Four Ways to Organize and Keep Track of Your MLM Downline and Leads

Are you looking for ways to organize and keep track of your MLM downline? What about your prospects and leads you’ve obtained by advertising and promoting your MLM business?

As your business grows and you start experiencing greater success, trying to remember who you talked to and when you need to contact them again gets quite challenging. Here are four methods I’ve found that will work to help keep everything organized. The best thing to do is pick the one that you feel most comfortable with and stick with it.

Using Paper Planners and Filing Systems

Many people prefer to keep everything on paper. This is often an attractive option to start out with, but may become cumbersome as your business grows.

Paper-based organizers, such as the Franklin Planner, have plenty of forms you can purchase to record contacts and keep notes. These planners are portable and can be carried anywhere for quick reference.

Another approach is to use 4 x 6 index cards. Make one for each of your MLM downline associates, and one for each of your best MLM leads and prospects. You can quickly and easily make notes about phone calls and other communication, and keep them organized in a plastic file box.

Using Contact Management Software

Another option is to use contact management software. Some of these programs are very sophisticated, and have features far beyond what you’ll need.

I am familiar with two programs that have worked well for me.

ACT! is a full-featured contact management program that will do just about anything you’ll ever want to do. You can schedule regular followups with your [tag-tec]MLM leads[/tag-tec], and keep track of what you and your downline team discuss. ACT! comes with an integrated email program, so you have the option of attaching all incoming and outgoing emails to each contact’s record. This is great if you like to keep track of everything.

Chaos Intellect is much less expensive, and has similar functions as ACT!, but doesn’t have some of the fancier bells and whistles. You probably won’t miss those anyway. Intellect has a free 30-day trial that you can download here.

Handheld Electronic Organizers

Electronic handheld devices such as the Palm TX are capable of storing information about all your contacts, along with notes and reminders. You can schedule alarms to sound when a task is due. You can enter new contacts or reminders on your computer, or the Palm, and do a sync so that both have current information at all times.

Web Based Contact Managers

Highrise HQ is an example of a web-based contact manager. The basic version is free to use, and holds up to 250 contacts. As your contact list grows, you can upgrade and convert to a paid option. It does some cool things, like sending reminders you schedule as emails or text messages to your cell phone.

Conclusion

Of all these options, the paper-based planner and the index card system are the simplest to set up and use, but you should enjoy handwriting because you’ll do a lot of it.

Contact management software is efficient and will come in very handy as your downline and prospect list grows. The ability to sort contacts and create useful reports and lists is handy. Setting up automatic followup reminders is a breeze, as is sending emails to selected groups of your contacts at will.

Handheld organizers like the Palm are nice, especially if you like high-tech gadgets. I like the big (for a handheld) screen and the ability to go online at Wi-Fi hotspots, but these are not for everyone. The big advantage of a Palm (or similar device) is the portability. These are really handy if you are on the go a lot.

Web based contact managers are simple to use, and one big advantage is that they allow access from any computer regardless of where you are.

All of these methods will do the job – it really depends on how you like to work. Personally, I have tried all these methods but prefer to use [tag-tec]contact management[/tag-tec] software installed on my laptop, so that I have access to everything wherever I am.