How do you all handle clients?
 

Hi all,

I am an insurance broker and I'm trying to integrate OF into my business practice. We have an agency management program that we use for a multitude of purposes, not the least of which is to keep track of clients' renewals, prospective business, etc.

Right now, I'm using the management program to keep tabs on my book of business; roughly 500 clients. The only way to do this is a tickler system that's built into the program, it's basically a very rudimentary task list with 1 reminder. The are a couple reasons I use the built-in task list:[LIST][*]It's tied in with the management system, so if I'm out of the office other people know what needs to be worked on with the account.[*]It's simple and quick to use.[/LIST]
That said, I am wondering if it would be better to use OF as my client management program. There are a couple advantages I can see to this:[LIST][*]Portability, I can take my client list anywhere with my iPad, Macbook Air, etc. In order for me to access the task list on the management system, I need to physically print it or remote in.[*]Easier to plan my day. I can review my client list and find out what needs to be hit ASAP. When using the management program's list, I find I set my day up with OF, but then forget to leave in time to punch out the management's task list.[/LIST]
The disadvantages to this would be:[LIST][*]People in the office don't know what needs to be worked on in the office. (Frankly, this might be a dealbreaker already)[*]500 clients and their respective projects, actions, etc, may end up clogging my OF database. Would this slow down OF and cause sync to have issues?[/LIST]
In any case, I was wondering how folks who have similar issues like me (in the client management business) manage their clients on OF. Do you even manage your clients on OF, or do you find it easier to manage them on a separate list, program, etc?

Thanks in advance.
Mike

I'm not at all comfortable suggesting OmniFocus is suitable for use as a CRM, though I'm sure there are some users that do it.

I'd use your office's accepted workflow and put projects and tasks in OmniFocus as appropriate, even if it means you have a task to sweep the daily ticklers out of your other system and review them for anything that requires more than a couple of minutes and then creating tasks or projects out of those.

I wouldn't try to totally replace your firm's CRM system with OmniFocus, but a variant of the system I described in [URL="http://forums.omnigroup.com/showpost.php?p=76136&postcount=11"]this post[/URL] might be helpful. Would help you organize actions by client...