Stay organized by using notes as your project database

This article was originally included in the September 13th, 2016 issue of the LACRM Newsletter.

When working on big projects with your clients, the amount of information you need to keep track of can increase very quickly. It starts off with a few documents here and there, then the contracts, proposals, policies, websites start pouring in once the project gains traction. While the CRM is primarily intended to help you keep track of the interactions you have with your contacts, it can also help you keep track of where all your information is if you are juggling multiple different systems with the project.

For Cathy Cain-Blank, President of CC Marketing and Communications, entire projects are completed online. Each project can have a variable number of documents floating about, some of which need to be collaborated on, some of which need client feedback, and some of which are her own notes. Some are website links, some are online documents, and the last thing she needs is to lose track of where everything is:

“There’s so much we need to document in the way of notes that pertain to our clients when we are working on projects. There are links that we need to access frequently like links to key pages on their websites, to LinkedIn, to Google Docs, logins and so on.

Instead of having to toggle back and forth on these sites all the time, we paste those links into our contact’s notes in the CRM because it makes it easier for us to get the project up and running when everything is altogether.”

-Cathy Cain-Blank, President of CC Marketing and Communications

Tip to try: Notes in a contact’s activity feed are commonly used to store interaction notes after every call, meeting, or follow up. But a note is, at its core, simply a way to keep any sort of information on a contact’s record. So if your team is using another web-based system for documents (DocuSign, Google Docs etc.), throw a link in on the contact’s record. This way, you don’t have to search through piles of bookmarks to find the link you need.

Even if you don’t have any outside documents for this project, you can use your notes as a database for your production guide. Any pertinent information can be tossed into a contact’s Activity Feed, be it notes about how the project is going, reference websites, or links to some examples. Having every piece of information relating to a project in one place ensures that nothing gets missed, and helps you hit your deadlines!