Before we move forward, let’s clean up the contacts on your phone. Go to your text messaging app and scroll down, looking for phone numbers without names. Find any, hit the button and add a new contact (if by reading the text you know who it is). Next, go to your phone app and recent calls and do the same thing. Not sure who it is? Make a mental note and try to add to either an existing contact or save as new. Time to visit your email. The great thing about our email programs is if you tap on the email address you have the choice of adding a new contact or adding to an existing contact. Have any pieces of paper or business cards laying around? Enter them, too. Now you need to go to your contacts on your phone and do some housekeeping. Review to see you have an email and phone number for each contact. Many of your contacts have left your life for many reasons – it doesn’t hurt to leave them in your contacts, but I am sure there are some you can delete. Remember, we don’t give rewards for the most contacts!
After you finish what I listed above, now let’s convert your contacts app into your free CRM. For years, I have been running around the country and writing about my F.O.R.D contact management system – let’s put it to work. First let me explain the F.O.R.D. system it’s so simple:
F – Family, names of spouse, siblings, grandkids, family pet(s)
O – Organizations, church, civic groups, social clubs
R – Recreation, golf, bowling, going to the gym, sailing, camping
D – Dreams, retire to a tropical island, cruise the world
Imagine having a few of these facts on contacts you want to advance from Lead to Prospect to Friend to Closing to Commission. Call it ice breakers or anything you want, but when you drop any of the F.O.R.D. facts the contact will be impressed you care enough to know that information. It gets better. If you hit the search feature and put in the name of a spouse or anything listed on F.O.R.D., it finds the contact.
Following the instructions from article one, Text Replacement, add F.O.R.D. as a phrase with the shortcut ford. Go to any contact and under notes type ford and click on F.O.R.D. Using the return button on your keyboard move each letter to a new line.
Now you have a place to record and add information about the contact. We have more that comes up later about adding information on a contact. Check out my article posted earlier about the F.O.R.D. system to learn more.
Oh, we have a long way to go in this series. Each step builds on skills we are covering in detail. Not to worry, I would not tell you that you can run your business with a smartphone without discussing it much more. Next subject is calendar, which you will need to have your contacts cleaned up and have mastered Text Replacement. I plan on covering email marketing and drip campaigns, social networking, information and document storage, video conferencing, camera which will include photos and scanners and much more.
Remember all of this without buying anything, and free step-by-step directions!
