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Ask HN: Consultants, how do you keep track of your clients?
- codegeek 10y agoyour question is too vague. Track for what ? Projects ? General Communications ? Invoice ? Billing ? or all of the above ?
- tixocloud 10y agoSorry. I meant client information/conversations
- hanniabu 10y agoI just use an excel sheet. Have their name, number, business, size of business, business description, notes on contact, location, did I contact them already, did they answer, when we last spoke, is a follow up needed, topic of follow up, have I done work for them in the past, potential future work to contact them about, etc Probably more than most would record, but I like the option to circle back to past people I've done work for and past cold contacts that turned me down. Plus I have a poor memory and do this on and off in my spare time.
- tixocloud 10y agoI'm looking to solve this exact problem and would love to further get your thoughts. Would you mind if I contacted you through email?
- BjoernKW 10y agoProspective clients, leads: Trello Actual clients: Accounting software (Collmex in my case)
- ak39 10y agoI keep a file/folder for each client in which I write notes (pen and paper) like a journal. I also make notes of things I think about immediately after meetings or later in the evening last thing before switching the lights off. These are not minutes. They are more like my thoughts (concerns and anticipations.) This has proved invaluable in two ways: 1. I am less anxious about things that I feel I'm not going to remember. 2. Rereading gives me perspective about evolution of the engagement (nice to read that 1 year ago client had expectations this high, and that this year he is talking about "low hanging" fruit. (I sometimes document new notes with different colored ink.)