The Contactually Blog: Powering your Business Relationships

As Contactually is inherently a busy inbox’s match made in heaven, we’ve attracted some of the most seasoned and active emailers out on the World Wide Web. When you couple our power email users with our fervent passion for statistics and data, there was only one thing to do in our minds: create an awesome interactive infographic showcasing our top users’ email habits.

Now, for this, we polled 100 of top users, so it’s a relatively small sample size compared to our extensive statistics check-in from a few weeks ago which looked at our entire user base. There are a few key differences in the way people email when we extrapolate the people we polled. It’s power users versus the general populace. The former set do most of their emailing on Monday, while the skew toward Monday isn’t as strong when considering our entire set of users.

Do your email habits fall in line with Contactually’s power users? Let us know in the comments, and enjoy the infographic!

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Damien Viero, one of our users from Australia, who owns a web design firm called Above&Beyond. His insights about our product were so great that I couldn’t help but share them with you!

Contactually super-user Damien Viero

Brian: Who are you, and what do you do?

Damien: My name is Damien Viero and I’m the director of Above&Beyond Web Design, an award winning web design agency based on the Sunshine Coast of Australia. We have over twelve years of experience building custom designed websites and specialize in shopping cart design, big commerce, WordPress websites, web hosting and domain names.

Brian: How did you manage your contacts and follow-ups before you started using Contactually?  What were your biggest pain points?

Damien: When our company was smaller, we were simply putting in reminders via task managers. I think we were using Remember the Milk at some point; however, that quickly became cumbersome.

We then tried using Boomerang for Gmail to bounce back an email to our inbox after a set amount of time. This proved to be effective; however, when sales picked up and the number of leads increased, our inboxes were flooded with old emails and it became a mess.

Next, we migrated to a full blown CRM and although that was great at storing loads of information, the follow-up function lacked simplicity and ease of use. A great amount of time was spent entering in all of the data and creating the follow-ups, which was quite frustrating for our team. Once we discovered Contactually, we stopped using any other programs altogether.

Brian: What kinds of goals has Contactually helped you achieve, and how has it done so?

Damien: Contactually has greatly increased my confidence in our sales and follow-up process.  I know that leads will not fall through the cracks and this has obviously allowed us to acquire more clients.

In addition to gaining new clients, Contactually has assisted in building stronger relationships with our existing clients. I have created a bucket for “Current Projects” to remind my team to continually communicate with current clients. Often times, we are waiting on images or content from the client and now we have a reminder system to ensure our project timeline is consistent. My clients have noticed that our productivity has increased and projects are now completed at a faster rate due to the ability to keep in touch with all our pending and current customers.

Brian: Which features do you like the best?

Damien: For our business size, a full CRM is often bloated and we don’t require all the bells and whistles attached to such a system. Contactually integrates with our Google Apps-based emails so all we need to do is place someone in a bucket when we email them and we then get a reminder to follow up a few days later. The simplicity of it all is what made us move away from our old CRM and use Contactually completely. It integrates well with our business process and like any successful piece of software, it just works!

I login to the Dashboard at least once a day and love how I can see an overview of my follow-up progress. The way Contactually has set it out with a goal centric layout is fabulous. It has a fun ‘game-like’ feel to it and encourages our team to keep communicating with clients to reach the end goal. When I have a moment of spare time, I play the Bucket Game, which has been a great way to make the boring process of sorting old contacts quite fun.

I also like being able to create buckets not about sales or jobs but just for general contacts like family, friends, co-workers and contractors. Splitting my contacts into these categories lets me focus on a set group and export a group into a mailing list. Organization is imperative in any business and the layout and features that Contactually provides has greatly improved our ability to organize contacts.

Brian: Have there been any big “ah ha” moments or revelations that came as a result of using Contactually?

Damien: With other contact management systems, it was more likely that either potential clients or current clients could be lost or ‘forgotten’. However, I now feel confident that this will not happen.

