My own GTMY System

Good morning folks! I am continuing on my quest to reach out this week. Today I am going to set up my system for keeping notes on my contacts. I’ve had different strategies for this in the past – but I haven’t been able to stick with it. My goal is to institute something similar to Bill Clinton’s GTMY cards.

A couple of years ago, I read the book Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi, and although the book was a bit too “corporate” for me and seemed to be written for a certain “class” of people which I do not fit into. There were a few nuggets of good information. One, which stuck with me, was Bill Clinton’s contact cards. He started out in the 60’s, well before he became President keeping copious notes on everyone he met. Ferrazzi shares a story of Clinton pulling out his notebook to jot down names and tidbits of information about the people he met while attending Oxford University. But the time he was on the campaign trail in 1986, he had over 10,000 names on cards. He had details about when and where they met. He noted their spouse’s name, the names of their children, and topics they discussed. They also noted when he sent notes or letters to them and the subsequent meetings. This sounds exhausting. It sounds like a TON of work. But for a presidential hopeful, this was the work that needed to be done.

With my new mission to GET OUT THERE, I want to take full advantage of these activities and build a momentum that can help create network of people that will help drive me forward with my business. I remember details after we meet, but if it has been a few weeks or months since we’ve talked, I might forget an interesting topic we discussed or something that resonated with me at the time. Time and old age can make your memory not what it should be – thus the need for a better system. I know I can’t rely on just my memory. I don’t have 10,000 contacts, I don’t know that I even have 1000. It is likely in the 100-200 range of people that I can reach out to – but that’s a big number. AND I know I won’t be able to keep all of that information in my head 🙂

I am in search of a CRM tool to help me and I’ve tried simple index cards, and now I am contemplating a simple spreadsheet. But I am not quite sure the right method yet. I’m going to take my own advice and ASK.