Powerful Steps to Effective Contact Information Lists

As self-employed individuals, there are times when we drop the ball on doing certain tasks in our small businesses. Keeping up with our contact information lists is one of those tasks. If we don’t have a useful contact information list, it will stop us from being productive with our advertising promotions. Then, we spend lots of time figuring out what we should update first to be effective in advertising. This post will talk about steps you can take to be more efficient in your contact management lists.

First and foremost, find a reliable contact management provider. Look for one that works for your business and offers you various services that you can expand into when your list grows. Some I have used in the past are MailChimp and Constant Contact.

Powerful Ways to Improve Your Contact Management Lists

Take the time and complete your contact list(personal and business) on your computer

There may be some people you are missing from your contact list. Make sure your contacts are all in one place. Are they accessible when you use your phone?  We all have smartphones these days. Once a week, make it a habit to check your phone and add additional clients (Affiliate Link)‘ contact information.  The regular information to gather is first and last name, Email address, Website address, Office phone number, cell phone number, and physical address. If you know what each contact is looking for or what service they prefer, add the information to their contact details. Adding this information to the same field will allow you to export and sort the list at a future time. Some online services and applications allow you to export the list so you can sort it. This can be done using different software, like Microsoft Outlook and Google Contacts.

Compile and add real people who support you to your business email list.

Send out an email to people you know who are not on your list yet and ask them if they want to be added to your contact list. Don’t forget to ask first. Inform them what the list will be used for and how often you will be sending them. Inform them that they can opt out at any time. This is a great task to outsource to your Virtual Assistant. Create an email account with your URL extension and then give it to your VA; they can email everyone a form letter with the link. Email twice a month, and then give them two weeks for them to get back to you. If they don’t opt out, they are probably OK with staying on the list.  This will help your contact management provider not think your email account is spam.

Create a current clients’ email mailing list

This will allow you to email all your customers at once to inform them that you may be unavailable for a few days because of things like vacation, conferences, etc… Send out a new email just to these people, informing them why they are on this email list. Again, be sure to ask them if they want to be a part of your mailing list. This task is an excellent way to keep in contact with your clients (Affiliate Link).  Share information like updates in their industry, new services or products, etc… So, making it a habit of sharing stuff with them will keep you on their mind.  Just make sure it is not too often.

Areas to include in your client mailing list

There are many areas you can collect information on for your clients (Affiliate Link). Below are some areas you may want to include in your client mailing list.

• Full name (legal name) of client
• Company name
• Address
• Phone number (main)
• Mobile phone (if texting is the means of communication)
• Website (if they have one)
• Where did you meet them
• Recent conversation details
• Social media handles if you communicate through social media.

When emailing clients (Affiliate Link) and vendors, be sure to use the “BCC in the email so that they can not see the other clients (Affiliate Link)‘ emails.

Create a vendor mailing list

You can use this list for subcontractors and suppliers. Bulk communication emails will easily allow you to share information about your business. And, if they want to share the email, they can even help you spread the word.  Be sure to remind them that it is OK to share the information you shared with them. Be sure to mention this because not many vendors will share without your consent.

Fields to complete for a vendor mailing list

• Company (legal name)
• Contact person
• Address
• Phone number (main)
• Mobile number
• Website
• W-9 submission column – confirming that you have them if you need them.
• where you met them
• Services or products they provide for your business

Create a Detailed Contact Us Form on your website

Create a list of fields on your contact form with the information you want to collect, including fields like:

• First and last name
• Company Name
• Address
• Phone number
• Mobile number
• Interested services (one or two areas)
• How they prefer to be contacted

Don’t forget to include a field for them to write a brief message to you so they can describe what they want from your company. You can even add a checkbox that says, “Do you want to be added to our mailing list?” All this information is helpful to help you save time when getting back to these people.

Establish a system for incoming contact information

Be sure the procedures for updating the list are clear from this point forward. You don’t want to do this again later. Making sure your system is in place will ensure your mailing list is not corrupted. The fields in your form will help determine the outcome of your mailing list. If you use contact relationship management or contact management software, you can easily create fields right in the application to help you determine. Below are some applications you may want to use. (Note: I am not getting paid for advertising these apps.)

• Salesforce Sales Cloud
• Maximizer CRM
• Hubspot
• Insightly

Using a client relationship management software will help you follow up on leads and stay connected to your potential or existing client. It also helps you create mailing lists for future mailers / emails newsletters.

Conclusion

Taking time to create effective mailing and contact lists certainly speeds up the process when you want to actively look for new business or tell others what you offer. These tasks can be handed off quickly to another person. If you are looking for this service, feel free to Contact Sabrina’s Admin Services. I hope this helps you jump-start your email lists.

Are you looking for more information on creating effective contact lists? Check out these similar articles:

How to Build an Effective Contact Database in Under 5 Minutes

Best Contact Management Applications

Please note these are affiliate links through Amazon, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you decide to make a purchase.