Contactually is not only simple but a great time-saving system. I no longer have to manually enter all the contact details by hand. I have even said, “So this is what it feels like to have some spare time!”

Brian: Do you have any specific examples of new sources of business that you’ve gained as a result of using Contactually?

Damien: When I first set Contactually up, I didn’t have any contacts bucketed, so I had the opportunity to sort through all of my old contacts with a fine-tooth comb. As I was bucketing them, I realized there were some old clients that had fallen through the cracks and needed to be contacted. It had been over four months since we had last spoken to some clients and Contactually put me back in touch with them. After contacting those clients, we gave them their job quotes again and acquired three new websites, which wouldn’t have happened without Contactually!

After categorizing our contacts and assessing the project histories, we sent out a newsletter to all of our current clients, which generated even more sales through website updates.

About Rashaad Essop and SKUDA

South Africa’s Rashaad Essop has quite the impressive résumé. He’s a programmer, an amateur electronic music producer,  and a writer/poet. He’s worked with TSE BIG MAX, a company in the transportation industry that focuses on heavy trucks and semi-trailers, in areas like engineering, sales, support, and development. Above all, he’s passionate about technology and design, which led him to begin the SKUDA project, an initiative showcasing the diversity of South African culture. It’s not a surprise that Rashaad frequently has his hands full. Because of this, he needed a tool to facilitate his communications between himself and his important contacts across a wide range of verticals.

Before Contactually

• Prior to Contactually, Rashaad’s desk was frequently littered with sticky notes and other scraps of paper that he used to remind himself to follow up with his contacts. As you can imagine, this was ineffective.
• Digitally, Rashaad explored apps and tools like Evernote, Remember the Milk, and about one hundred others. He found that he couldn’t find the features that he desired in a productivity app despite their abundance in the market, so he stuck mostly with Gmail and paper reminders.

“Contactually quickly found its way into my browser’s ‘morning coffee’ tabs — the tabs that I always keep open — along with Gmail, Twitter, and my CRM tool.”

How has Contactually helped?

• Contactually’s initial setup process had Rashaad hooked right from the start. It was self-explanatory, brought several facets of his life into one place, and took only a few minutes to get moving. He really liked that he didn’t have to stop his work for an extended period of time to set everything up.
• Within the first few follow-up recommendations, Rashaad began connecting with people that he usually didn’t think much about. He rediscovered the importance of connecting with these people, as these connections ultimately proved helpful to his professional ventures.
• Rashaad is partial to Contactually’s simplicity. He appreciates its seamless integration into his workflow, and likes that it works with you as you go about your day rather than disrupting it.

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About Brian Corrigan and MadGlory Interactive

Brian Corrigan is the CEO of MadGlory Interactive, a product development and online agency company focused on the gaming industry. His experienced team builds complex tools, websites and other applications for major companies like Microsoft, Major League Gaming, and Facebook. Brian and his team needed a tool to make sure that they consistently followed up with the people in MadGlory’s deal pipeline to make sure that they continued to bring in new business.

• Prior to finding out about Contactually, Brian and his team relied exclusively on Google Contacts and a prioritized list of their friends and colleagues in the industry.
• Their previous system frustrated Brian because it was unable to track all of the different tools that they used to send messages, such as email, Twitter, and LinkedIn. He also disliked its inefficiency.

About R.V. Muniz and Vulcaflex

Muniz is a national sales supervisor for Vulcaflex, a Brazilian manufacturer that provides maintenance and repair applications for critical rubber components within the industrial, automotive, and bicycle industries. As a high-ranking professional who manages dozens of important client relationships, Muniz needed to organize his contacts in a way that gives context to their relationship. He needed a way to consistently manage his online conversations, and wanted a tool that would give him some deeper insights into his communication practices.

Before Contactually

• Over the years, Muniz has tried several different tools to manage his contacts and relationships, but none were able to provide the value that he sought.
• He had a lot of difficulty updating and syncing his contacts, previously a very cumbersome and time-intensive process, between his various networks.
• Additionally, these tools did not integrate well with his primary email client. He needed a system that would work seamlessly with his inbox.

