Most small business owners spend 80% of their time doing busy work that does not help them building small business. Whether you are just starting out or have been in business for years, if you don't have processes and systems in place, you are not running your business effectively. Chances are that you are working harder than you have to and making less money than you should.

Many of my clients, women business owners just like you, have piles of business cards, pages of unanswered emails and telephone calls they intend to make. They spend ten hours a day working and feel like they will never catch up. They attend networking events and follow-up "coffee dates," but don't seem to be attracting the business they want.

One of the reasons that business owners have this issue is that they are focusing on the wrong clients -- always chasing new clients without balancing their attention on people who already know, like and trust them.

Piles of business cards are a symptom of this problem. One of the first things that I have my clients do when we start working on improving their profit, is to go through their piles of business cards and sort them. If they don't know who the person is -- they are to recycle the card.

This is emotionally difficult for many women business owners. Yet it is essential. By clearing out the business cards, business owners can get a clear picture of their current and potential client/customer base.

Sorting the cards involves putting them into piles such as current customer, past customer, vendor, hot lead and referral partner. Usually at this point, everyone wants to create a database and find out what product that they should use.

But I recommend waiting until they do another step. How are they going to contact people? Is it through email? phone? mail? How often? And how many contacts do they hope to have? Will they be selling online? The answers to each of these questions will help you determine what product is right for you.

There are two products I have that can support you to creating a contact management system that works for you.

The first is a special report, Database Demystified. You can learn more about it by going to:

http://www.wisewomanshining.com/test/

The second is a workbook/CD product that can walk you through the process of creating your system. You can learn more about this product by going to

http://www.wisewomanshining.com/Small-Business-Customer-Management.html

Finally, if you want to read more about finding gold in a pile of business cards, go to

http://ezinearticles.com/?Finding-the-Gold-in-a-Pile-of-Business-Cards&id=244244

Wise Woman Shining recomments the The Neat Receipts Business Card Scanner, a high resolution color business card scanner. "It is quick, scanning 4 business cards a minute and can export the information in vCard, Excel (csv), PDF or Plaxo (including Yahoo! Address Book and Mozilla Thunderbird) formats and can scan directly into Microsoft Outlook and ACT. It gets its power via its USB connector, so no extra wires or power adapters are needed." (See Amazon module for link.)

Many small business owners that I know struggle with ACT. It's got a tough learning curve and if you want to have access to it from a remote location, or share it with others, you need a consultation. And don't ever lose the password. It may cost you money to get it back!

So, I've been on a search for quite a while for a product that I could recommend to my small business clients. And, I've found High Rise. (http://www.highrisehq.com/)

I find it simple to use, although my husband tells me that it's because I have 20 years in database management. But I've also helped a client install it and she didn't have problems.

I like that it's simple to use. I can get all the information I want about a customer in one place that is accessible from anywhere. (High Rise is a web based solution.) I like that I can use my existing email to send emails to a drop box on High Rise and the email will get attached to the right person -- most of the time. You do have to do some fiddling with the person in the "From" field to get it to work correctly. But still, it's a pretty easy fiddle.

I like that I can develop tasks and get an email reminder. I don't use an online calendar (I'm a paper luddite), so I don't take advantage of the calendaring feature. But I could.

And I like how I can group people together in Cases -- a little rudimentary project management feature.

Finally, I like the ease of being able to "tag" people collectively in groups. It's much less cumbersome than the grouping I did in ACT.

If you are searching for a contact management system, I recommend checking out High Rise. You can even get a free account to try it out!

http://www.highrisehq.com/

Do you attend a lot of networking meetings? Do business cards and notes just pile up and gather dust? Do they glare at you, lonely, from the top of the pile on your desk, just waiting to be loved? Well, don't just let them perish -- do something with them!

"But I haven't got time," you whine (I know you whine -- I do it, too).

Actually, you do have time. If you really understood how important that follow-up call is to your business you would make the time.
"But they never call back," you whine.

Hint: They're probably as busy as you are. Not only do you have to plan to follow up, you have to plan time to follow up on the follow up. Sheesh!

"It's been too long," you whine.

Well, perhaps...but probably not. There is at least time to re-establish a relationship with them so that you can be of service to them later on.

You see, that's the core of the issue. If you have received a card because someone is interested in your services or products (as opposed to having cards thrust on you without your request), then the time you spend making that follow up call is more important than almost anything else you have to do. This person is a hot prospect -- someone who is at least considering spending money with you.

And there's a matter of how you look to someone when you take their card, promise to follow up and then never do. You can talk your way out of being late, but your image is very damaged when you NEVER follow up. Your business image and your reputation are gold in this world of ours today.

So how do you find the time for follow up? The same way you find the time for exercise -- you plan it. And plan that it will take longer than you think. If you are going to a networking event, speaking or producing a teleclass, plan on getting names, emails and phone numbers of people who are interested in speaking further with you about your business. Then create time within 48 hours of the event to follow up with them.

Also have a time each week when you make follow up calls (to follow up on your follow up). That way you will be providing a consistent message -- you are reliable and you care about them.

Don't fall into the trap of thinking that the call will automatically result in business. It might, but it might not. Use some coaching techniques to find out more about what their problem or need is. Explore it. Stay curious. And if your product or service doesn't fit their need, don't try to make it fit. Be honest, and, if possible, refer them to someone else who DOES have the solution. The prospect will remember that and the business will come back to you in another way.

There's really two pieces to follow up. Make the time and make the calls. The motivation for you to do this is that you will increase your business revenue with less effort since these people have already self-selected themselves. You will also show your prospective customer that you a reliable and sincere, making them more open to purchasing goods and services from you.