Good Cheap or FREE Contact Management Program?

[Planet13]

Hi there, Everyone:

Trying to get organized and was wondering if there is a good cheap or free contact management program for windows out there.

Right now I have a bunch of names and phone numbers, emails and websites in excel spreadsheets.

I would like to be able to set up "reminder dates" to remember when to follow up with people.

I do have access 2003 so maybe if there is a really good template for it that would work well, too.

Thanks in advance.

[engine]

I haven't found any cheap, or free ones being good. But then, I haven't looked for a while.

Many years ago I used to build my own from database programs. Once i'd bought the database I could use it for whatever I wanted.

One other contact manager came free on the front of a PC magazine. Remember those cds/floppy disks. It wasn't a bad program, and of course it was the prior one to the current version, but still, it was good for free.

[Hoople]

I would use Microsoft Outlook or other email program that supports synchronizing with Google calendar and or mobile devices.

My wife and I are both using Mozilla Thunderbird with a calendar and Google plug in. She's loving it as she has a Droid phone, Droid tablet and Windows7 laptop.

[Planet13]

thanks for the suggestion, Hoople.

I wonder if it going to be easy to import my spreadsheet into thunderbird, because I would need a couple of custom fields.

I do have an android phone so I might be able to do that.

[henry0]

I do what Hoople described, I have all sync between droid, calendar, outlook, gmail etc... works a treat!

1) import your contacts in Outlook
2) from Tbird: Tools/Import --> address book/-->Outlook -->next.
Done.

[Planet13]

Thanks Henry0:

I will look nto it. The thing is i am going to need to do all sorts of sorting though. I need to keep track of things like who bought something and when they did it. How much they paid and whether they still owed us money. And when they need to pay again. Lots of stuff like that.

I wonder if it might require something more along the lines of a database for this? If so I wonder if there are any mysql templates or something like that.

[henry0]

I am not sure we are "barking at the same tree"
you described a whole new ball game.
Are we speaking about e-comm?
if so you probably have a shopping cart including scripts and DB (since you mentioned MySQL it probably is a PHP cart).
You might need to create a script that will email you upon client account updates.
Or/and create a script that will log all activities upon you defined parameters and send you an alarm when a report is ready.

What is your environment, are we speaking of e-comm cart or something else?

[Planet13]

Thanks for the reply, henry0;

What I am trying to do is get people to sign up for a membership. So what I REALLY need is some way to keep track of their contact info, website address, and also the date I last contacted them by email or phone, and what the outcome of that contact was.

And just as importantly I need a way to remind myseld when it is time try to contact them again.

Once they pay I can keep track of when their membership is going to expire using my other software, but it eould be nice to integrate the contact manager so that it reminds me, say, a month in advance that their membership will expire and I need to contact them.

The date their memberships expire is kept in a mysql table on my web server, so I thought it would be great if the contact manager could look up the expiration date.

Hope that clears it up a bit. Thanks in advace.

[henry0]

All of that could be done.
However, you did not let us know what your "system" environment is.
Are you a coder?
This is important as your quest seems to call for custom made mods and scripts.
If you are not a coder then you need to hire a trusted coder that will know your environment.

<edit>Scope of thread</edit>
Due to this thread scope, you might need to ask the same question in a scripting forum, PHP, ASP etc..
or in E-comm.

[travelin cat]

Both RSmembership for the Joomla platform and Wishlist on WordPress have all of your requested functionality plus more. Wishlist is $97 and RSMembership is 49 Euros (about $64).

[Planet13]

Alas, I am using phplinkdirectory (phpld).

Really, to get back to the original need, what I just really need is some way to keep track of people's names, email addresses and website URLs, and keep track of when the last time I emailed them or called them was, and when the NEXT time I should call them / email them should be.

The other stuff I might be able to work something up in php myself.

Thanks.

[Hoople]

Sounds almost like a salesman's contact management system/program.

Wasn't the one biggie years back called ACT?

[henry0]

If looking for a "ready to go" solution
search SourceForge [sourceforge.net ]
Many projects and fully working systems are available for d-load, mainly in PHP but other languages too.

[Planet13]

Sounds almost like a salesman's contact management system/program.

Yeah, that is a pretty good way to sum it up.

[lexipixel]

The thing is i am going to need to do all sorts of sorting though. I need to keep track of things like who bought something and when they did it.

The buzzword for that type of software is "CRM", (Customer Relationship Management).

Search for: free crm software
or: crm software reviews

[Planet13]

Thank you, lexipixel.

Could not for the life of me remember it.