Email + CRM + LinkedIn + Twitter = Hustler's Power Drill

Written by Bernard Lunn / October 28, 2009 4:30 PM / 25 Comments

Those of us who make a living by making things happen (i.e. who hustle) know that it is a people game. All of the tools in the world won't beat the chemistry and aligned motivation that come from creative win/win deal-making. The tools are like a hammer for a carpenter. You have to have them, but carpenters are not defined by their tools. However, something substantively different is happening online at the tool level, thanks to social media.

A good carpenter with a power drill will beat a good carpenter using muscle alone. A bad carpenter with a power drill is, of course, just a dangerous maniac! But we don't really have the equivalent of a power drill yet. We can see bits of it, but it is like having a drill, motor and battery that no one has put together. The pieces that make up this hustler's power drill are: email + CRM + LinkedIn + Twitter.

"Hi, I Just Sent You a Wave. Can You Check and Respond"

Standards matter. In five years time, we may all be using Google Wave, but for now the Wave beta testers get voice mails, emails and other messages saying, "Hi, I just sent you a Wave. Can you check and respond?"

That does not help productivity (understatement alert).

Whatever is wrong with email, one thing about it is totally right. It is a standard that almost everyone uses.

So, email is the drill. It is the basic component. Don't even think about working without it. You can use email to close a deal and to get a phone and/or face-to-face meeting.

Keep a Good Record of Who Said What in Those Emails

My personal CRM system of choice is Relenta, precisely because it is so email-centric. Many other people prefer to unlink these and use Gmail (or Outlook for the late adopters) and then integrate a separate CRM system. I still use Gmail as my back-up service.

But CRM has lagged behind the social media wave. Most CRM systems do not record the conversations that take place outside of email, the ones that happen on LinkedIn, Twitter and Skype (or, for those who like it, Facebook: for what it's worth, I never caught the Facebook bug and see no reason to start using it now; I aim to be the last person on the planet not using Facebook).

The messaging fragmentation caused by these alternative proprietary messaging systems is a significant productivity drain. ("Heck, which system did I use to talk to Bill about the discount code?")

Add LinkedIn for "Who Do I Know Who Can Connect Me To...?"

LinkedIn serves two essential functions:

It is a self-updating Rolodex. Once I have added someone on LinkedIn, I know I will have their updated contact details whenever they move to another job.
It answers the age-old hustler's question, "Who do I know who can connect me to so-and-so?"

But I do not view LinkedIn as a destination site. I avoid communicating via its messaging system whenever possible and I don't check it. I simply want access to the data: my updated contacts and their relationships in my power drill. That is not LinkedIn's business model. It has been accused of being a roach motel. So, it may end up disappointing me, and I may have to find a service that does something clever with my Gmail contacts file.

What I want in my CRM system is something that shows:

For individuals, what recent status updates have they sent out?
Note, this is "Just-in-time," not real time. I do not want to be pinged every time every one of my contacts does something. I might look at that stream occasionally when I am in flow mode; but when I am in hustle mode, I don't want the distraction. But when I am about to email or call someone, it would be great to be able to scan recent updates about them. ("Hi, Bill. Congrats on doing [whatever cool thing Bill just did]. How does this impact what we are working on?") And I want this stream from whatever service the person actually uses: LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook. Services already exist that aggregate these, but that would be yet one more destination site. What I want is that stream integrated in my CRM.
For companies, who else do I know at a certain company, and who else do I know who knows important people there?
If I am pitching the CIO about something that relates to marketing automation , who do I know who knows the CMO?
The strength of my relationship with second-degree contacts.
LinkedIn is useful for second-degree contacts ("Who do I know who knows so-and-so?") Anything further out on the social graph is practically useless. But even second degree is useless if your LinkedIn contact database has been polluted by a lot of casual contacts. If I want connect to Fred, trying to do it via Bill is probably not worth it if I had only a 30-second email relationship with Bill 18 months ago. But my email and CRM systems know the strength of my relationships with contacts, or a reasonable estimation thereof, based on the frequency of my email interaction with them.

Add Twitter for Flow

Hustle and flow. You need both. Hustle is directed, focused activity (e.g. contact so-and-so and get them to commit to doing x, y or z). Flow is a relaxed state of ambient awareness that alerts you to new opportunities. (You could also add "Create," giving you: Hustle, flow, create. In create mode, you "switch off all electronic devices." But that, as they say, is another story.)

CRM and LinkedIn are about hustle. Twitter is about flow.

I avoid using Twitter DM. Twitter is great for flow, but lousy for hustle. Twitter DM only adds to messaging fragmentation and has been polluted by spam. For now, @bernardlunn mode is useful, but methinks spammers will ruin that soon, too. But the basic Twitter service is perfect. I follow until I decide to unfollow. No one can spam that.

It is a great research tool. Find someone who writes well on a subject, and then see who they follow. New services will take this basic idea to the next level. The one that might do this best is Aardvark.

The integration we need is not another Twitter client for people who live in the Twitter flow. It is integration of this flow with the traditional hustle tools of email and CRM.

