It’s not easy to track everything that’s going on with your family. Kids have classes, after school sports, and other activities. The family has outings, dinners, and other ways to bond with one another. And, you may have a career on top of all of that, as well as your own groups of friends that you need to keep in touch with. So how do you track everything going on in your life?
Table of Contents
Set Up a CRM System
A Customer Relationship Management System, or CRM is a database of contacts. You can add all of your family members, friends, colleagues, and all of their friends to a central location. Then, you can track when you last contacted them and any plans you may have made. Finally, you can schedule days and times to reconnect, or follow up on your plans. Most people use a CRM for business purposes, such as sales. But, you can use one to track your family, and make your life easier and more organized.
First, you need to pick a CRM that suits your needs. There are many to choose from with their own strengths and weaknesses. You could use one like Salesforce. It’s very popular and not that expensive. There’s lots of functionality, too. But if you’re just starting out, you’ll want to keep it as simple, and cheap as possible. Check out the free CRM solutions on this list to see which one is right for you:
- Zoho
- HubSpot
- Capsule
- Vtiger
- Streak
- EngageBay
- Bitrix24
Export Your Phone Contacts and Import Them Into Your CRM
After you choose a CRM, it’s time to fill the database. Start by exporting your phone contacts as a simple text file. Then, import them into your CRM. You can do this on any mobile phone.
Once you have all of your contacts in the database, it’s time to get everyone else’s in there too. If you have a husband or wife, then export and import their contacts, too. Most importantly, if your kids have phones, grab their contacts and put them into the database as well. Believe it or not, getting everyone’s contacts into your CRM is a great first step to set up your children’s future, and it doesn’t cost a lot of money.
Organize Your CRM Contacts
Now that all of your family’s contacts are in the CRM, it’s time to organize the database. Start by tagging each person. Are they family, a friend, a teacher, or something else? Are they a good or bad influence on your kids? Tag them with every important piece of information so that you can start planning activities around who to invite, and who to avoid. By tagging everyone, you’ll be able to create groups of contacts that you can reach out to in bulk.
Start Scheduling Activities
Now that you’ve got your contacts organized, it’s time to start planning activities for your family and your children. Reach out to the most important people on your list, and schedule some facetime. This includes teachers. If you really want to set your kids up for success, then build relationships with people in their school. You’d be surprised how much more effort teachers might put into their friends’ kids versus the kids of strangers. This is not fair, but it is reality.
Set Some Goals
Do you find that you’re not keeping in touch with your own parents, or your college friends as much as you would like? Are you staying on top of your kids’ activities or forgetting important events until the last minute? Set some goals for outreach and activities to make your life more organized, and family time will be much more rewarding. The great news is that you can input these goals into your CRM, too.
