Use the CRM System Gist to Maintain a Contact List

By Joshua Waldman from Job Searching with Social Media For Dummies

Seattle-based software startup Gist provides one of the most robust systems for managing your contacts, tracking what they’re doing online, and keeping detailed records of them. Gist is the most hands-free and automatic system on the market. What’s more, it’s totally free.

What makes Gist unique is that it can automatically recognize people’s names, add their social media profiles and their photos from Google images, and provide you with news feeds of the companies they work for. Better yet, Gist can start doing all of this for you pretty quickly because it doesn’t take long at all to upload new contacts.

Check out this CRM system’s other interesting features:

The ability to connect your current social networks in a single place by syncing Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn contacts into your Gist database
An at-a-glance list of important contacts compiled by Gist based on an algorithm that guesses which people you need to keep on the radar on a scale of 1 to 100 (100 being the most important)
An interactive calendar that links to your Google calendar, sends confirmation e-mails for meetings, and allows you to see your events and organize your day within Gist
A dossier, or summary page, about your contacts that you can print and review before an interview or meeting
News feeds about your contacts and the ability to interact with them without leaving Gist
A way to keep track of important facts about your contacts, like whether they’re mentors, clients, or hiring managers
The ability to integrate with Gmail and see your most recent interactions with people, including a list of e-mails sent to them
An info request form that allows you to ask your contacts for more information about them

Gist can feel a bit overwhelming at first because it displays an enormous amount of information on one page. Give yourself a couple of days to get comfortable with the interface. This tool can help you stay organized and be a better networker. Bookmark it to make sure you visit often.