FREE CONTACT TRACKING TEMPLATE

Let the power of good contact management work for you by keeping your lists of different types of contacts separate. You might need several different contact tracking templates to make your business operations easier. Types of contact tracking templates include those for:

• Personal contacts
• Business contacts 
• Customers
• Sales leads
• Cold calls
• Vendors
• Employees
• Freelancers/contract workers
• Client information

You might choose to combine some lists, particularly if they‘re short. Leads, cold calls, and customers could be in one contact tracking template with fields designating where they are in the sales funnel, for instance. Hourly and salaried employees could be combined with freelancers on one sheet with columns to distinguish between them. 

The beauty of designing or customizing a contact tracking template is you can include any information without being limited by software or templates that are difficult or impossible to tweak to fit your needs. Customizable templates or software are the easiest solutions in some cases, however, because they give you a solid starting point.

When creating a contact tracking template or adjusting one to meet your needs, keep several things in mind to ensure your system serves you well in the future. 

Portability

The tracking system you use today might not be the one that works best for you tomorrow. Make sure your template keeps your list portable for any future changes. While it‘s unlikely a truly customized list will merge perfectly into contact or mailing list software, most programs merely ignore categories they don‘t contain. 

Make sure the basic contact information is portable. Whether it‘s moving to a new system you design or importing into contact resource management software, there are some steps you can take to make the transition less complicated. 

Standard Categories

Your database fields or spreadsheet columns should be standard category labels such as name, address, email, phone, company, etc. Skip any unique labels for basic information. Instead, use the ones most likely to be used in other software systems. 

One Data Point Per Cell

Keep each cell to one specific data point. If a day comes when you want to import your list into CRM software or a mailing list application, you‘re less likely to have problems if you keep the cells to a single point. 

For instance, one cell containing all customer information such as email, phone, and physical address can cause issues in a system that automatically prints envelopes or sends emails. A “name” field that contains first and last names might personalize emails to each contact‘s last name followed by their first. 

Have separate fields for first and last names instead of putting each person‘s full name in one cell. Don‘t put each contact‘s complete physical address in one cell. Instead, separate it into four cells for street address, city, state, and ZIP code. Give each email and phone number a separate column. Keep the company name and the person‘s position in two individual cells. 

Creating so many separate cells might seem tedious, but it can save you hours of frustration. A contract tracking template formatted this way is far more portable.

Custom Fields for Better Tracking

While you should create a standard format for contact information, you should also add custom columns as you see fit. You might want to note whether each customer prefers phone or email contact, for instance. Personal contact tracking might include how you met, important dates such as birthdays, and other information you find helpful.  

You can copy this type of information to another spreadsheet if you want to import your data into other software. You can also create a separate database or spreadsheet for this information and link to it from your main contact tracking template for a cleaner look. 

CAN-SPAM Compliance

Create a column in your contact tracking template to list when you added each contact and why. Record when and how each person permitted you to put them on your list or the business interaction that began the relationship. Compliance also includes giving contacts the ability to opt out or unsubscribe from any future mailings from you. 

The laws surrounding the way businesses can contact customers or prospects changed dramatically in 2003 with the Federal Trade Commission‘s CAN-SPAM Act. Familiarize yourself with this legislation to be sure your list is compliant to avoid hefty fines. 

Using this template will save you a tremendous amount of time, and also give you the peace of mind that you’ll never lose out on an important relationship again.

It’s not that difficult, and pretty soon, you’ll wonder what you ever did without this free contact tracking template.