Specifically, I want to see in my CRM system the Twitter flow of my contact, what they are writing about and who they are communicating with. If they have DM'ed me, I want to see that in my CRM.

Comments

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Wow. Super article. I write 2 blogs; one about Productivity in business and one about Interactive Marketing and it's very rare that I run into someone who has views on both the interactive marketing world and the productivity tools.

As with FLOW, it's funny since I'm on the eve of writing a few posts around this notion/concept. And as for following the flow and/or the last significant updated information regarding your contacts; well, there are many so-called CRM 2.0 on the market now supposedly providing just that and if you already have a CRM in place, there is InsideView which can integrate some threads, feeds and a few other stuff into your CRM...

Cheers.

Posted by: Denis Paul van Chestein | October 28, 2009 5:46 PM

Great article Bernard!

I agreed with you on so many levels. So weird because just yesterday I decided to spend some time updating my LinkedIn profile and poking around a bit on their site. I was just thinking about how the best feature on LinkedIn was the: "You know person A -> through person B". It would be great to see a tool that could combine something like that with Twitter friends/followers.

btw, i'm also not on FaceBook (yet) but i'm not sure how much longer i can hold out.. (i just caved to Twitter a month ago but now i've got the proper flow and an OAuth account to play with the APIs!)

Shared.

Posted by: Elran Oded | October 28, 2009 8:10 PM

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Posted by: ugg sale | October 28, 2009 8:24 PM

Marshall- have you ever tried using Gist as a social CRM?

Posted by: Deb Robison | October 28, 2009 9:58 PM

You should really check out http://www.networkhippo.com as it does all of the things you mention in your article.

BTW - you're absolutely right!

Posted by: Scott | October 28, 2009 10:29 PM

Hi Bernard, thanks for sharing such an interesting post overhere. I appreciate this.. This is really a very nice updated news & i always get updated news here so thanks for updating my knowledge..

Posted by: carte sd | October 29, 2009 12:29 AM

This is generally what SenderOK is into on an OEM basis- Merging Email with CRM and Social Networks (although we are known at the moment for being able to recognize a Facebook phishing Email via our corporate icon function).

If you get an Email from a Sender, you should see their profile in your CRM or open a profile ASAP. If you respond to the sender, that should be noted in the CRM profile automatically. Like xobni does, Facebook + LinkedIn profile photos and data should automatically show up.

This is not being done well by most huge CRM companies and they may want to be calling us quickly for help.

Posted by: Allen MacCannell | October 29, 2009 1:36 AM

Great article Bernard. I could not agree more. ALL methods of connecting with people should be joined up so you can use any of them to progress relationships. What you're talking about is Social CRM systems and I am passionate about them too. I'm pleased to say we're not alone either, as when Jeremiah Owyang was at Forrester he saw all CRM systems moving to this model by 2013.

We're trying to get there sooner and add some key Twitter-centric hustling tools to our site in two weeks.

I blogged a basic backgrounder on Social CRM systems a few days ago: http://bit.ly/1pI6aP

Ian Hendry
CEO, WeCanDo.BIZ
http://www.wecando.biz

Posted by: Ian Hendry | October 29, 2009 2:07 AM

Hi Bernard, great guide. there's been a lot of talk about "social CRM" but this is the most practical guide to mixing CRM with social conversations and relationships that I've come across.

Posted by: Duncan Stockdill | October 29, 2009 3:48 AM

As for following the flow and/or the last significant updated information regarding your contacts; well, there are many so-called CRM 2.0 on the market now supposedly providing just that and if you already have a CRM in place

Posted by: Punsons | October 29, 2009 4:51 AM

Great post Bernard. Thanks. I first came across with the concept of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mih%C3%A1ly_Cs%C3%ADkszentmih%C3%A1lyi flow when reading Martin Seligman's "Authentic Happiness." It's awesome to see these ideas spreading in the business world.

BTW integration with Twitter is coming to Relenta very soon. Twits and DMs will be interspersed within each of your contacts activity history, in chronological order among all other line-items (email, reminders, tasks, etc.)

Posted by: Dmitri Eroshenko | October 29, 2009 4:57 AM

Great article and comments. This is an interesting topic for other parts of the enterprise like operations. The question I keep asking is how prevalent is collaboration happening with LinkedIn, Twitter, and IM in addition to email. CRM makes good sense, but what about internal teams and projects?

Posted by: Paul | October 29, 2009 6:58 AM

Nice article. Very true about Hustle and Flow, these tools are good for networking, research and just about anything else. I think Twitter is a very powerful tool considering that i just started using it for just 4 weeks now.

The question is how to integrate with other sites or tools seamlessly as well as how to collaborate with these tools. Eg, working in remote locations or different team members around the world etc. However, i see Twitter as a very powerful tool that can be used very effectively for networking and business too. @maihoto.

Posted by: Mai Hoto | October 29, 2009 10:11 AM

"Marshall- have you ever tried using Gist as a social CRM?"

Seconded - sounds like exactly what you're looking for.

Posted by: Tim Nott | October 29, 2009 11:36 AM

Fantastic article, love the hustle and flow metaphor.

