Yes, we all know that your project management tool is designed to manage projects. From onboarding to offboarding and everything in between, I’m constantly telling business owners that their project management tool is to be the hub for everything related to client work.
But the right project management tool can be a lot more! It can assist you in keeping track of your marketing, monitor KPIs, act as the central communication area for your team, and it can even help you track those connections you’re making with people outside of your business – such as referrals, networking connections, or strategic partnerships you’re looking to establish.
Why Use Your Project Management Tool to Track Connections
You may have a CRM (customer/client relationship management tool) to help you manage your clients when they come on board or even when they connect with you via a lead capture form on your website and that’s awesome! A good CRM – when set up properly – can save you loads of time nurturing leads who contact you in this manner or communicating with your client especially when it comes to proposals, contracts, invoices, and expectations/boundary setting.
Of course, if you don’t have a CRM – that’s where your project management tool can come into play! In fact, many service providers get so much work from referrals, they find that their project management tool works really well for them.
After all, your project management tool should be the hub for everything related to your business and that includes those relationships you’re looking to establish or maintain. By keeping track of your connections in your project management tool, you can set up reminder emails or tasks to keep the communication flowing so that you never forget to follow up with someone important.
What you should be tracking
Reporters always want to make sure that their stories include: who, what, when, where, and why – and this is exactly what you should be keeping track of when it comes to the connections you’re making.
- Who: The “who” in tracking relationships often has two components: who is the person you are looking to connect with and who is the person who connected you. When it comes to referrals, you always want to note who gave you the referral so you can reach out and thank them or, if you offer a referral bonus, to thank them and let them know a bonus is coming their way!
- What: The “what” is most likely related to the type of business your new connections are in and what they’ve told you they’re looking for when connecting or how you think you might work together in the future. This “what” is important because it allows you to tailor your messages to them and develop more of a rapport than cold emails.
- When: Like the “who” – there may be several things you’re keeping track of for the “when.” The first thing is probably when the initial contact was made. Then you may have to keep track of when you last touched base with them, and if they share when they’d like you to reach out again in the future (for example, they tell you they’d like to start a project after the holidays), then you want to make a note of this, too.
- Where: Make sure you list “where” the connection was made. This can be as simple as tagging your new connection in your project management tool. You might have tags such as: referral, in-person networking event, online networking event, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and podcast.
- Why: Use the “why” to denote what you see your relationship becoming in the future. Would you like to establish a strategic partnership with them? Make a note of that. Are they looking for an intensive? Mark it down. Are they seeking out solutions for a specific pain point? Keep track of it. That way when you follow-up with them, you know what to refer back to!
How to use your project management tool to track leads and referrals
Growing your business is probably one of your top goals. And growing your business most likely means bringing on more clients – so you completely understand how important it is to establish and nurture those new connections and relationships. But how is your project management tool going to help you do that?
First, you’re going to create a dedicated space in your project management tool that houses all of your who, what, when, where, and why information. This will make it easily accessible to you and your team and easy to update as the relationship builds. No more searching through emails or social media posts to find the last time you reached out to someone – all of that info is in your PM tool!
Next, you’re going to set up your space so that you can easily run reports or filter to find the information you need. Want to know who you should reach out to this week? Then a filter which shows you a list of people within a certain date range who are due a message from you can make that super simple! Or, if you’re heading to another networking event this month with your local chamber of commerce, look at the tag or field that’s related to your local chamber of commerce and see who you might want to follow-up with.
Finally, if your project management tool has automations or recurring tasks available, you can set up automatic reminders for tasks and emails related to following up with or getting to know your new contact. How great not to have to remember this type of thing when you’re extremely busy running your business!
Can you see how helpful this would be – especially if you run an agency that depends on referrals or networking to help grow your business?
If you have a project management tool, you want to use it to its maximum potential and that might mean setting up a space to track connections and relationships. Is this something you’ve already done or are you ready to put it into practice? I bet you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how much easier it is to stay on top of your networking efforts when everything is organized and in one place.
If you need help maximizing your project management tool (or finding the right one to help you and your business), feel free to reach out to me. You can schedule a call by clicking this link: https://melissavmorris.as.me/discoverycall