enough.
  
  At some point, solopreneurs start looking for a simple CRM system. Contrary to complex CRM solutions built for enterprises or large organizations, a personal CRM is easy-to-use and doesn't require any set-up.
  
  While a spreadsheet has limitations, a personal CRM with a lightweight and clutter-free interface can help you organize client data and quickly pull it every time you need it.

• What are the benefits of a personal CRM?

  It is perfect for building and nurturing business and personal relationships and can help you not only stay in touch with your clients but also support you in networking.

• What features should a personal CRM have?

  Simple contact segmentation
  
  A personal CRM should make it easy for you to segment contacts into different groups and assign them different statuses and tags. For example, since you are a single user, you might have different types of contacts inside the same CRM account at some point: your clients, colleagues, potential partners, mentors, etc.
  
  Follow-up reminders
  
  As a solopreneur, you don't have the luxury of using tools for simply storing data and never looking back at it. The best personal CRM should help you make the most out of every contact in your database. That's why follow-up reminder functionality can be especially useful.
  
  Contact relationships
  
  Did you know that you can define contact relationships inside OnePageCRM? It is not easy to remember how people are connected. That's why in OnePageCRM you can define whether Contact A is a colleague of Contact B or whether Contact X is a former manager of Contact Y.
  
  Emails
  
  Having to search through past email threads can be a tedious tasks. A personal CRM should have a two-way email sync with your favorite client. This way, you can ensure that all work-related communication is not only stored in your CRM account but can also be managed from there. For example, you can not only receive emails in OnePageCRM but also send them from your account and track email opens.
  
  Notes
  
  As a solopreneur, you build connections one by one. Any business relationship requires time and effort and is not built over night. A personal CRM should let you easily add notes to any contact and categorize these notes into different types: for example, general notes or meeting or call notes.

• What makes OnePageCRM the best personal CRM?

  OnePageCRM is not just a simple CRM system, it is also a powerful productivity tool.
  
  Contrary to all other CRM solutions, OnePageCRM has the unique Action Stream feature.
  
  The Action Stream sorts all your CRM contacts by the urgency of their assigned task or follow-up reminder. It helps you stay in touch and never miss a follow-up email or a catch-up call.

• Should I use a personal CRM?

  It depends.
  
  A personal CRM can benefit your business by providing you a more structured approach to relationship management.
  
  But it also requires a certain level of discipline. For example, to make the most out of a personal CRM, you need to be diligent with taking notes and putting them into your CRM.