“I am very pleased with my results from Contactually. The tool strengthened my organization and communication skills significantly, which led to my recent promotion at work.”

How has Contactually helped?

• With Contactually, Muniz no longer lets important relationships fall to the wayside. Now, he has strong relationships with all of his contacts — even the ones he doesn’t keep in touch with daily. Contactually’s automatic follow-up reminders help keep these relationships top of mind. His clients have noticed and embraced this welcomed improvement to their relationships.
• Muniz particularly enjoys the ability to quickly categorize his connections into buckets and finds great value in the ability to determine the frequency of his follow up reminders.
• Not only has Muniz improved his professional relationships, but he has also built stronger personal relationships with distant friends and family thanks to the reminders in his inbox. Contactually has provided Muniz with a well-rounded communications strategy and has added tremendous value to several important facets of his life.

About Sean Wiegert and Circa Properties

Sean is a Realtor® at Circa Properties, a full-service real estate brokerage agency in the greater St. Louis metropolitan area. Sean purports that in his profession, the strength of his relationships with past clients directly influences his ability to bring in new business. As such, he manages a plethora of important relationships and considers it critical to not let leads slip through the cracks.

Before Contactually

• Sean has worked in the real estate industry for the past seven years. Throughout that time, he tried integrating several CRM tools like Top Producer into his workflow. However, he found that they lacked the combination of features that he sought, like the ability to create simple reminders for specific contacts and view the communication history for a given client.
• Like most Realtors®, Sean managed several email drip campaigns for his leads. In the past, if a potential client started a dialogue during a drip campaign, it was hard to track and manage.

“With Contactually, I worry much less about losing track of a lead. Now, I’m much more productive when it comes to my job.”

How has Contactually helped?

• With Contactually, Sean goes above and beyond the standard impersonal drip email campaigns of his career’s past. Now, he engages in more relevant and natural conversations with his leads, as Contactually provides him with a better context for all of his relationships.
• Sean downloaded the Contactually plugin for Chrome and instantly fell in love. The plugin streamlines his workflow and allows him to be even more productive directly from his Gmail inbox.
• Sean finds that his Contactually’s integrations with social media services like Facebook and Twitter have greatly bolstered his online presence and have expanded the reach of his marketing campaigns. Additionally, he finds the integration with Mailchimp incredibly useful when it comes to managing his drip campaigns.
• Whenever Sean has a question regarding Contactually, he knows that the owners, developers, and support team at Contactually always have his back. In his own words, “I like that they respond quickly and are open to suggestions. It feels like they sincerely care about their end users like me.”

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About Randy Rapin and RLT Industries

Randy Rapin has been involved in the sales industry for over 30 years. He is currently a representative for RLT Industries, an independent sales team that works with companies dealing with custom metal, plastic and rubber components in the global market. An experienced salesman, Randy knows the value of maintaining good relationships with clients, as he relies on these relationships to generate sales and bring in new business.

Before Contactually

• Randy relied exclusively on his memory when he followed up with his contacts prior to integrating Contactually into his workflow. He set up groups in Gmail and Google Contacts in an effort to keep his contacts organized.
• Unfortunately for Randy, his busy schedule during the work week prevented him from following up with some clients during business hours. He devoted many night and weekend hours to this task as a result, detracting from his leisure time.

“Thanks to Contactually, I’ve been able to free up a substantial amount of time that I used to dedicate to managing my business relationships online. Now, I can spend more uninterrupted quality time with my family, and I’ve even started taking up some of my old hobbies again.”

How has Contactually helped?

• With Contactually, Randy has been able to enhance his relationships with both active and past clients by following up when appropriate. Contactually also gives context to his relationships with his clients, so he knows what to discuss with them, and when.
• Randy significantly reduced the amount of time he spends on nights and weekends figuring out the contacts with which he needs to follow up.
• Contactually’s follow up reminders have helped Randy’s productivity levels right from the start. The first time Contactually prompted him to follow up with an old contact, the client called him to extend an offer to become involved in a new sales project.
• Randy attributes an increase of over $1.5 million in sales revenue in the past four months to his frequent Contactually use. This incredible increase in sales brought him a substantial amount of extra income, and his client is absolutely thrilled with his results.

