BuiltEnvironment

Digital memory vs. none

Last week, on a plane from Atlanta to Johannesburg (South Africa), I was flipping through the airline magazine and a quote jumped off the page at me. Coco Chanel is reported to have said:

"Since everything is in our heads, we had better not lose them."

This reminded me of discussions I have had with older clients regarding their stubborn dis-inclination to record, in their company computer networks, all the detailed client information they currently keep in their heads. I ask:

"God forbid that you get hit by a bus, have a stroke, or simply decide to retire -- what will happen to this wonderful company you've worked so hard to build when the details of your client relationships are in your head instead of the computer network, where other firm members can access them? How will someone else pick up the threads and develop new relationships with those clients if all the client quirks, preferences, etc., are carried in your brain instead of a digital file?"

A person works hard for many years and builds a successful and respected company. That company is their legacy. Nobody wants to see their legacy disappear just a few years after their departure (regardless of the form that departure takes) when they could have ensured its long-term continuation. This is the only argument I have found that convinces a person to make a permanent record of the information lodged only in his or her brain.

If the company has CRM tracking software like Cosential or Deltek Vision, the structural framework to hold the data already exists. A person has only to open the software and enter the data.

If the company does not have a system for tracking client relationships, or if that system is more complex than a person can manage, a simple Excel spreadsheet will capture the data. All it needs is columns for:

• Client name
• Company name and address
• Telephone numbers (office, direct, fax, cell)
• Areas of primary responsibility (decision-maker)
• Areas of secondary responsibility (contributor to decisions)
• Administrative assistant (gatekeeper)
• Relevant/important personal information
• Communication preferences (visit, phone, email, etc.) and timing
• Marketing preferences
• Project preferences
• Other useful information or comments

With known client information recorded in a CRM tracking system or a simple spreadsheet, anyone else can pick up the client relationship, introduce themselves, and be way ahead in building the new relationship because of this information resource.

So remember -- before you "lose your head," make sure to download all the information it contains.

Thank goodness for LinkedIn!

In my last post, I talked about being shocked at how many people in my address book were no longer reachable at their associated email addresses, and how I found out as holiday greeting emails bounced back at me. I was amazed that, out of about 1,000 business contacts in my address book, 159 had simply "disappeared" and left no forwarding address.

Yesterday, I received an email from LinkedIn which announced that 43 of my LinkedIn contacts had changed jobs or titles in 2010, with names and thumbnail pictures that connected to their LinkedIn profiles.

Cross-referencing those profiles against my address book showed me that 27 had actually changed jobs and their profiles included the name of their new firm (or an indication that they were still "between"). That means I've "found" almost 20% of the contacts I thought I'd lost.

I then messaged all of them through LinkedIn to get their new information, and have started getting responses.

I could have found some of them on my own, had I thought of going to the online SMPS Membership Directory. But because I was so shocked at the numbers, I didn't think of that, until the first responder pointed it out. And that wouldn't have helped with those who are still "between" positions.

So this week, I'm very thankful that LinkedIn was there to help me, and I've made a resolution to learn more about all the different ways to optimize my use of LinkedIn.

Stay warm!

Someone else is reading this

In my previous post about returned holiday cards, I lamented the fact that I had received so many "mailerdaemon" notices in emailing my greetings, that so many of the business contacts in my Outlook address book had either moved to new positions or "dropped out of sight" (lost their jobs) in 2010.

Within 24 hours of posting, I received my first contact from one of these "lost" business friends, who asked, "Am I one of the 160 you mentioned?"

"Well, you were," I told her, "but not anymore!"

Then I took her new contact information, updated my address book, and thought (hoped) to myself, "maybe a lot of the others are in new positions rather than out of work."

I also thought to myself, "someone else is reading my blog besides me!"

Happy New Year! to everyone! May we all be in for a year of good health, stable jobs, wonderful challenges and great prosperity!