Introverts N Business

I received an email from a reader asking about what I ended up choosing to manage my relationship with contacts per my post in August, Joan’s Review – Choosing a CRM System.

Here is how I replied:

“I settled on AWeber and another one I uncovered since writing the post, Capsule CRM. Capsule is a little easier to use than Batchbook was for my purposes, including my wish to use it as a communication and project management system between me and my virtual assistant.  In addition, until I have 150 contacts I don’t have to pay for it even though I have 2 users.  Since I am using it to build a database for my local network of contacts, I appreciate the ability to work with it for no cost for a while as I build my local network since I spend plenty on the other pieces of online software I use.

We do have to manipulate it a bit to fit how we communicate, and I am limited in the space they allow me to have under the free service, so I can’t upload a lot of huge files for projects we’re working on, but I’m still happy with it.  We use their “cases” to help create routine and automation around certain recurring projects, and I find their milestone system to help track pipeline opportunities the easiest to use since I’ve been considering such a system.  What it doesn’t do that Batchbook does is send a list of to-dos for the coming week, so if I want my VA to see something before I want it done, I have to enter a task that tells her to look at a note in Capsule the day I enter the note for a project.

The day I find the system that does everything I want it to do just how I want it to do it, I’ll be very happy.”

What I didn’t tell John, that I meant to, is that when you enter company information into the “organization” field Capsule counts the person as 2 contacts, one by name and one by organization.  Since I work with individuals and think about individuals – even though they are business owners – that was annoying as it effectively and immediately doubled the number of contacts it counted.

We found a work-around though. You can add fields to your database so we simply added a ‘company’ field and input the person’s company name there so that it is counting my actual number of contacts. We then deleted all the records it automatically created under the “organization” field.

So, all ye’ introverts.  What are you using to manage your network of contacts? Have you found a cost-effective, robust system that allows you to collect everyone you know into one location, keep in touch with them as you want and communicate with your team? Do tell!