Posted by: Andy | October 29, 2009 2:14 PM

You guys may want to look at Tracked! They are kind of a blend between Linkedin and Twitter. Very very useful site.

Posted by: starney | October 29, 2009 3:06 PM

....Linked In in the black hole of social media a lot goes in and nothing comes out....

...Facebuch is a disaster in waiting....mixing (usually weird) relatives, biz contacts, and staklers from your past and social life...

.....'member the web is forever...

twitter is mandatory.......we're all living our (crazed) "lives" on our phones...twit iz da killer app for the "smart (yea, sure!) phone...

.....twitter runs wid the iPhoney...and so it goez...4 now...

Posted by: sleeprun | October 29, 2009 5:03 PM

...oh yea, other gud use of LI is sending messages to corp folks...outside enterprise tracking....

Posted by: sleeprun | October 29, 2009 5:25 PM

(Disclaimer I am the Inbox2 CTO)

Have you seen Inbox2? http://www.inbox2.com

It basically integrates your emailstream with twitter (and very soon facebook/linkedin). Inbox2 focuses primarily on the asynchronous messaging (emails, DM's, etc) while you can also follow specific people. Their status updates will show up in your regular email stream.

Inbox2 is offered as a Facebook app which provides notifications for new emails and things like twitter mentions. There is also a "standalone" app which in time will go a completely different direction as described in above article. Keep an eye on our blog for more info on that :-)

Posted by: Waseem Sadiq | November 2, 2009 7:08 AM

The use of social media marketing for businesses to bring more opportunities.

Posted by: fallen earth chips | November 2, 2009 11:46 PM

Having your article in mind, I stumbled upon http://threadsy.com today. Integrates mail, Twitter, Facebook etc. and does exactly what you demand: When I read a mail, it shows me the contact's twitter flow in the sidebar. It lacks CRM functionality yet but is still in beta. There might be more to come.

Posted by: Till Achinger | November 3, 2009 4:09 AM

Really very article.I like the concept of metaphor.

Posted by: crm services | November 3, 2009 11:21 PM

I wanted to let the readers know about FranklinCovey CRM, they have 3 editions with several different feature sets. They all feature the FranklinCovey Planning Methodology in a planner like interface that combines Tasks, Calendar, Notes and Email from the Home Page. Powerful Weekly Planning Tools will assist in prioritizing your most important tasks and goals. Great Question, have you heard about Franklin Covey 's Business CRM its not Free but close to it .

The Contact Management tools will keep you organized. Team collaboration and Task delegation features will take your teams effectiveness to new heights. With all that said, it provides CRM functionality with the ability to configure the CRM to track your business process's. It's technology with FranklinCovey’s proven methodology that users are able to quickly adopt and use to prioritize their daily activities. - As you are probably finding out there are numerous hosted CRM systems that provide you with a variety of features and services which may provide a full solution or a partial solution for every business.

The following link will allow you to create a VIP account for a test drive without having to enter a creditcard . Let me know if I can answer any additional questions about becoming and affiliate . You can earn 10% to 30% a month as an affiliate I have heard there are more than 190 CRM solutions on the market today— (which I have never validated ).
Cheers,
A CRM technology which integrates Business Process Management (BPM) through easy to define automated engine should be a serious consideration when looking for a solution. Its your definition and allows you collaborate with decision makers in the process ie. customers, partners, affiliates, investors, etc.

More importantly you build the process and the application does the work and keeps you and your team on track.

What else I found was that to be a great CRM / technology it needs to have Productivity Methodology applied to it. ie FranklinCovey's time tested millions of customers approve. Tracking your Goals, Values and Priorities you get more done in both your personal life and professional life. This will not only empower you but your team as well . You have to have good proven Methodology with Technology for your team to know what their highest priorities are for the day, week and month without having to ask :)

With that said, you should look @ FranklinCovey 's CRM PlanPlusOnline for business's.

Franklin Covey is a worldwide leader in organization effectiveness. It's technology with Franklin Covey’s proven productivity methodology that users are able to quickly adopt and use to prioritize their tasks, mission statement, values, goals, top priorities, and daily activities.

You combine that with typical CRM applications such as Sales, Support, Marketing, and Projects, and you end up with a solid online application that is customizable for any business process, including non-profit companies.

The following link will allow you to create a VIP account for a test drive without having to enter a credit card.

Mike

Links:
http://tinyurl.com/franklincovey-software
http://www.planplusonline.com
http://www.completexrm.com

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Posted by: Gucci Kitbags | December 9, 2009 8:14 PM

Your article is exactly what is missing in current CRM systems. I do not understand that there is not a solution out in the market.

We are ( commercial comapny 16 emplyees)currently working with general shared emailboxes and a seperate CRM/Workflow system, it is a headache.

There are possibilities to upload email to CRM contacts but that not what you want.
It is plain simple that you want your CRM system to be an email client where emails can become wokrflow, where you can respond (email)directly from the workflow.
Helspot is a good example (however they are lacking any contactmanagement-databse (see http://www.helpspot.com)

The first CRM system which can deliver all this we will immediately buy and may cost good money

Posted by: Mathijs Wijbenga | December 12, 2009 1:00 PM