Abhishek Nair

I remembered as a kid growing up my folks had a light brown A3 notebook that they kept near the home telephone. And, as I vaguely recall my memory I remembered skimming through the pages to find a whole host of names with their telephone numbers beside it. When I questioned my folks, they stated that it was a contact list of their friends and people they liked to stay in touch with. Fast forward, I found myself in a similar position of fabricating a cloud-based CRM (contact relationship management), a method of maintaining communication with my network of friends and acquaintances.

Why do I want to design a Personal CRM?

While thinking about this, I reflected on whether using social media as an alternative. But, I wasn’t convinced since Facebook, to which I have been disconnected with for the longest time didn’t provide any meaningful value. Instagram doesn’t build on any real connections. Twitter, I am still trying to figure out, but it doesn’t fulfil what I truly want to achieve with the Personal CRM.

Hence, the purpose of the Personal CRM was to focus on the following three things:

1. To grab a cup of coffee with any of the potential contacts that are visiting the city. 
2. Staying connected with people I share similar interests – to build a better rapport. 
3. Keeping track of the people I meet.

Coming across the following articles written by Khe Ry and Nat Eliason, provided the groundwork on how to establish a CRM system. Taking into account, the methods these guys proposed – I decided to use Notion to create a cloud-based CRM system that I can update as I went along. Now, an excellent thing about Notion – it has a default template on a ‘Personal CRM’. The template eluded on a few attributes that I have included in the revised version as highlighted in Figure 2.

So, while updating the fields, I included the following:

• How I met that person for the first time? This eliminates the initial awkward question ‘do you remember that time how we met?’
• Interest – to narrow down the contacts with their particular interests. The reason for this in the possibility of catching up – it would be in my control to organise something that we both could enjoy.
• Location – if the contact is in the same town and city – it allows me to meet with that person.
• Personal Contact – I included this field for family and close friends. It’s an excellent way to keep in touch with those distant cousins.

By positioning myself to build my own ‘digital book of contacts’ and having a visible status that would automate a reminder whenever I need to reach out – I can make the necessary effort and not rely on a chance meeting. Overall, this is an initial draft template that would see a whole lot of changes as ‘my contact list’ expands. If you guys decide to pursue your personal CRM, I recommend checking out the posts from Khe Hy and Nat Eliason.