{"id":61,"date":"2017-01-02T01:33:21","date_gmt":"2017-01-02T01:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.originatemoredeals.com\/?p=61"},"modified":"2020-10-09T13:16:08","modified_gmt":"2020-10-09T13:16:08","slug":"i-couldnt-function-as-a-deal-professional-without-these-3-software-platforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.originatemoredeals.com\/index.php\/2017\/01\/02\/i-couldnt-function-as-a-deal-professional-without-these-3-software-platforms\/","title":{"rendered":"I couldn’t function as a deal professional without these 4 software platforms"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BestWatch out, the \u201cend\u201d of the beginning of the year is upon us! \u00a0Hopefully your 2017 business development efforts are already off to a great start.<\/em><\/p>\n

In planning for my 2017, I found myself taking note of my growing reliance on specialty software that I find myself using on a daily basis.\u00a0 As a modern deal professional, here are a few other software applications that you should consider adding to your routine.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/u>Podio<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

This little known software is hands down the most important tool in my repertoire. I use it as often as I use Outlook (which is a lot!), and, by the end of 2017, I will probably use it more than any other software in my daily life.\u00a0 It, quite plainly, is the most simple and flexible relational database I have ever used. Yes, you do need to invest some time to figure out how to use it, but if you\u2019ve programmed at any level in the past or like thinking through processes, you will fall in love with this software\u2019s simple beauty.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a mystery to me why Podio is unknown to so many.\u00a0 The Dutch company was founded in 2009 and acquired by major software provider Citrix in 2012 who has been spending development dollars to make it even better. I started using the software in 2011, and now find myself a ranking member of its cult-like following. If you follow productivity masters like Tim Ferriss (@tferriss) or David Allen (@gtdguy), you will fall in love with this tool.<\/p>\n

We use Podio at our investment firm to manage our entire investment process.\u00a0 When an investment opportunity comes in the door, we use the software to efficiently manage the work it takes to make an investment decision. I\u2019ve built 20 applications through Podio \u00a0— they do everything from CRM, pipeline management, workflow management, marketing trip organizer, newsletter production, and more. I even built an app to track my workouts (I wish I used that one more often!). And Podio is able to export all the data to Excel, which can be used to build reports through simple pivot tables and charts.<\/p>\n

Evernote<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

If Podio is the best database I use for \u201cstructured data\u201d, then Evernote is the best database for \u201cunstructured data\u201d. I was so excited when I learned about Evernote, the brainchild of Phil Libin (@plibin).\u00a0 I remember downloading it, opening the program for the first time, and then staring blankly at the screen. I didn\u2019t know what I was supposed to do, so I didn\u2019t use it much for the first year.\u00a0Then, after reading David Allen\u2019s book Getting Things Done,<\/em> I realized I wasn\u2019t thinking about how to use the tool properly.\u00a0 This was to be my dumping ground of any information important (as Allen says, \u201cyour brain needs its RAM\u201d) that I want to have a very high chance of finding at any point in the future. Think of being able to create a \u201cgoogle-able\u201d universe of any information you encounter throughout your daily life. Evernotes search algorithm is very impressive and continues to get better.<\/p>\n

So how do we use Evernote at our firm?\u00a0 In many ways.\u00a0 Want to try and recall when and where you last met with someone?\u00a0 I\u2019ve been uploading my notes from events like Axial\u2019s Summit for the past few years.\u00a0 My notes are directly on the list of attendees.\u00a0 It takes 2 minutes to find what would have taken you 60 minutes if you structured every last piece of data from the event.\u00a0\u00a0 Want to keep an eye out for opportunities that may fit your firm or your referral sources?\u00a0 Structuring all of that data would take weeks of time.\u00a0 Given Evernote\u2019s amazing optical character recognition (OCR) system it can read anything \u2013 both physical and digital text.\u00a0 If you used Evernote you could actually do something with all of those 2-pagers you\u2019ve been picking up at industry conferences.\u00a0 Finally Evernote works well in a team environment because data is easily shared amongst co-workers, but also remains institutionalized with some good access controls built into the system.<\/p>\n

Copy2Contact<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The winner for highest ROI % for any software has to be Copy2Contact.\u00a0 And, despite the software\u2019s development cost was probably less than 0.1% of what it took to bring Podio and Evernote to market, it remains a vital tool that I use on a daily basis.\u00a0 It\u2019s about as simple as it gets.\u00a0 Want to add a contact to Outlook?\u00a0 Highlight it and tap ctrl-c-c.\u00a0 The magic of Copy2Contact takes over and new Outlook contact appears with information in the correct fields (98.5% of the time).\u00a0 I have thousands of contacts in my Outlook.\u00a0 Do your own math and multiply those contacts by how much time it take you to input a new contact. And when you link your contact management (from software like Microsoft Outlook) to your customer relationship management (CRM) software great things will happen.\u00a0 Your relationships will stay better informed about what opportunities your firm is looking for because more contact information is captured, kept updated, and added to your firm\u2019s mailing list.\u00a0 Deal professionals shouldn\u2019t waste time on administrative tasks that are better delegated to technology.<\/p>\n

Axial<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Our firm was an early adopter of Axial\u2019s technology, and the company has made big strides over the years.\u00a0 I\u2019m often asked how we use the platform in our investment operations.\u00a0 In many ways that answer continues to evolve as they enhance their service offering.\u00a0 As a specialty finance company, my firm is seeking to connect with private equity<\/a> sponsors and business owners in hopes of providing them with financing solutions.\u00a0 Axial has allowed me to leverage my time by providing me a consistent source of deal leads (which has increased with the recent addition of the \u201cSeeking Financing\u201d functionality).<\/p>\n

As all investment professionals know, behind every deal is a person representing that opportunity.\u00a0 Even if the deal isn\u2019t right for my investment mandate, a connection over something tangible has been made and time will tell what sort of relationship will develop.\u00a0 I also have the ability to identify opportunities that may fit my referral sources and friends in the industry.\u00a0 Deals give investment professionals things to talk about.\u00a0 I much prefer using a deal to reconnect with someone versus a cold call.<\/p>\n

My Axial rep has been great over the years. \u00a0He provides warm introductions to potential clients that fit our investment mandate.\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing like a warm introduction to provide some relevancy and context before spending time with someone.\u00a0 Axial\u2019s networking events are good and can provide an alternative to the monotony of the ACG circuit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I couldn’t function as a deal professional without these 4 software platforms<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,8],"class_list":["post-61","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-software","tag-hack","tag-software","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8gb0U-Z","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.originatemoredeals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/CRM-Partners.jpg?fit=1140%2C445","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.originatemoredeals.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.originatemoredeals.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.originatemoredeals.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.originatemoredeals.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.originatemoredeals.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.originatemoredeals.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":380,"href":"http:\/\/www.originatemoredeals.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61\/revisions\/380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.originatemoredeals.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.originatemoredeals.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.originatemoredeals.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.originatemoredeals.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}