Shortly after I moved to Washington, DC, in early January 2017, The Economist published an article stating that the world’s most valuable resource was no longer oil but data. Since then, questions about privacy and the use of personal data, particularly regarding surveillance capitalism, have increasingly come up in the public sphere. From a personal and professional standpoint, it makes sense to be organized, effective, and efficient with our data to achieve our goals. That’s why I want you to start building your Client Relationship Manager (CRM) today.
Before CRM software came out, people organized their contacts with a Rolodex. However, it could have been more portable. If you were in direct sales, you had no choice but to lug those cards around so you could “dial for dollars.” Those of us who grew up in the 1990s were the last kids who had to memorize our friends’ landline phone numbers. I still have many of those numbers stuck in my head despite not using them in over 20 years, along with cheat codes for Nintendo and Sega Genesis. Lucky for you, these supercomputers in our hands make life so much easier. Our ability to store more than just someone’s name, number, and address in a file has become exponential.
While everyone is currently looking at big tech when it comes to aggregating personal information, political campaigns were ahead of the curve regarding the commercialization and effective marketing use of personal data. Even through the 2000s, campaigns ‘tagged’ people based on demographics such as age, gender, race, and, obviously, previous voting history. In the data science age, marketers pivoted to psychographics, which digs far deeper into people’s behaviors, from hobbies, favorite foods, and lifestyle behaviors.
Okay, so you’re not a political campaign hack or corporate marketer, so why do you care about CRMs? At the end of the day, we are all in the sales business. Whether it’s pushing a product, a policy,; regardless or yourself in the dating sphere, achieving your goals is at stake here. Washington, DC is a networking city, and regardless of how smart someone is, things get done because of relationships. You never know when you might need someone. The city can sometimes be extremely transactional, so what are you doing to build authentic, real relationships? Is it quality or quantity…or can you have both? When meeting someone at an event, there should be more to it than just swapping business cards.
A good conversationalist will ask questions beyond “What do you do?” and pivot to “Why do you do it?” That will take the discussion in a personal direction, and you will learn something unique about that person. Whether it’s learning about their favorite hobby, their kids’ recent sports victory, or an article they published, you should jot that down as soon as possible on the back of the business card…after you leave the chat, of course!
Regurgitating personal information back to your contacts at some point in the future provides value. First, it shows that you were listening to what they said, and second, it was about something important to them. This matters because when you reach back out to them with something you need, they won’t perceive the request as entirely selfish, so hit the delete button on that text or email. I’ve helped many folks get jobs on Capitol Hill over the past few years and truly believe in paying it forward. I wouldn’t be successful if I didn’t build a network of people to put balls into motion.
As a firm believer of ‘skin in the game,’ I don’t give advice. I share what I do. Suppose I perceive someone to be a high-value contact instead of offering up my business card. In that case, I prefer to ask permission to ‘push’ my vCard (VCF) to that person’s cell phone – probably the second most sacred number to an individual next to their social security number. Also, asking for business cards is always better than handing out yours.
Next, you must get this information in some software within 24 hours because you will likely forget the conversation, much less where you met them. I can’t tell you how many times people have come up to me in the hall, and I can’t place them because I forgot the details of our initial conversation. If needed, send that person an email the next day to lock that information down.
There are a lot of CRM tools out there, so it’s probably best to know what information you’d like to use before signing up for a monthly subscription. First, I would start with family. Being able to send out Birthday and Christmas cards efficiently is always a win. I started collecting business cards on the South Shore train while I was in college and desperately looking for a job during the Great Recession. The downside of that era was that contacts only synced one way from Microsoft Outlook, and I can’t tell you how many times I went crazy after my laptop overwrote contacts on my HTC smartphone or vice versa. Today, that stress is long gone.
My first real attempt at contact management was while running a state representative race in 2010. The candidate was well-established in the community and had a lot of contacts. Instead of sending out generic blasts to the entire list, I learned how to segregate them based on how they wanted to interact with the campaign. Some were interested in volunteering, usually split between phone banking and knocking on doors. Other people just wanted to put out yard signs and were willing to drive wherever to make it happen. Then there’s the fundraising side of the operation. Some folks will write a check based on a direct mail request; others are looking for an event with a value proposition that includes food or some keynote speaker.
Lastly, some major donors need individual outreach for a direct ask over the phone or during in-person meetings, but being organized with contacts helped me build coalitions between groups of people that normally would never intersect. These coalitions were often cross-cutting between government and business or business and non-profits. Given that, I enjoyed connecting people through a common cause.
After that campaign, I volunteered to sit on local nonprofit boards, and the mayor appointed me to a few governmental boards. The fundraising continued, but being organized with contacts helped me build coalitions between groups of people that normally would never intersect. These coalitions were often cross-cutting between government and business or perhaps business and non-profits. I enjoyed connecting people through a common cause, given that those people were unlikely to meet any other way.
To be effective with your contacts, it’s all about tagging. I put down anything I can think of that might be helpful for the future: political affiliation, general location, hobbies, career, etc.
After moving to Washington, DC, my business as an independent menswear retailer morphed into an image consultant and custom clothier. Being organized and having contacts helped me build coalitions between groups of people that normally would never intersect. These coalitions were often cross-cutting between government and business or business and non-profits.
I enjoyed connecting people through a common cause, given that it helped me send marketing pieces via email to existing customers or prospects within a geographic location since I often travel to service my book of business. Also, those in direct sales need to track your activity when pushing people throughyour sales pipeline. I have used both Streak, which works through G-Mail and Pipedrive. Writers might use something like Substack to monetize their writing; others need something more comprehensive, like HubSpot, to fire off marketing emails and automate social media posts.
Now, it’s not all about family and business. I tag some people with shared interests and hobbies, such as whiskey, cigars, cycling, powerlifting, etc. If there is an event in town I plan to attend, I’ll forward an email invite to these folks. People appreciate you looking out for them when there is something fun to do in town.
For someone in the public policy space, regardless of whether they work in local, state or federal government, it’s highly useful to tag people based on their issue sets. For example, if I wrote an article about, say, budget policy, how good for it be if I could send out an email blast to all the people that I know working in that space. It helps affirm that I am an authority in the space and if those people like it, they are likely to share and forward, further enhancing your personal brand.
A few months ago, I rode my bicycle 850 miles from DC to the Indiana Dunes and raised $128,000 for charity. It was an impressive feat, but after the event was over and I returned to the nation’s Capitol, I quickly realized how poorly my outreach was to long-time associates I knew would have liked to attend my event in person or, at minimum, donate to the cause. Even though I spent money on social media ads and sent a few emails to over 15,000 addresses, it’s easy for things to fall in the cracks. Some people don’t use social media or check their email as much as others, so while it is time-consuming, direct outreach will always be best. The key is having the right list ready to go when you start.
Even after 15 years of trying to leverage technology to help others and myself, I am still learning. I hope you’ll start early and stay on top of maintaining your CRM because it’s a powerful tool. Regardless of your motives, keeping your digital life organized will free up your time for other pursuits.
This blog was written by guest contributor Robert Ordway. Robert is a senior policy advisor, custom clothier, and networking extraordinaire.
