How to Manage Your Business Contacts Better

Having an extensive network of contacts can make it difficult to keep in touch with so many different people in a meaningful, sincere way. Instead of being afraid of your unruly list, it’s time to manage your business contacts in a thoughtful, streamlined way.

The first step to optimizing your contact list is to consolidate your contacts. From Outlook, Gmail, LinkedIn, Facebook, and others, gather all your contacts spread across various platforms and email databases. A quick Internet search will provide you with step-by-step instructions on how to export each of your contact lists and then import them into one unified platform of your choice.

Once your contacts are streamlined, you should pare down your list. Take a hard look at your combined list of contacts and determine the top 30 or so people to whom you’d like to dedicate the majority of your time. Consider your future goals and how to get the biggest ROI—with your investment being time—when downsizing.

Lastly, determine deliberate next steps for your core 30 contacts—these are the people who are most important to your professional success—as well as your remaining contacts, and stick to them. However you decide to stay in touch, do so consciously and consistently.