![\"contact](\"https:\/\/zegal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pexels-hermaion-205414-1280x819.jpg\")
<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\nModern-day businesses are on the constant lookout for new and effective digital solutions. Things like effective contact management systems will help manage their companies better. Technology has evolved to such a great extent, that most of our day-to-day processes within an organization are practically unimaginable without some use of tech. From <\/span>advanced product management tools<\/span><\/a> to help evaluate and design appealing products, to free project management software<\/a> that helps organizations thrive remotely as well as in offices, a vast array of tools and gadgets helps businesses move forward.<\/span><\/p>\n Do you use the same logic when managing your contacts? Few businesses do, at least for the time being, but a revolution is underway. Now that so many companies are rapidly moving <\/span>towards remote and hybrid business models<\/span><\/a>, improving and streamlining communications with smarter contact management is on the rise.<\/span><\/p>\n Smart, effective contact management through software as well as best practices means a world of difference for your productivity, transparency, and problem prevention. To complement your existing communication systems, we\u2019ve compiled a few of the most powerful, yet seamless contact management tips and ideas that can elevate your business productivity. They can easily match your current setup, so they won\u2019t disrupt your procedures \u2013 they will only improve them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In much the same way your business needs <\/span>a dedicated social media policy<\/span><\/a> to ensure proper and appropriate interactions on different platforms, you need a policy for managing your contacts. This is a useful foundation for all interactions, be they internal or external, and they <\/span>provide a legal basis<\/span><\/a> for your employees to understand what they can or cannot do with your contact base.<\/span><\/p>\n Creating a policy will also depend on the tools you intend to use for managing your contacts, so make sure to write a flexible policy or adapt it as you shift to newer, more comprehensive platforms.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Many people use more than a single phone number, email address, or social media account when interacting with brands, business partners, as well as colleagues. With that in mind, you might find yourself storing these details as separate contacts in your address book, within Google especially, since it only takes a second. However, if you and your employees or colleagues continue with this practice, you risk overloading your database and contacting the same people multiple times without even realizing it.<\/span><\/p>\n Make sure that everyone who has access to your business address book is aware of this best practice, especially the people with the permission to edit existing contacts, add new contacts, or delete existing ones. Encourage people to merge duplicate contacts from their own address books and check if the information matches that of other people in your organization.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Delete unneeded contacts and outdated names to avoid sending emails to the wrong person, while adding to the clean look and feel of your contact platform. Whichever contact management system (also known as customer relationship management platform) you decide to use, this mindset will prevent clutter and chaos. If possible, <\/span>use automation whenever you can<\/span><\/a> to avoid storing duplicate contacts, if your platform can recognize existing names and information in your address book.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Just like avoiding duplicate contacts in your address book helps with contact management, contact sharing in your Google address book is another useful, but underused feature available with the right integrations. For most businesses that use Gmail and the many available and connected Google features, the need to find someone’s email address<\/a> and share contacts is all the greater in order to enable easier communication, collaboration, and tracking interactions.<\/span><\/p>\n For that, you can <\/span>use a dedicated Gmail CRM tool<\/span><\/a> that enables contact sharing in your address book, allowing you to share and edit contacts across your organization. Everyone in your business can use the integration to gain access to your business contact list, but also to communicate safely and seamlessly across a variety of tools, including their phones, laptops, PCs, and tablets.<\/span><\/p>\n A CMS\/CRM tool of this kind gives you much more flexibility in how you manage your contacts, as well as permissions in your organization. You can also benefit from this unified system because you can track interactions and keep everyone in the loop when you\u2019re engaging new leads, refreshing old conversations, and the like.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A dedicated CRM for Gmail also helps with cross-departmental collaboration. Although not everyone has the permission to edit\/delete contacts (and rightfully so), you can use the tool to get some clarity on which employees are in touch with different clients.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Setting up these categories doesn\u2019t mean eliminating, let\u2019s say, the marketing team from the loop of the sales team. On the contrary, it gives people clarity on where they can find relevant contacts for themselves, and where they can get updates on how certain interactions are evolving.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Smart contact management doesn\u2019t refer exclusively to your external or customer-facing interactions. In fact, <\/span>your HR experts can utilize this approach<\/span><\/a> and the tech involved to streamline internal interactions, employee engagement, benefits programs, and training opportunities. Keep in mind that your outward-facing success is heavily dependent on your inward-facing engagement efforts.<\/span><\/p>\n To help your internal communications benefit from your contact management options and tools, you should allow your HR managers and teams to have a dedicated section for tracking, analyzing, and managing their internal conversations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Make sure that only your HR department has access to this portion of your internal communications, since you don\u2019t want to jeopardize anyone\u2019s privacy, sensitive information, and performance reviews. You can set up separate strings of communication between your HR representatives and individual employees, as well as group feedback interactions to boost your brand\u2019s performance, if you wish.<\/span><\/p>\n For Gmail business users, the <\/span>godsend that is the \u201cunsend\u201d option<\/span><\/a> is so widely underused that too many companies still need to deal with the repercussions of sending typo-filled emails and angry, rash responses. To make sure that all your interactions are handled with greater care, you should leverage this simple, free feature that is easy to set up.<\/span><\/p>\n Although you want your policy to do the majority of \u201cguiding\u201d when it comes to giving your employees direction, the unsend option is a lifesaver that can help you protect your reputation and preserve your professional relationships.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In fact, make sure that your policy <\/span>encourages your employees<\/span><\/a> to do this for their own accounts, too. This will help maintain consistency across your organization and maximize conflict prevention in case some of your customer support agents lose their patience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Finally, managing your contacts also boils down to that technical, practical level of data backups. No matter which contact management system you choose and what kind of equipment you have within your business, you still need to conduct regular data backups.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n If your employees regularly store contacts via their phones primarily, make sure they know how to sync their data with their Google Contacts and keep everything updated. This provides them with a solid basis to avoid duplicates in your organization, but it also allows other people to help maintain the integrity of your contact database.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Check with your IT experts if there\u2019s anything you can do to make sure that your contact data is stored safely and updated regularly within your organization. They can organize seminars for your employees to help them gain some basic knowledge on how they can update and backup contact data, and everyone can contribute in their own way.<\/span><\/p>\n Some best practices outperform the others, while some tools can help complement such processes and elevate your business efficiency to great heights. It doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re running a small operation with no more than a dozen people, or a large corporation with teams dispersed around the globe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Managing your contacts with great care, better policies, and smarter tools is a necessity that will help make your business a more prominent one in your industry, as it improves your communications and all your relationships.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This article does not constitute legal advice.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n The opinions expressed in the column above represent the author\u2019s own.<\/i><\/p>\n Start managing your legal needs with Zegal today<\/b><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n FURTHER READING: Why and how to use Chatbots in business<\/a><\/p>\n<\/span>Build a clear and concise contact management policy<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n
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<\/span>Avoid chaos by merging your contact duplicates<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/span>Use a trusted CMS\/CRM for sharing contacts<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/span>Divide and conquer your Google Contacts<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n
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<\/span>Set up categories and manage permissions<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/span>Enable the \u201cunsend\u201d option within your Gmail account<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/span>Data and contact backups can save the day<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n
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