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About Brian Sowards and USEED

Brian is an energetic social entrepreneur who uncovers opportunities at the intersection of community and commerce. He is the founder and CEO of USEED, a crowdfunding platform that empowers schools to fundraise as a community. As the founder of a company, Brian maintains that the essence of his job is starting and building strong relationships with all kinds of people every day, whether that means collaborating with other startup CEOs, building relationships with angel investors and VC firms, or reaching out to potential clients.

Before Contactually

• Brian relied on Google Calendar reminders to manage his contacts and follow-ups. He scheduled text message reminders, but became overwhelmed and ended up ignoring the majority of these texts.
• As a result, he ended up missing critical follow-ups, and even missed face-to-face meetings. He got used to “that sinking feeling in his gut” that plagued him every time he missed a big opportunity or failed to follow through on an important commitment.

“When you are building new relationships with hundreds of people a month, it’s just not possible to stay on top of things without a system like Contactually.”

How has Contactually helped?

• Thanks to Contactually, Brian has fulfilled his goal of maintaining integrity. Now, he does what he says he’s going to do, when he says he’s going to do it.
• He loves customizing Contactually’s reminders to control how often he follows up with his most important contacts.
• Contactually’s contact pages make it easy for Brian to “pull his thoughts together” for each person.
• The Bucket Game had Brian “laughing with surprise – it’s tons of fun!” He also noted that it bypasses the boredom and annoyance of managing contacts, making it “a breeze.”
• From a business perspective, Brian’s goal has been to reach out to and create relationships with a target number of thought leaders and sales prospects each month. That task was extremely daunting and chaotic pre-Contactually. Now he is “a lean, mean, CEO fighting machine thanks to Contactually!”

“It amazes me how fast things can move when you regularly follow up with people. I’ve read a lot of books on selling, and one tip is universal – follow up. With Contactually, I now know why! Relationships are building faster, and we are discovering opportunities we’d never have found otherwise.”

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About Amy Schmittauer and Savvy Sexy Social

Amy Schmittauer is an independent social relations marketing consultant. Her website, savvysexysocial.com, helps entrepreneurs and small business owners manage their online and social media presence. It’s imperative to Amy that she connects with people in her network so that it can consistently grow. This communications-centric approach is the backbone of her business. Referrals are the key to her success.

Before Contactually

• Amy used CRM tools like Highrise to house the information of her most important contacts at any given time. Unfortunately, Highrise limited the number of contacts stored in the database; she could only input the contacts who were absolutely essential to her business.
• Amy says that it was “unnatural” for her to log in to Highrise and input information about her latest email exchange or phone conversation. Because of the tedium involved with logging in, she fell out of the habit of contacting people regularly.

How has Contactually helped?

• Contactually immediately changed the way Amy tracks her contacts and connects with people by making the process seamless. Thanks to the automatic follow-up reminders and the Gmail plugin, she now wakes up every day ready to connect with her network and doesn’t have to log in to another database to do so. Contactually’s automation and integration functionalities make it easy for Amy to stay on top of her connections.
• Prior to Contactually, Amy was lucky if she followed up with one person a day. Now with Contactually, she interacts with at least seven people a day, far exceeding her original goals. In fact, in only her first two weeks using the service, Amy followed up with 55 of her most important contacts!
• While Contactually answered Amy’s prayers with its seamless email integration, she knew she had struck even more gold once the service started accurately merging her duplicate contacts. Clearly, Contactually’s automatic and accurate nature has helped Amy immensely.
• Amy loves the Bucket Game, and thinks it is a really fun way to quickly iron out and prioritize those initial connections. She even felt pangs of disappointment when she had nobody left to bucket.

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