The contact manager is defined as a software program that has a contact-centric database to track communication and information activities associated with contacts. It is an integrated approach where advanced contact managers are called contact management (CM) or individual resource management (IRM) tools in management technology. It assists in managing the interaction of a person with a future and presents contacts to collaborate and organize financial needs lifestyle and health.
Meaning of contact manager
The contact manager is described as an application that enables the user to store, save and later find contact information. It can be a name, telephone number or address of the contact. Such simple ones that are used or personal use are in most smartphones. The primary reference standard here is the vCard for contact metadata and data, interchange and semantic.
There are sophisticated versions of the contact manager available in the market that provides reporting functions. It also enables more than one person belonging to a specific group to access the same database of contacts. Some sophisticated contact manager offers calendar functions which are considered the tasks of personal information managers or PIMs.
The contact-centric databases provide a fully-integrated process to track the data and communication activities that are linked with the saved contacts. The significant reference standard here is the calendar.
Objectives of the contact manager
The objectives of the contact manager are as follows-
- Formation of a centralized database of contact information
- Ready-to-use database
- Tracking sales
- Email integration
- Scheduling meetings and appointments
- Documenting management
- Conversation, discussion, records and notes management
- Tracking ROI
- Customizable fields
Features of the contact manager
The essential functions of the contact manager are as follows-
1. Grouping and filtering
To make the contract manager more useful it becomes necessary to group the contacts by gender, hobbies, age, demographics, etc. Grouping the required information in the software will provide the user with the opportunity to view any contact as per specific needs and requirements. The grouping and filtering feature of the contact manager will save a lot of time and effort of the user
2. Customer relationship
An essential function of the contact manager is that it assists business organizations in the building, growing and tracking relationships with the customers through its web-based applications. This feature alone has helped the business entities in creating a loyal customer base that is the foundation of its steady sales figures as well as increasing revenues
3. Manage opportunities
The contact manager helps in managing customers better than the rival companies. It has recorded the details of the customer prospects, interactions through calls, emails, faxes, etc. and handled various opportunities that prove useful in the current and future dealings.
It also offers view access and print report options of completed and pending activities to its users.
4. Information presentation
Advanced and sophisticated contact manager offers reporting functions and enables everyone in the group to access the same database to make work efficient and fast
5. New sales lead
The contact manager uses the opportunity management feature for creating opportunities for new sales lead
6. Help desk
An essential element of the contact manager is Help Desk that helps the user to develop self-service support tickets for the customer
The contact manager Module
The contact manager module assists in streamlining the processes through a systematic method of segregating prospects. It includes
Setup –
- Set up – This is an option in the contact manager that defines several terms. The term is used to mean efficient and quick sales reporting and monitoring mechanisms. It can also streamline the process of qualifying sales leads to ensure everyone is using standardized communication to report sales activities
- Salesperson – This is a databank where data and information of salespeople and their commission structure with related details are stored
Contact –
- To-Do – This feature helps to assign a task to a colleague. The user fills the details and mentions the priority assigned to a customer. It also records the date of addressing and completing the task
- Account – It records customer details as well as the name of the salesperson that was following up with the customer.
- Contact Person – In this section information about the professional and personal details of the contact person are entered
- Opportunity – The user enters the rating that he would like to assign each client after his interaction with him
- Lead – it records the name of various prospects that you may gain from various other sources
Reports –
- Pending activity report – It provides the list of activities yet to be completed. This tool monitors the progress of every account along with its stage-wise movement
- Completed activity – It offers a list of activities that have been completed within a specific time or category for the salespeople. It is a performance management tool that evaluates the efficiency level and progress of every salesperson
- Contact list – It is a list of prospects or customers that can be differentiated as per the source they have originated or according to any specific category. It is derived in a list format or in a labeling format that can be used later for direct mailers.
Advantages of a contact manager for a business entity
The advantages of a contact manager for a business entity are as follows
1. Meaningful insight into the customer
The contact manager store valuable information about the customers and with time, it will accumulate more data. This will help to understand the behavioral pattern of the customer, their needs, requirements, interests, etc. so that the company can try to meet their needs easily
2. A long-lasting relationship with the customers
The contact manager, assist in storing extensive data and information about every customer who graces the organization. It includes name, industry, age, gender, demographics, location, contact number, email, etc. The software helps to store and track behavioral data for instance when the customer will open his email, visit the site, click on anything, download or subscribes to an email list or relevant content then all the information is stored.
This helps to create a complete picture of a specific customer. How was his experience with the company and did he come back o the store are essential questions that are answered by the contact manager software
3. Improved data management
The contact manager helps to store all the contact data including data about sales, marketing and customer support in one central location that can be accessible by everyone and that too easily.
The contact manager is software that eliminates the risk of human error because the process is automated where web forms are used to collect data, and they are automatically added to your database. The whole team can access the central database which is a great plus for the team.
4. Increased productivity
The contact manager automates numerous manual processes that are necessary to boost productivity levels. It has essential features like online appointment scheduling that can automate the scheduling process and increase productivity.
With this facility, the employees can devote their valuable time to other aspects of the business that will help to boost productivity levels.
5. Reduces expenses
The contact manager makes numerous processes automated, and now a company does not have to employ as many staff as it was earlier doing. Reduced employment means fewer amounts of expenses as salaries and benefits that were given to the employees.
6. Increases customer satisfaction
When the business entity is aware of the needs and demands of the customers, it becomes easier to cater to their individual and unique tastes. This is made possible by the contact manager software.
The customers feel valued when an organization pays special attention to their needs. Remember it is customer satisfaction that will generate sales and boost the revenue figures
7. Personalizing customer interaction
All the personal information stored in the database through the help of a contact manager helps to deliver personalized interactions and communication with the customer
8. Alignment and collaboration in the team
The whole team has access to the same central database, and this has been made possible by the contact manager. This ensures that different members of the team can align and collaborate easily to ensure leads are generated as quickly as possible.
9. Insight and analysis
The contact manager software helps in extensive analysis, metrics, and reporting. It also assists in finding out about the weak links in the chain so that you can improve performances.
Data-driven decisions are now easy to make because of metrics like campaign performance metrics; sales funnel analysis and revenue prediction metrics. A customizable dashboard and a useful contact manager can make data-driven decisions easy work.
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