3 Things That Kill CRM… and Your Job Search Organizer

I like to learn about CRM issues in the sales world because those issues might translate over to issues with JibberJobber users.  I don’t tout JibberJobber as a CRM (customer relationship manager) even though that’s how I use it.  It is, however an awesome personal relationship manager for YOU (that is, anyone who is still concerned about their career, job security, etc.).

Todd Youngblood has a post titled Three Things that Kill CRM (…and how to counter them).  The second “thing” is particularly relevant to my JibberJobber audience.  I have heard, more than once, that career coaches are concerned that their job seekers spend too much time online, and they don’t want the job seeker to spend MORE time online, even with JibberJobber.  Let’s dig into this…. Todd writes:

“You want me to spend time typing instead of making sales calls.”

Yes. I want you to spend time typing stuff into the CRM system. Get over it. Study after study shows that while you will spend more time typing information,you’ll save even more time in retrieving and communicating information.

You already take lots of notes, right? On note pads, day-timers, post-its, napkins, etc. Don’t try to tell me that a google-like inquiry into your CRM isn’tvastly faster and more complete than rooting through hand-written notes “neatly” organized and filed who-knows-where. Oh, and who else in your sales support organization has access to the incredibly valuable customer intelligence you work so diligently and hard to collect? If it’s on paper the answer is nobody. You need to spend still more time composing e-mails and/or verbally explaining things.

So do we want a job seeker to spend time doing data entry, and not doing a job search?  Of course we don’t want you to not do a job search, but he makes some excellent points.  I’ll rewrite this for the job seeker:

“You want me to spend time typing instead of [networking/calling people/etc]???”

Yes. I want you to spend time typing stuff into [JibberJobber]. Get over it. Study after study shows that while you will spend more time typing information,you’ll save even more time in retrieving and communicating information.

You already take lots of notes, right? On note pads, day-timers, post-its, napkins, etc. Don’t try to tell me that a google-like inquiry into your CRM isn’t vastly faster and more complete than rooting through hand-written notes “neatly” organized and filed who-knows-where. Oh, and [what other job seeker] has access to the incredibly valuable [contact/target company] intelligence you work so diligently and hard to collect? If it’s on paper the answer is nobody. You need to spend still more time composing e-mails and/or verbally explaining things.

One major benefit of using JibberJobber to organize your job search is that when you need the info again (say, 6 weeks into your new job, or 3 years later when you are in a job search again), you have it at your fingertips.

Can you imagine that?  Being able to login 3 years later and have phone numbers, email addresses, names, etc. RIGHT THERE!?!  That would put you at a significant advantage in your next job search… this is something you won’t get from any other system you create for this job search.

Seriously, what are you waiting for? Sign up on, or start using, JibberJobber, NOW!