One of the most valuable pieces of intellectual property that you have is your rolodex and your network of contacts. With the changes in information technology, you can be coming across a lot more people than perhaps you were before. Now, suddenly, through websites, emails, social networking groups and other online resources, you may come across a number of people that could be added into your electronic rolodex.

So, what process do you have to get those contacts into your system?
Do you have to do manual cut and paste?
And where do you put them?
Do you have a good methodology for where you store them, such as either in Outlook or a contact management like ACT or some other vehicle?

If you find that it becomes a manual cut and paste type of process, there is a better way. I’m a big fan of a tool called Address Grabber, which is sold by eGrabber. This is a terrific tool. When you get an email, for example, and it has some contact information at the bottom, you can use eGrabber to send it to your particular application where you want to house the contact information. You open up eGrabber, you open up the email, you highlight the contact information in the email and then you click on an icon which designates where you want to send the information to. It will then produce its best guess in terms of that contact information in a popup dialogue box. In that popup box, you can do some editing of the information there and then click on the icon to send the contact information over your way. It’s a much better process than trying to do it through a manual cut and paste. The beauty is by having a process like this, you’re going to be more likely to add in contact information and less likely to put it off or to let it pile up. This program can work as well with website information or information in attached documents or other softcopy information.

Keep your electronic rolodex up-to-date. Build this list up as much as you can from sources that come across to you. It can be one of your most powerful tools and help you become more effective as well as help enjoy some great relationships.

Jon Paul, MBA, CPA, CMC, CM&AA

President, Value Added Finance Resources
Bringing new insights on results and maximizing company value